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Reliving the post-9/11 surge of Carolina football.
The year 2001 was John Bunting’s first season as the Tar Heels’ head coach. Bunting was a popular choice by his former UNC teammates to succeed Carl Torbush after Frank Beamer reneged on his handshake with then-athletic director Dick Baddour to move from Virginia Tech and coach at UNC.
America was still in shock after the terrorist attack when four hijacked passenger planes were turned into weapons of mass destruction by Al-Qaeda spies posing as American citizens while plotting their take-over.
Carolina’s home opener against SMU on September 15 was postponed and rescheduled for the end of the season. Bunting’s maiden Tar Heels had lost road games at third-ranked Oklahoma, Maryland and fourth-ranked Texas and were counting on beating the winless Mustangs to get into the victory column.
Instead, they had to face No. 6 and defending ACC champion Florida State on September 22, when college football resumed all over the country. Through all prisms, it looked like a fourth consecutive loss.
When the game kicked off at high noon, Kenan Stadium was far from full, including the student section.
And when the Seminoles led 9-7 at halftime, there still wasn’t much hope for an upset. But as Carolina began to outscore FSU 34-0 in the second half, word spread around campus and Kenan began to fill up.
The worm turned when the Heels recovered a fumble early in the third period as the Noles were headed for another score. One minute later, Darian Durant connected with Chelsey Borders on a 52-yard touchdown pass, and Carolina had the lead for good.
Two field goals by Jeff Reed made the score 20-9 at the end of three quarters, and Ronald Curry came in at quarterback and engineered three touchdown drives as Kenan erupted.
Curry hit Kory Bailey for a 53-yard TD pass, Andre Williams capped an 83-yard drive with an 11-yard sprint to the end zone and Curry completed the scoring with a one-yard plunge across the goal line. Students rushed the field after the 41-9 upset, and the much-needed party was on.
The 1-3 Heels went on to win five straight games and get into the national rankings with a 38-3 romp over 13th-ranked Clemson before losing to Georgia Tech. They finished the regular season at 7-5 after beating Duke and SMU and then upset Auburn in the Peach Bowl 16-10 in Julius Peppers’ last game at UNC.
That was also Bunting’s only winning season before he was fired late in the 2006 schedule, allowed to finish the season and beat State and Duke in his last two games on the sideline. He was replaced by Butch Davis.
After the Florida State win, Bunting’s biggest moment was when Connor Barth booted a 42-yard field goal as time expired to beat No. 4 Miami in 2004.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
