Art Chansky’s Sports Notebook is presented by The Casual Pint. YOUR place for delicious pub food paired with local beer. Choose among 35 rotating taps and 200+ beers in the cooler.
James Madison at Carolina won’t be the passing fest of years past.
When the Tar Heels and Dukes square off at Kenan Stadium Saturday at noon, don’t expect a lot of fireworks through the air. Both teams are in the third tier of NCAA stats in passing, JMU is No. 107 and UNC is 111.
Conversely, Carolina is the 15th best rushing team in college football and James Madison is a respectable 54th. There will be no Drake Make impersonators on either side flinging the pigskin all over Kenan.
For the 3-0 home team, the emphasis will remain on running the football against good rushing defenses. Omarion Hampton is fourth in the nation with 416 yards on 66 carries, an average of 6 yards per tote.
Hampton holds the school’s second most yards in a season (1,504 in 2023) behind Don McCauley (1,720 in 1970). The other No. 23 in Carolina lore, McCauley capped his All-American home career with 279 yards against Duke on 47 rushes (equaled only by Mike Voight against Duke in 1976.) McCauley was carried off the field after the 59-34 victory, scoring five touchdowns for the Peach Bowl-bound Tar Heels.
“The way we played back then, it was no secret you were getting the ball,” McCauley said of Coach Bill Dooley’s three yards and a cloud of dust offense. “At the end of the Duke game, (quarterback) Paul Miller pulled the ball away from me and I thought I had fumbled, but then there was Paul holding it up as he crossed the goal line all alone.”
McCauley said the key to his career in college and 11 years with the old Baltimore Colts was staying healthy, and he hopes the same for Hampton, who has three times as many carries as any other UNC back.
“The kid is pretty special,” McCauley said in his Chapel Hill home. “I want him to stay healthy and not miss any games. I never missed a game, and I was lucky.”
Hampton’s heroics began last season when he turned in the fifth 1,000-yard season – best in the country – since Mack Brown returned to UNC and most of the attention has been on Maye and Sam Howell. The other four seasons crossing that special line belong to Michael Carter twice, Javonte Williams and Ty Chandler.
Carolina is favored by 10-plus points over 2-0 JMU because of its 13th-ranked rushing defense, holding teams to 68 yards per game and 2.1 per carry. James Madison is a respectable No. 55, limiting opponents to 120 yards and 3.64 yards per carry.
Another reason McCauley wants Hampton to play in every game is because he can become a rich young man when he is drafted into the NFL next April. “Look at someone like Christian McCaffery,” McCauley said. “I think he is making 5.6 million dollars this season. I was making 25 to 28,000. To me that was a lot of money.”
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jerome M. Ibrahim
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.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines