North Carolina tries to rebound at Duke

Still smarting after its fourth straight loss to N.C. State on Saturday, the North Carolina football team will have a chance to redeem itself this weekend when it travels to Duke to take on its other in-state conference foe.

“It’s something that probably helps your football team in some respects bounce back,” UNC coach Butch Davis said.

“When you’ve had a tough, disappointing loss to bounce back and play somebody that’s certainly obviously a rival within your conference.”

Where the Tar Heels were looking to snap a streak in last week’s game, they’ll be looking to keep a winning streak alive Saturday in Durham. UNC has made Chapel Hill the permanent home of the Victory Bell in recent years, winning six straight contests and 19 of the last 20.

UNC has also dominated the rivalry from a historical perspective, leading the all-time series by a comfortable 57-35-4 margin.

Despite UNC’s consistent success against 3-8 Duke, quarterback T.J. Yates isn’t taking the darker-hued opposition lightly.

“Every time that we’ve played them, it’s always a battle,” he said. “Each team is always giving everything.”

The game will also carry postseason implications for the visitors. UNC became bowl eligible with its Nov. 6 win at Florida State but can better its bowl positioning with a win at Wallace Wade Stadium.

Current projections have the Tar Heels going to either the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn., the Military Bowl in Washington, D.C., or the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, where UNC has lost to Big East opposition to close out consecutive 8-5 campaigns.

“We can’t really worry about that until after Duke,” Yates said. “If we want to improve our bowl status, we’ve got to come out and get a win and be impressive against Duke. We’ve got to focus on them before we worry about the bowl.

”Though things have not gone according to plan for the Tar Heels this season, a UNC victory would give Davis another milestone during his fourth year as head coach. With a win, UNC will move to 7-5 and secure its third straight winning season. Davis would become the first coach to accomplish the feat since Mack Brown went eight seasons in a row with a winning percentage higher than .500.

“We go in every game intending to win,” defensive tackle Quinton Coples said. “So we’re just going to take Duke in the same aspect or whatever, and just make sure we take care of them, make sure we go out with a winning season and give these seniors a chance to go out with at least a bowl game.”

More than anything, though, Yates said it is important for the Tar Heels to close out the season with pride, even with UNC’s ACC title hopes down the drain and the team shouldering the burden of losing four straight to the Wolfpack.

“We’ve been through so much emotionally,” Yates said. “Just all the crazy stuff that’s been going and everybody’s heads are kind of spinning right now. It’s coming down to an end and hopefully we’ll get a nice little break after the Duke game.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.