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Tar Heels Just Peachy
North Carolina's Willie Parker runs for a TD in the Peach Bowl.
A little bit of defense and a little bit of Ronald Curry was just what North Carolina needed to knock off Auburn 16-10 in the Peach Bowl. The Tar Heels' tanacious defense flustered the Tigers all night and Curry earned the game's offensive MVP to cap a impressive eight-win season for first-year coach John Bunting.
| INDIVIDUAL STATISTICAL LEADERS |
| |
NORTH CAROLINA |
YDS |
AUBURN |
YDS |
| Passing |
Darian Durant |
1843 |
Daniel Cobb |
1165 |
| Rushing |
Andre' Williams |
525 |
Carnell Williams |
614 |
| Receiving |
Sam Aiken |
789 |
Tim Carter |
570 |
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| TEAM STATISTICAL COMPARISON |
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| Total Offense |
 | 
337.5 | | | 
328.9 |
Passing Yards |
| | 220.9 | | |
190.2 |
Passing completion % |
| |
56.5 | | |
58.7 |
Completions |
| |
205 | | |
178 |
Attempts |
| |
363 | | |
303 |
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| Scoring Offense |
| |
25.9 | | |
21.2 |
Scoring Defense |
| |
20.8 | | |
23.4 |
Rushing Yards |
| |
116.5 | | |
138.8 |
Rushing attempts |
| |
480 | | |
437 |
Key: |
| North Carolina | | Auburn |
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"All Hail John Bunting -- the best coach on the North Carolina campus since Dean Smith."
ACC notebook
As the season draws to a close, it's time to look back at the highs and lows as well as salute the best coach and players in the ACC.
SEC notebook
As the season draws to a close, it's time to look back at the highs and lows as well as salute the best coach and players in the SEC.
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More News & Features
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WITH ROD GILMORE
The player who made the biggest difference in the Tar Heels' victory was Ryan Sims. Everybody talks about Julius Peppers, who got a lot of attention along the defensive line. But Sims had three of North Carolina's six sacks. The Tar Heels' defense dominated, and Sims showed why he – like Peppers – is likely to be a first-round pick in the NFL draft. He controlled the line of scrimmage. Auburn is a team that had struggled in the last few weeks of the regular season. The Tigers' offense lacked explosion, and North Carolina was able to capitalize.
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| IT WAS OVER WHEN |
| After Auburn pulled to within six points, North Carolina's Richard Moore recovered an onside kick with just under a minute left to play to seal the victory. |
| GAME BALL GOES TO |
| North Carolina coach John Bunting. He turned a QB controvery into an efficient two-QB system, turned the defense into a hard-nosed bunch, overcame an 0-3 start and turned the Tar Heels into an eight-win team. That's worthy of a game ball in our book. |
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NORTH CAROLINA CLUBHOUSE
QB Ronald Curry closed his Tar Heels' football career in grand style on Dec. 31, winning offensive MVP honors in a triumph over Auburn in the Peach Bowl.
AUBURN CLUBHOUSE
Without injured freshman RB Carnell Williams in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, the Tigers' offense was fruitless in a 16-10 loss to North Carolina on Dec. 31.
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NORTH CAROLINA VS. AUBURN
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