North Carolina defeats Duke 19-6

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Facing a prolific passing attack and playing without its top rusher, North Carolina found a way to inch closer to bowl eligibility.

Ryan Houston ran for a career-high 164 yards while Jheranie Boyd scored the clinching touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to help the Tar Heels beat Duke 19-6 on Saturday, extending their recent dominance of their next-door rivals.

Charles Brown also had a key interception late in the third quarter as part of a dominating defensive performance for the Tar Heels (6-3, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who pressured Thad Lewis the entire game to derail the passing offense that led the Blue Devils (5-4, 3-2) to three straight victories.

North Carolina lost starting tailback Shaun Draughn to a shoulder injury on the game's first offensive play and got relatively little from its offense outside of Houston. Still, the Tar Heels are one win from bowl eligibility for the second straight season.

"The one thing this team did do tonight was they fought," coach Butch Davis said. "They competed and they played as hard as they possibly could."

It was the first meeting in 15 years in which both teams had winning records, while it was one of the rare times in the rivalry that they weren't meeting to close the regular season. But it ended much like the rest, with North Carolina winning for the 19th time in 20 meetings.

Houston finished with a career-high 37 carries, including 10 on the clock-draining drive that ended with Boyd's touchdown for a 16-6 lead with 6:57 left. He also had the lead block on Matt Daniels that allowed Boyd to get to the right pylon on that 3-yard end-around.

"He's just a workhorse and he just went out there and ran his heart out," senior left tackle Kyle Jolly said. "If I was Ryan, I probably would've fell asleep on the field after the game. I wouldn't have been able to walk into the locker room."

It was the most rushing yards by a Tar Heel player in five years, an impressive performance for a guy who typically served as the short-yardage and goal-line back and had never had more than 18 carries or 74 yards rushing in a game. Then again, the Tar Heels didn't have much choice after Draughn injured his left shoulder on a 9-yard gain and didn't return.

By the end of the game, however, the 245-pound back was dragging tacklers an extra yard or two on every carry.

"I was running through arm tackles and I feel like they weren't trying to press to me like they were in the first quarter," Houston said. "I felt like they were worn down, and I knew if I picked up and ran harder, it would be more difficult for them to tackle me."

Boyd's touchdown provided more than enough cushion for North Carolina's defense. Duke finished with 125 total yards and had to fight for every one of them, while Lewis was under constant pressure and didn't have time to wait for his receivers to get open.

North Carolina went ahead 9-6 on the third of Casey Barth's career-high four field goals on the final play of the third quarter, and Duke didn't manage a yard of offense in the final period.

"We really were fortunate to have a chance there in the fourth quarter to win the game," Duke coach David Cutcliffe said, "because the bottom line is we got whipped."

Lewis had thrown for at least 300 yards in four straight games, but finished 16-for-33 for 113 yards. His biggest mistake came when he tried to force the ball to Conner Vernon late in the third quarter, and Brown jumped in front of the pass and returned it 54 yards to set up Barth's go-ahead kick.

That turnovers proved critical considering Duke's Leon Wright intercepted a pass from T.J. Yates and returned it 30 yards only minutes earlier.

"I was hoping that Leon was going to score with it," Cutcliffe said. "I was trying to block for him all I could mentally because we were struggling so much offensively."

North Carolina defensive end Robert Quinn led the effort on Lewis, finishing with seven tackles, three sacks, a forced fumble and six quarterback pressures.

"Those guys up front did a great job for them," Lewis said. "They came in with a tenacious attitude and played their best game since I've been watching film on them."

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Nov 7, 2009 - 09:40 p.m. EDT

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