The Chapel Hill News from Chapel Hill, North Carolina • 13

Sports Section Clmsifieds The Chapel Hill Newspaper SUNDAY NOVEMBER 18 1979 Stifling Defense Keys Win By GENE UPCHURCH Sports Editor CHARLOTTESVILLE Va There was something about playing in front of mom pop the high school coaches and all those friends that got UNC outside linebacker Lawrence Taylor snortin' and chompin' at the bit All those folks made it over from Williamsburg Va Lawrence's hometown to watch Taylor and the North Carolina football team face Virginia's best football team in a decade Taylor and the North Carolina defense were big reasons the Tar Heels were able to say "yes" to an invitation to play in the Gator Bowl in December Taylor was all over the field and Virginia's offensive players Saturday racking up 13 tackles and a pass interception and putting pressure on Virginia's quarterbacks all afternoon "I just felt like I had to get off and play good" said Taylor who admitted playing in front of some of the hometown folks fired him up "As the defense got hyped I got hyped" The North Carolina defense which earned a reputation for the rambunctious style in which it played earlier in the season put together its best overall effort sine a 17-7 win over Pittsburgh in the second game of the season Of course the defensive players knew that a possible Gator Bowl bid hung in the balance of the outcome of the Virginia game and that thought helped the players as they limited Virginia the second leading rushing team in the Atlantic Coast Conference to only 93 yards "It was one of our better games" Taylor said Taylor playing with the abandon coaches have wished he would show couldn't explain exactly why he was all over the field other than he was a little more fired up than usual But he was everywhere In the second quarter he intercepted a pass by Gordie Whitehead that gave the Tar Heels good field position after an eight-yard return even though the offense turned it over on the next play He also hit Whitehead before the half expired causing a fumble that teammate Calvin Daniels recovered With UNC leading 13-0 in the second half Taylor batted down a pass that snuffed a UVA drive and had a key hit in Virginia's next drive But Taylor's biggest play of the game may have been in the fourth quarter when Virginia was faced with a fourth and five at the Tar Heel seven-yard line As Cav quarterback Todd Kirtley dropped back to pass and looked for his receivers Taylor rushed in and swiped at him throwing him off-balance Senior strong safety Ricky Barden came in and hit Kirtley as the ball was thrown incomplete "I want to tell you something" UNC coach Dick Crum said "If Ricky Barden is not an All-America I've never seen one I was all over the field Bu that's the way he's played every week He is a super super football player We got great play from (senior linebacker Buddy) Curry as we have all year and Lawrence Taylor and Calvin Daniels may have played their best game" Barden's interception at the end of the game marked the third straight year he has had an interception against Virginia TAYLOR SAID it was tough to single out one thing the Tar Heel defense did that made it so effective against Virginina "We overrated Virginia" he said "It was a good team and ran some options well But after the first half we knew we could beat these guys We knew they really hadn't done anything" Taylor said one of the keys was an injury suffered by Virginia QB Kirtley late in the second half (Continued from page 7B) Lawrence Taylor Buddy Curry Benched Kupec Blasts UNC Staff Duke Wins In Overtime safal aWL lav ii i am am HkJ JKf A By GENE UPCHURCH Sports Editor CHARLOTTESVILLE Va In the midst of jubilation in the North Carolina lockeroom because of an invitation to play in the Gator Bowl Dec 28 there was one very unhappy person Matt Kupec UNC's senior quarterback openly criticized UNC coach Dick Crum for what Kupec thought was conservative play-calling by Crum and said he was humiliated when he was benched early in the first half of UNC's 13-7 win over Virginia here Saturday Kupec was replaced after the first two series of the game when North Carolina was forced to punt without making a first down Kupec was replaced by sophomore Chuck Sharpe who saw considerable action last year Sharpe remained in the game for the most of the first half and Kupec returned to the game shortly before halftime Kupec was upset following the game because the Tar Heels threw only seven passes completing two of them for 17 yards "I'm getting pretty tired of it" Kupec said "How can we be so conservative so stinking conservative?" Kupec always has been an advocate of UNC increasing its passing attack but his was the first time he had openly challenged Crum's offensive philosophy "Six (actually seven) passes" Kupec said "Wishbone teams even pass more than that" KUPEC SAID he could not understand why he was removed the from the game after only two series and indicated he did not think the move was fair because the offense hadn't had a fair chance to "get warmed up" when he was benched Matt Rupee SPRINGFIELD Mass (UPI) Center Mike Gminski scored 21 points five in overtime to pace sixth-ranked Duke to an 82-76 triumph over fifth-ranked Kentucky Saturday in the first annual Hall of Fame Tip-off Classic inaugurating the start of the 1979-80 college basketball season The 6-foot-ll Gminski saddled with four fouls in the second half snapped a 74-74 tie with a pair of free throws and added a three-point play in the closing seconds of overtime to give Duke a 79-74 lead The game was played before a capacity crowd of 8939 at the Springfield Civic Center the city which claims to be the birthplace of basketball Junior forward Gene Banks had 17 points for Duke before fouling out with 27 seconds left in regulation Guard Vince Taylor added 14 for the Blue Devils Freshman center Sam Bowie led Kentucky with 22 points guard Kyle Macy had 14 and forward Fred Cowan added 13 Duke which trailed most of the second half after leading 42-35 at intermission sent the game into overtime when senior guard Bob Bender banked in a running right-hander with two seconds left in regulation The hoop marked only the second time the game had been tied to that point Kentucky had led 72-70 on a pair of free throws by Macy with 27 seconds remaining and missed a chance to ice the contest when Bowie failed on the front end of a 1-and-1 situation at the foul line Duke which moments earlier also had failed on a 1-and-l regained the ball and Bender drove in for the tying hoop DUKE (82) Dennard 2 3-3 7 Banks 6 5-6 17 Gminski 9 3-3 21 Taylor 6 2-3 14 Bender 4 3-6 11 Engelland 0 0-0 0 Emma 0 0-0 0 Suddath 4 3-4 11 Tissaw 0 1-2 1 A Williams 0 0-1 0 Totals 31 20-28 82 KENTUCKY (76) Cowan 5 3-3 13 Williams 2 7-7 11 Bowie 9 4-10 22 Macy 4 6-6 14 Shidler 0 0-0 0 Minniefield 3 0-0 6 Anderson 2 34 7 Hord 0 0-0 0 Heitz 01-21 Verderber 0 0-0 0 Hurt 1 0-0 2 Totals 26 24-32 76 Halftime-Duke 42 Kentucky 35 Duke 72 Kentucky 72 Fouled Dennard Banks Anderson Total fouls-Duke 25 Kentucky 26 Technical-None A-8939 "I played nine games this year and the next thing I know I'm on the bench" he said "I've had a lot of downs in my life but this is the lowest I've ever been" Kupec said he knew before the game that Sharpe would play but said he was "taken aback" when Sharpe played as much as he did "Chuck did his job" Kupec said "But it is tough when you haven't played that much" Kupec said he thought Crum wanted Sharpe in the game because Sharpe is a better runner and Crum wanted to run some option plays Even though the Tar (Continued from page 8B) Sports Schedule SUNDAY TV SPORTS Carolina Football Show Ch28 NFL Today 12:30 pm Ch 11 College Football '70 12: 30 pm Ch 8 Dallas-Washington 1 pm Ch 11 NFL Football 1 pm Ch 28 Duke Football 1 :30 pm Ch 5 Pittsburgh-San Diego 4 pm Ch 28 Duke's Ned Gonet Tries To Escape Pursuing NC State Defenders Devils Fall 28- 7 The Bowl Lineup Wolfpack Pounds Duke Wins Title NEW YORK (UPI) Following is a list of teams that have accepted bowl invitations all times EST Dec IS Garden State Bowl At East Rutherford fiJ Temple (8-2) vs undetermined opponent 1 pm Independence Bowl At Shreveport La McNeese State (10-0) vs undetermined opponent 2:30 pm Dec 21 Holiday Bowl At San Diego Indiana (7-4) vs Brigham Young (10-0) or San Diego State (7-2) 9 pm Dec 22 Liberty Bowl At Memphis Tenn Penn State (7-3) vs Tulane (8-2) ABC-TV Sun Bowl At El Paso Texas x-Washington (9-2) vs Texas (8-1) Houston (8-1) or Arkansas (9-1) 12:30 pm CBS-TV Tangerine Bowl At Orlando Fla Wake Forest (8-3) vs undetermin ed opponent 8 pm Dec 25 Fiesta Bowl AtTempe Ariz Pittsburgh (9-1) vs undetermined opponent 3:45 pm NBC-TV Dec 28 Gator Bowl At Jacksonville Fla Michigan (8-3) vs North Carolina (6-3-1) 9 pm ABC-TV Dec 29 Hall of Fame Bowl At Birmingham Ala South Carolina (7-3) vs undetermined opponent 7 pm Dec 31 Peach Bowl At Atlanta Clemson (8-2) vs Baylor (7-3) 3 pm CBS-TV Blubonnet Bowl At Houston Purdue (9-2) vs undetermined opponent 8 pm Jan 1 Cotton Bowl At Dallas Southwest Conference Champion (Texas Arkansas or Houston) vs (Continued from page 8B) By RON GREEN JR Staff Writer DURHAM For only the second time this fall Duke fans had something to cheer about in Wallace Wade Stadium The first time was the opening game of what has been a difficult football season when the Blue Devils defeated East Carolina 28-14 Under sparkling skies Saturday afternoon the Blue Devil fans were whooping it up again But it wasn't the football team causing the excitement While the football Blue Devils were dropping a 28-7 decision to North Carolina State the majority of the 24100 fans were celebrating the basketball Devils' 82-76 victory over Kentucky paying little attention to the football activity The rowdy group of Wolfpack followers who made the short trip from Raleigh were doing plenty of rejoicing also They could have cared less about the basketball game They were celebrating State's clinching of the ACC championship The Pack's victory over Duke gave them a 5-1 conference mark 7-4 overall and the first football championship in Raleigh since 1973 The victory celebration was tempered slightly however by the absence of a bowl bid A scout from the Garden State Bowl watched State's victory but did not invite the Wolfpack saying no decision had been made about which teams would be invited Despite the bowl situation the Wolfpack players and coaches were ecstatic "I FEEL like we've just won the Super Bowl linebacker Joe Hannah said over the noise of the winner's lockerroom "I've wanted this the last three years "Sure it would've been nice to be 10-1 or 11-0 but the ACC championship was our goal" "The ACC that was our main goal at the beginning of the season" running back Dwight Sullivan said "It's been a good season in that respect "It hasn't been bad but kinda so-so in other respects Don't get me wrong the ACC is what we're here for I'd like to go to a major bowl but we're the ACC champs and no one else can say that" Entering the game State knew that a victory would mean the title It didn't take the Pack long to establish their dominance over the 2-7-1 Blue Devils The first time the Pack had the ball it marched 73 yards for a touchdown In the 10-play drive the ball never went in the air as the Wolfpack rammed through the Duke defense Chuckie Canady starting in place of the injured Billy Ray Vickers did most of the running gaining 47 yards in five carries before injuring his arm Wayne Mclean scored the touchdown from six yards out with 9:43 left in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead Duke acted like it might play hard to beat when it got the ball back but a 16-play drive died at the State 32 when quarterback Craig Browning on his first play of the game fumbled the snap It was the first of seven Blue Devil turnovers Early in the second quarter State marched downfield again keeping the ball exclusively on the ground Sullivan broke loose for a 49-yard run to the Duke 10 Three plays later quarterback Scott Smith made it 14-0 when he carried in a two-yard score THINGS SUDDENLY went a little haywire for both teams after State's second score Eric Williams picked off the first of his three interceptions at the Duke 44 Three plays later Craig Hoskins matched Williams by intercepting a Wolfpack aerial at the Duke 29 Refusing to be shown up by Hoskins Williams grabbed another interception on the second play of Duke's possession This time State held on to the ball long enough to score Smith was again the man going into the end zone this time on an 11-yard run (Continued from page 7B.