James Davis led the rushing onslaught with 95 yards on 15 carries, playing sparingly after halftime.
by Dan Scott
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Correspondent
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Sat Sep 23 15:59:58 GMT-04:00 2006
CLEMSON - With the 1981 National Championship team on hand to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its title, the current edition of the Clemson Tigers turned in a Saturday afternoon performance reminiscent of those glory days gone by.
Tommy Bowden's team followed a blueprint laid down by that great Danny Ford-coached unit, using a devastating ground attack and a suffocating defense to humiliate North Carolina, 52-7, at Death Valley. The game was played before a sellout crowd announced at 83,000.
It was Clemson's (3-1, 2-1 ACC) second straight victory. North Carolina falls to 1-3 (0-2).
The Tigers rushed for a season-high 324 yards and seven touchdowns, four by sophomore tailback James Davis.
"Our offensive line really responded today and made some statements," said Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden. "That’s a good sign that they can
come out after I challenged them and showed some pride.”
Meanwhile, the defense held the Tar Heels to just 150 total yards. Most of those, and the UNC points, came in the fourth quarter vs. Clemson's reserves.
"We didn’t play very well," said North Carolina head coach John Bunting. "We let some things get to us early. We didn’t plan well for this game.
"We knew Clemson was a very good football team. They played very well. They took it to us.”
At the end of three quarters the Tigers led 52-0 and North Carolina had mustered just 63 total yards.
Clemson won the total yardage battle 504-150, controlled time of possession by more than 17 minutes and didn't punt the entire afternoon.
Davis led the rushing onslaught with 95 yards on 15 carries, playing sparingly after halftime. His four first-half touchdown runs (1, 1, 10 and 2 yards). Freshman C.J. Spiller added 58 yards on 12 carries and two scores (7, 1).
"The offense did what it was supposed to do today," said Davis. "I have to give credit to my offensive line. They
opened up holes for me and allowed me to gain big yards the entire game."
Reggie Merriweather also scored on a one-yard run in the second quarter. He rushed for 43 yards on eight carries before leaving the game in the third quarter with an apparent ankle injury. The extent of his injury has yet to be determined.
Meanwhile the Tar Heels' offense, which came in averaging nearly 375 yards per game, never got untracked against the Clemson defense.
“Today was just a total team win," said Clemson defensive end Gaines Adams. "The offense defense and special teams had a great day. After the last two weeks it was nice to be over there on the sidelines for most of the third and fourth quarters."
Leading rusher Ronnie McGill finished with just 52 yards, while redshirt freshman quarterback Cam Sexton completed just 7-of-22 passes for 96 yards and an interception. The Tigers sacked Sexton twice and also recovered a fumble on a kickoff in the first quarter which led to a touchdown.
Clemson returns to action at 7 p.m. next Saturday, hosting Louisiana Tech.
Box Score
Attendance: 83000
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
North Carolina...... 0 0 0 7 - 7
Clemson............. 21 14 17 0 - 52
Scoring Summary:
1st 07:55 CU - Davis, J 1 yd run (Dean, J kick)
NC 0 - CU 7
04:19 CU - Spiller, C 7 yd run (Dean, J kick)
NC 0 - CU 14
02:10 CU - Davis, J 1 yd run (Dean, J kick)
NC 0 - CU 21
2nd 05:14 CU - Merriweather, R 1 yd run (Dean, J kick)
NC 0 - CU 28
01:40 CU - Davis, J 10 yd run (Dean, J kick)
NC 0 - CU 35
3rd 10:46 CU - Davis, J 2 yd run (Dean, J kick)
NC 0 - CU 42
07:14 CU - Spiller, C 1 yd run (Dean, J kick)
NC 0 - CU 49
01:06 CU - Dean, J 42 yd field goal
NC 0 - CU 52
4th 10:30 NC - Sexton, C 4 yd run (Barth, C kick)
NC 7 - CU 52
Team Statistics
NC CU
FIRST DOWNS................... 8 30
Rushing..................... 3 19
Passing..................... 5 7
Penalty..................... 0 4
NET YARDS RUSHING............. 54 324
Rushing Attempts............ 22 58
Average Per Rush............ 2.5 5.6
Yards Gained Rushing........ 71 331
Yards Lost Rushing.......... 17 7
NET YARDS PASSING............. 96 180
Completions-Attempts-Int.... 7-23-1 14-21-1
Average Per Attempt......... 4.2 8.6
Average Per Completion...... 13.7 12.9
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 150 504
Total offense plays......... 45 79
Average Gain Per Play....... 3.3 6.4
Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 1-1 1-0
Penalties: Number-Yards....... 9-65 5-40
PUNTS-YARDS................... 6-270 0-0
Average Yards Per Punt...... 45.0 0.0
Net Yards Per Punt.......... 44.0 0.0
Inside 20................... 1 0
50+ Yards................... 3 0
Touchbacks.................. 0 0
Fair catch.................. 0 0
KICKOFFS-YARDS................ 2-123 9-581
Average Yards Per Kickoff... 61.5 64.6
Net Yards Per Kickoff....... 46.0 47.3
Touchbacks.................. 1 4
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 0-0-0 4-6-0
Average Per Return.......... 0.0 1.5
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 5-75-0 1-11-0
Average Per Return.......... 15.0 11.0
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 1-2-0 1-10-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD. 0-0-0 0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 0
Possession Time............... 21:43 38:17
1st Quarter................. 6:34 8:26
2nd Quarter................. 5:29 9:31
3rd Quarter................. 4:25 10:35
4th Quarter................. 5:15 9:45
Third-Down Conversions........ 1 of 10 6 of 12
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 2 1 of 2
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 1-4 2-12
PAT Kicks..................... 1-1 7-7
Field Goals................... 0-0 1-1
Individual Statistics
North Carolina
Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg
--------------------------------------------
McGill, R 11 53 1 52 0 16 4.7
Edwards, B 4 8 2 6 0 8 1.5
Warren, J 1 2 0 2 0 2 2.0
Sexton, C 4 4 6 -2 1 4 -0.5
Dailey, J 2 4 8 -4 0 4 -2.0
Totals... 22 71 17 54 1 16 2.5
Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack
--------------------------------------------
Sexton, C 22-7-1 96 0 19 1
Dailey, J 1-0-0 0 0 0 1
Totals... 23-7-1 96 0 19 2
Receiving No. Yds TD Long
-----------------------------------
Holley, J 3 43 0 19
Nicks, H 1 17 0 17
Rome, B 1 16 0 16
Foster, B 1 14 0 14
Edwards, B 1 6 0 6
Totals... 7 96 0 19
Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TB
----------------------------------------------
Wooldridge, D 6 270 45.0 53 1 0
Totals... 6 270 45.0 53 1 0
Punts Kickoffs Intercept
All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg
---------------------------------------------
Taylor, K 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2
Tate, B 0 0 0 5 75 23 0 0 0
Totals... 0 0 0 5 75 23 1 2 2
Field goal attempts
----------------------------------------
Kickoffs No. Yds TB OB Avg
---------------------------------------
Barth, C 2 123 1 0 61.5
Clemson
Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg
--------------------------------------------
Davis, J 15 95 0 95 4 20 6.3
Spiller, C 12 59 1 58 2 12 4.8
Chancellor, D 12 47 2 45 0 10 3.8
Merriweather, R 8 43 0 43 1 17 5.4
Proctor, W 5 34 4 30 0 16 6.0
Harper, C 3 25 0 25 0 8 8.3
Stuckey, C 1 19 0 19 0 19 19.0
Ford, J 1 9 0 9 0 9 9.0
Macko, P 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
Totals... 58 331 7 324 7 20 5.6
Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack
--------------------------------------------
Proctor, W 14-9-1 134 0 47 1
Harper, C 7-5-0 46 0 11 0
Totals... 21-14-1 180 0 47 1
Receiving No. Yds TD Long
-----------------------------------
Chancellor, D 3 30 0 11
Kelly, A 3 17 0 10
Hunter, T 2 71 0 47
Taylor, R 2 39 0 28
Diomande, A 2 16 0 11
Stuckey, C 2 7 0 5
Totals... 14 180 0 47
Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TB
----------------------------------------------
Totals... 0 0 0.0 0 0 0
Punts Kickoffs Intercept
All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg
---------------------------------------------
Clemons, C 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 10 10
Spiller, C 1 -8 0 1 11 11 0 0 0
Ford, J 3 14 6 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals... 4 6 6 1 11 11 1 10 10
Field goal attempts
----------------------------------------
Dean, J 3rd 01:06 42 yds - Good
Kickoffs No. Yds TB OB Avg
---------------------------------------
Dean, J 9 581 4 0 64.6
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