Notes: North Carolina 28, Duke 20

11/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football

By: Duke Sports Information

Duke vs. North Carolina Notes
Saturday, November 29, 2008

Pregame:

Game captains: Duke ? Re'quan Boyette, Cameron Goldberg, Vincent Rey, Tielor Robinson, Michael Tauiliili
North Carolina ? Trimane Goddard, Mark Paschal, Garrett Reynolds, Hakeem Nicks

North Carolina won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Duke will receive and defend the South endzone. The Blue Devils won one of 12 opening coin tosses in the 2008 season.

Weather at kickoff: 47 degrees, cloudy, 51-percent humidity, wind is east northeast at 9 MPH

Kickoff at 3:35 p.m.

Duke Game Starters: Offense ? QB Thaddeus Lewis, RB Jay Hollingsworth, FB Tielor Robinson, WR Eron Riley, WR Raphael Chestnut, TE Brett Huffman, LT Cameron Goldberg, LG Kyle Hill, C Bryan Morgan, RG Rob Schirmann, RT Fred Roland; Defense ? LDE Patrick Egboh, DT Vince Oghobaase, NG Clifford Respress, RDE Greg Akinbiyi, MLB Michael Tauiliili, WLB Vincent Rey, SLB Marcus Jones, CB Chris Rwabukamba, CB Glenn Williams, S Catron Gainey, S Adrian Aye-Darko.

Duke vs. North Carolina Game Notes

Starting Streaks
Senior wide receiver Eron Riley earned his team-high 37th straight starting nod. Vince Oghobaase and Rob Schirmann each started for the 36th straight game. Kevin Jones and Cameron Goldberg extended their start streaks to 24 straight games. Fred Roland and Michael Tauiliili each started for the 23rd consecutive game. Junior quarterback Thaddeus Lewis was back in the linueup after his streak of 33 consecutive starts was snapped last weekend at Virginia Tech.

The Carlyle Cup
The Carlyle Cup, an all-sport competition between Duke and North Carolina, is in its ninth year of existence. With a win on Saturday, North Carolina now holds a 5.5-2.5 lead in the 2008-09 standings.

Victory Bell
The battle for the Victory Bell began in 1948 with Duke head cheerleader Loring Jones and North Carolina head cheerleader Norman Spear deciding on the idea. North Carolina has won the Victory Bell game in each of the past five seasons.

Home Attendance
With a crowd of 30,322, Duke posted an average home season attendance of 28,727 in 2008. Duke drew four crowds of over 30,000 fans for the first time in school history, and the average home attendance was the highest since 1994 (30,845).

Blue Devils Score On Opening Possession
Duke scored on its first possession of the game when Thaddeus Lewis connected with Eron Riley for an eight-yard touchdown pass. It was the third time this season the Blue Devils scored a touchdown on the opening drive of the game. Duke also scored touchdowns on the opening drive against Northwestern and Navy.

Lewis Throws 15th Touchdown Pass
Junior quarterback Thaddeus Lewis threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Eron Riley in the first quarter for his 15th TD pass of the season. He now has 15 or more touchdown passes in two straight seasons. The 15 TD tosses are tied for the eighth most in a single season at Duke with Billy Ray (1989).

200-Yard Game
Thaddeus Lewis threw for 278 yards against North Carolina to give him six 200-yard games this season. In his career he has passed for over 200 yards in 16 games.

Lewis On Single Season Records Lists
Thaddeus Lewis completed 34-of-49 for 278 yards and one touchdown. He ended the season ranked seventh on Duke's single season list with 221 completions for the year. He also tied for eighth all-time with 15 touchdown passes this year.

Riley Catches Eighth TD Pass Of Year
Senior wide receiver Eron Riley caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from Thaddeus Lewis on the opening drive of the game for his eighth touchdown reception of the season. The eight touchdown catches are tied for seventh in a single season at Duke with Corey Thomas (1994) and Doug Green (1985). Riley now has 22 career receiving touchdowns to rank third all-time at Duke.

Riley Ends Career Among Top 10 Duke Receivers
Eron Riley finished his career ranked in the top 10 for receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. He finished tied for seventh with 144 receptions, second with 2,413 yards and third with 22 touchdown receptions.

Riley Among Top Single Seasons
Eron Riley moved up the top 10 list for receptions and touchdowns in a single season in Duke history. He now ranks tied for eighth with 61 receptions and tied for seventh with eight receiving touchdowns.

10 Receptions For Varner
True freshman Donovan Varner caught a career-high 10 passes for 73 yards. His previous best was four grabs for 41 yards against N.C. State. Varner finished the year with 21 catches for 164 yards and one touchdown. He is one of two Duke true freshmen to have 10 or more catches in a game this season. Johnny Williams had 11 receptions for 135 yards against Northwestern.

Defense Causes Turnovers
With two caused turnovers against North Carolina, Duke has caused a turnover in nine of the 12 games. They have now caused 26 turnovers in the season and have a +5 turnover margin.

Rey Scores Defensive Touchdown
Junior linebacker Vincent Rey recovered a fumble in the first quarter and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown. It was Rey's second fumble return for a touchdown this season. He also recovered a fumble and took it 37 yards for a score against Navy earlier this season. It was the third defensive touchdown for the Blue Devils on the year. Jabari Marshall returned an interception 42 yards for a score against Virginia. Rey now has four career fumble recoveries.

Tauiliili Grabs Fourth Interception
Senior linebacker Michael Tauiliili tallied his fourth interception of the season in the second quarter. He now has seven career interceptions. He has been a part of eight turnovers this season with four interceptions, one fumble recovery and three caused fumbles. In his career, he has seven interceptions, three fumble recoveries and eight caused fumbles.

Tauiliili Moves Up Career Tackles List
Michael Tauiliili moved up two spots on Duke's career tackles list and finished his career ranked fourth all-time with 434 tackles. He posted a career-high 140 tackles as a senior, his second straight 100-tackle season. The 140 tackles in 2008 are tied for the eighth most in a season at Duke.

Rey Reaches Century Mark For Second Straight Year
Vincent Rey moved over the century mark for tackles this season with 10 tackles on Saturday. He finished the season with 109 stops. Last year, he tallied 111 tackles to lead the team.

Double Digit Tackles
Michael Tauiliili posted 20 tackles for his sixth game with double figure tackles in 2008 and 18th of his career. Vincent Rey finished the game with 10 tackles for his fifith double figure tackle games on the season, including each of the last three games. Rey now has 12 double figure tackle games for his career.

Tauiliili Collects Career-High 20 Tackles
Michael Tauiliili capped off his final game at Duke with a career-high 20 tackles. He finished the day with seven solo stops, 13 assisted tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and an interception. The last 20-tackle game by a Duke player was 22 by Terrell Smith against Rice on Sept. 13, 2003.

Akinbiyi, Oghobaase Record Sixth Sacks
Senior defensive end Greg Akinbiyi finished the 2008 season tied for the team-high with six sacks after recording a sack against North Carolina. He posted a sack in each of the final four games of the season. He did not have a sack in his first three years. Vince Oghobaase recorded 1.5 sacks on Saturday to also finish the year with six sacks. He had 4.5 sacks over the final three games of the year and now has 11.5 career sacks.

Surgan Makes 55-Yard Field Goal
Senior Joe Surgan made a 55-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to make the score 21-17 at halftime. The field goal tied for the third longest in school history with Doug Peterson's 55-yard field goal against North Carolina in 1987. It was the second made field goal over 50 yards for Surgan this season. He also made a 52-yard field goal against Navy. He becomes the fourth kicker in Duke history with two or more field goals of over 50 yards, joining Sims Lenhardt (6), Brent Garber (4) and Matt Brooks (2).

Maggio Perfect On Extra Point Attempts
Sophomore Nick Maggio remained perfect on extra point attempts for the season. He is 28-of-28 on the year. The 28 attempts without a miss is tied for the second most in school history with Scott McKinney (1980). Only Randy Gardner made more extra points without a miss in a single season, going 32-for-32 in 1992.

Marshall Closes Career Among ACC Kickoff Leaders
Jabari Marshall had three kick returns for 69 yards to close his career second in the ACC with 2,630 kickoff return yards. Brandon Tate of North Carolina holds the ACC record with 2,688 career kickoff return yards.

Attendance: 30,322