North Carolina Head Coach and Student-Athlete Quotes
Coach John Bunting on the game:
"Obviously the guy that kept us in the game was Dan Orner. (The special teams coach) had told me that he had looked good in pre-game warm-ups from 50 yards-plus, so we were going to take a shot at it anytime we got close to the 35."
"In the second half, our offense began to move the ball more, and I think we wore them down a bit, plus our defense had some big stops on a couple of their drives, including three and out at the end. At one point, Syracuse had kind of gotten on a roll and we needed some ball control from our offense to give the defense a rest, and they did."
"This is a green team that came in here and played under difficult circumstances in a tough environment. They played their hearts out."
Sophomore wide receiver Jarwarski Pollock on the play of Dan Orner:
"Thanks to Orner. He kept us in the game. He gave us a lot of big points."
Pollock on his 48-yard TD reception:
"We had a post play called. The cornerback was playing about 12 yards off and Durant threw me a good ball."
Junior kicker Dan Orner on his NCAA-tying record of three 50-yard field goals:
"Fortunately, I have a good holder and a good snapper. I hadn't really proved anything. This game was kind of a break-out game for me. It kind of puts Carolina on the map,but it was really all for the team."
"I had no clue that I had tied an NCAA record until after the game. Things just fell into place."
"Those were the longest field goals I've ever kicked in a game."
Orner on kicking in the Carrier Dome's climate-controlled environment:
"Anything was better than last weekend. Last weekend, it was downpouring rain. I was just looking forward to kicking in a climate-controlled environment. I came here on Friday and kicked a bunch of field goals and only missed one. I'm pretty much in the groove right now."
Orner on his mental preparation before kicking long field goals:
"The first one seemed really far, especially with the short uprights. I knew I could hit from 55 yards because that's what you practice. My holder, John Lafferty, said, 'Just be smooth. Keep your head down and just stroke it.' That's what I tried to do."
QB Darian Durant
"It was a bit of a tough start, but once we all got on the same page, it was OK."
"On our last touchdown drive, we said that this was what big time football is all about, and that this is where games are won or lost."
On the long touchdown pass to Pollock:
"We had been getting behind them all night. He had told me that he was going to be open on that play and he sure was."
On third down success:
"We had studied a lot of film of their tendencies on third down, so we had a pretty good idea about what they were going to do."
