Oct. 9, 2008

By Lauren Brownlow

Every Thursday, check TarHeelBlue.com for the latest edition of the Game Guide, which provides all the information you need to get ready for gameday.

The Basics

No. 22 Carolina (4-1, 1-1) will round out its non-conference schedule by hosting Notre Dame (4-1). Carolina is ranked in the Associated Press poll for the first time since 2001 when it held the No. 22 slot for just one week. Carolina was ten points shy of being ranked in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Top 25 poll; Notre Dame received votes in both polls. Carolina is coming off of a 38-12 win over then-No. 24 Connecticut at Kenan Stadium. Notre Dame is coming off of a 28-21 win at home over Stanford.

Carolina is 1-16 against Notre Dame all-time. The two teams have not met in Chapel Hill since 1975. Notre Dame has won the last six games in the series. This will mark Notre Dame's first game to Chapel Hill since 1975 when backup quarterback sophomore Joe Montana came in and led the Irish to a comeback victory, 21-14. This game marks the first time ever the two schools have met when Carolina is ranked and Notre Dame is not. Carolina's only win in the series came in Chapel Hill in 1960; Carolina is 1-4 against the Irish at home.

Game Time: Notre Dame at North Carolina, 3:30, ABC/ESPN

Carolina's game notes can be found here and Notre Dame's official football site is here.

Last Time: Carolina lost 45-26 to No. 11 Notre Dame in South Bend on November 4, 2006. Notre Dame got out to a 24-7 lead early on only to give up a 90-yard punt return to Brandon Tate, but the extra point was blocked. Notre Dame scored another touchdown to make the score 31-13. On the first drive of the second half, Carolina went 83 yards for a touchdown, only to have the extra point blocked again to make the score 31-19. Notre Dame scored on the next drive to take a 38-19 lead but Joe Dailey completed a 72-yard touchdown pass to Hakeem Nicks to cut the score to 38-26 with 7:25 to go in the third. Notre Dame tacked on an insurance touchdown with 11:13 to go on a drive that was extended by a Carolina personal foul.

Hakeem Nicks led Carolina with six catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns. Joe Dailey completed 14 of 22 passes for 213 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Ronnie McGill led Carolina in rushing with 13 carries for 61 yards, 4.7 yards per carry. Notre Dame's Brady Quinn completed 23 of 35 passes for 346 yards and four touchdowns. Darius Walker led Notre Dame with 86 yards rushing. John Carlson had eight catches for 91 yards and a touchdown. Jeff Samardzija had six catches for 177 yards and a touchdown. Rhema McKnight added six catches for 56 yards and two touchdowns.

Gameday Weather: Check the local weather forecast before heading for the game.

Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 2:30 PM. The radio broadcast is also available on XM Channel 192 at 3:30. Since it's a home game, the Tar Heel Sports Network broadcast can be heard on XM.

TV Coverage: The game will be shown regionally on ABC and on ESPN in certain areas.

Game week TV/radio coverage: "Butch Davis Live", Coach Davis' weekly radio show, will be broadcast live from the Top of the Hill restaurant on Franklin Street every Wednesday at 7:00. Inside the Huddle with Butch Davis airs Saturday morning at 9 a.m. on FOX Sports South. Inside the Huddle with Butch Davis will air on Sunday at 11 a.m. on WTVD ABC 11 in the Triangle and will review Saturday's game. The Tar Heel Football Review show featuring highlights of the previous week's games will air Tuesday's at 7 p.m. and Thursday's at 8 p.m. in the Triangle and Fayetteville on the local Time Warner Cable station.

Storylines

Special Teams: Carolina has been able to change the complexion of several of its games in a positive way on some aspect of special teams, whether it be the punt-block units against Connecticut or the returners like Brandon Tate against McNeese State. It's something that has helped Carolina match its win total from last season already. Carolina blocked three punts and held the Huskies to 19.8 net yards per punt. Out of six punts, three were blocked and one was a touchback. Terrence Brown averaged 37.8 net yards per punt and Carolina allowed just 1.7 yards per punt return. Carolina allowed 21.6 yards per kickoff return but the longest return on the day was 26 yards. Connecticut averaged just 45.3 net yards per kickoff despite its kicker averaging 66.9 yards per kick.

Carolina, on the other hand, has had issues with kickoffs and continues to as it averaged 55.8 yards on seven kickoffs and 39.8 net yards per kickoff. In 31 kickoffs this season, Carolina does not have a touchback, one of only two ACC teams not to have at least one. Still, Carolina is second in the league in kickoff coverage with 46.2 net yards per kickoff on the year. The 61.3 yards per kickoff is ninth-highest in the league. Carolina is 11th in the league in punting, averaging 31.6 net yards per punt with an ACC-high 6.9 yards allowed per return. Terrence Brown is averaging 40.3 yards per punt, fifth in the league.

Carolina is tenth in the league in field goals, making just 5 of 9 this season. Only two teams have missed more field goals. Carolina has visited the red zone 20 times and scored on 15 trips. But of the five misses, three were missed field goals. Carolina has turned it over just once and another time, the Tar Heels kneeled the ball down in the McNeese State red zone at the end of the game. The Tar Heels have scored 11 touchdowns in the red zone but the 4-of-7 mark on fairly short field goals could come back to bite the Tar Heels. If Carolina had made those field goals, it would have converted 18 of 20 red-zone trips which would be good for fourth in the ACC. As it stands, the Tar Heels are ninth.

Notre Dame has been incredibly strong in all aspects of its special teams. The Irish are third in the country in kickoff coverage, allowing 15.74 yards per return. They have done that without recording a single touchback. Purdue came into the game against Notre Dame averaging 31.8 yards per kickoff return, which was second in the country and Notre Dame held them to 13.9 yards per return. The Irish are also tenth in the country in punt return defense, allowing 3.14 yards per return and just one return for more than 10 yards. Notre Dame is 16th in net punting on the strength of punter Eric Maust, who is averaging 42.0 yards per punt. He has five punts of 50 yards or more and has landed nine inside the 20-yard line. Out of 23 punts this season, 13 have not been returned and seven have been returned for three yards or less.

"They have done just an outstanding job of covering punts and kickoffs," Davis said. "Their gunners do a great job, their kickoff cover unit does an excellent job spacing, running down, challenging the returns. They're made the other teams pay the price of having to go the long, hard way."

Carolina's secondary versus Notre Dame's wide receivers: In every game this season, Carolina has arguably had the best wide-receiving corps on the field. It might be a bit closer this week as the Tar Heel secondary will see the best group of wide receivers it has seen since the Tiquan Underwood and Kenny Britt duo from Rutgers. The Carolina secondary dealt with that challenge by quite literally hitting the Scarlet Knights' stars right in the mouth, setting the tone early on. But a big difference between those two teams is that the Rutgers quarterback has been struggling this season and Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen appears to be just hitting his stride.

Carolina is higher-ranked in the league in rushing defense (seventh) than in pass defense (eighth), allowing 144.4 yards on the ground and 201.4 yards in the air. However, Carolina is fifth in pass defense efficiency, allowing quarterbacks to complete 58% of their passes for just five touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Seven of Carolina's nation-leading 12 interceptions have come from the Carolina secondary. Trimane Goddard is leading the way - and the ACC - with four interceptions, three in the last two games. Ten of Carolina's 12 passes broken up have also come from the secondary; Kendric Burney leads the way in that department with three. The group was up to the challenge against Rutgers and needs to be ready again come Saturday.

Carolina is fortunate enough to have a talented senior like Brooks Foster at the third wide receiver spot. Notre Dame has similar luck, slotting speedy senior David Grimes in the slot. Grimes torched the Tar Heels in South Bend two seasons ago with101 yards on three kickoff returns, including a 50-yard return. Grimes missed the Michigan State game with a back injury and since his return, he has 11 catches for 125 yards and a touchdown in the last two games. The other two wide receivers are sophomore Golden Tate and freshman Michael Floyd. Tate had 127 receiving yards against Michigan, including a 60-yard touchdown grab. He leads the Irish with 397 receiving yards and has five catches of over 30 yards. He is averaging 79.4 receiving yards per game (37th in the country) and 4.6 catches per game. Against Michigan, Tate had 116 yards on three catches in the first half and ended the game with 127 yards. He is averaging 17.3 yards per catch. Floyd set a career high last weekend in receiving yards with 115 on five catches, including a touchdown. After catching three passes for 32 yards and one touchdown in the first two games, he has 18 catches for 311 yards (17.3 yards per catch) and two touchdowns in the last three games.

But defending the pass is not strictly up to Carolina's secondary. It wouldn't hurt for Carolina's front seven to be able to pressure Jimmy Clausen. Carolina only recorded one sack against Connecticut but was able to get a lot more pressure on the quarterback than in recent weeks. As was shown by Tyrod Taylor slipping out of the grasp of Robert Quinn to complete a third-down pass, the Tar Heels have been close but not quite there all season.

"They know what they're doing throwing the football and they've got people that can execute it - a big, massive, powerful offensive line that doesn't give up much pressure, a quarterback that's got a live arm," Davis said. "There's not a throw on the field that he can't make. So it will be a big challenge."

Handling prosperity: Carolina has already matched its win total from all of last season and the national media has taken notice, slotting the Tar Heels at 22nd in their national poll. With Notre Dame coming into town and Carolina sitting at 4-1 despite T.J. Yates' injury, there is a buzz leading up this game that perhaps hasn't been felt around Chapel Hill since South Carolina came to town last season. The players on this football team are starting to see the hard work and preparation pay off. Human nature might be to let up but Coach Davis has tried to make sure that doesn't happen. He has said since the beginning of the season that if the team plays the same way it played the week before, it won't win the next game. So last week, the motto around the team was "If you want more, do more."

"If you want more as a player - if you want to play more time, more minutes in the game, if you want to play in more plays - you've got to do more," Davis said. "If you want to do more as a team, you've got to study more film. You've got to practice harder and prepare better and it gives you a chance to play good on Saturday. So as a program, if we want more, we've got to do more. We've got to expect more out of ourselves.

"The most healthy thing that this football team is willing to do is they're willing to look at themselves in the mirror after each ballgame and say, `Okay guys, where do we have to try to get better for the next week?' I think that they've learned a lot of lessons over the last year and a half that if you don't fix things that go wrong the week before, they have a tendency to get exposed the following week."

Of course, it's great for Davis to say that but what has been impressive is how much the team appears to have bought into that concept. There are some veterans on this team that have seen some hard times and finally seeing their hard work pay off with wins has only made them want to work more. That kind of attitude has been contagious. Even sophomores like Marvin Austin, who haven't been through the kinds of seasons some of the veterans on this team have, seem to understand the concept of humility, hard work and staying focused. Even right after the win over Connecticut, Austin still wasn't ready to accept all the praise just yet. "Sometimes, the hardest thing to deal with is success. Being successful, you can go and you can start looking at your press clippings and start patting yourself on the chest and all that stuff and someone might sneak one up in on you," Austin said.

Trimane Goddard won the Pontiac Game-Changing Performance of the Week for his end-zone interception against Miami, and Carolina won a game that many had said it couldn't win. The team still stayed focused and worked hard to prepare for a Connecticut team that the staff wasn't very familiar with. Notre Dame is coming to Chapel Hill for the first time since 1975, Carolina is ranked and everyone is excited. It's a different kind of atmosphere for these young players to try to handle this week but they need to cope with it and prepare as hard, if not harder, as they did last week.

Winning the turnover battle: Carolina had the ball nearly 13 minutes less than Connecticut. The Tar Heels were outgained by 105 yards and had ten fewer first downs than Connecticut but still won by 26 points. Part of the reason for that was that the Tar Heels scored two non-offensive touchdowns (an interception return and a blocked punt recovery) and another touchdown on a 3-play, 15-yard drive after an interception. Carolina's other two touchdown drives combined were ten plays, 96 yards and lasted 4 minutes and 11 seconds. Carolina now leads the nation in interceptions with 12. The Tar Heels already have one more interception than they did all of last season. The last time Carolina had more than 12 interceptions was in 1999 when it had 13.

"Guys are a little more confident and a little more comfortable. Now, they can kind of take care of their responsibility and still keep eyes on pattern recognition," Davis said. "It's kind of part of the growth and evolution of your defense. We've got some pretty good, athletic kids, guys that have got pretty good hands. There's an old adage that if you catch the ones that they throw to you, you'll probably have a chance to lead the nation in interceptions. Fortunately, they've hit our hands and they've stuck instead of just knocking the ball down and batting them down.

"Mark Paschal's come up with some. Bruce Carter and Quan have both gotten some. So you figure that Marvin Austin, that's five interceptions that come from linebackers and a defensive linemen. So obviously that helps when the guys on the back end, they've got pretty good instincts back there. "

Against Miami, Carolina did not score any points off of two Miami turnovers; one interception was returned by Trimane Goddard to the Miami 43-yard line but Carolina missed a 53-yard field goal. The other interception was in the end zone and saved the game. Against Connecticut though, Mark Paschal picked off a pass at the Connecticut 38-yard line and returned it to the 15-yard line. Carolina needed just three plays to score. Trimane Goddard's interception came with ten seconds left in the half and stopped a Connecticut drive that had gotten to the Carolina nine-yard line. The third interception was returned by Marvin Austin for a touchdown. Cam Sexton's only interception was at the Connecticut three-yard line; Carolina ended up blocking Connecticut's punt on the ensuing possession and scoring a touchdown.

In four wins, Carolina is +8 in turnover margin and -2 in its only loss. Excluding the McNeese State game when Carolina lost two turnovers and forced two, Carolina has forced nine turnovers and committed just one in its last three wins. Carolina has forced 13 turnovers this season and has scored 34 points off of those (four touchdowns and two field goals). The Tar Heels have turned it over seven times and given up 17 points. Against McNeese State, Carolina scored a touchdown after a forced fumble to take a 14-0 lead right before the rain delay and then after it, gave up a touchdown after a T.J. Yates interception. In wins against Rutgers and Connecticut, Carolina combined to score 27 points on seven forced turnovers, including a season-high 14 against Connecticut. On Carolina's seven turnovers lost, on the ensuing drive by the opponent the defense has picked off one pass and forced two punts.

The Virginia Tech game, Carolina's only loss, came down almost completely to turnovers. Carolina picked off two passes, setting up the offense at the Virginia Tech 33-yard line and the Carolina 44-yard line. The offense could manage just 25 yards on 14 plays, a punt and a missed field goal. But Virginia Tech capitalized on four Tar Heel miscues, scoring a 19-yard field goal after a fumble at the Carolina eight-yard line and scoring a third-quarter touchdown after a fumble recovered at the Carolina 30-yard line. The two Paulus interceptions really only cost Carolina two chances to tie or take the lead; one came at the Virginia Tech two-yard line and even though the Hokies didn't score, they burned up 4:23 of valuable clock time before punting. On the next drive, Paulus was picked off again in Carolina territory and the Hokies kneeled out the clock.

Notre Dame has also been able to turn its team around compared to last year through turnover margin. Of the schools that have played fewer than six games, only five teams have forced more turnovers (14) than Notre Dame. They have seven interceptions and seven fumble recoveries. Notre Dame started out the season in the first three games (including its only loss against Michigan State) committing nine turnovers and forcing nine for an even turnover margin. The turnover margin against Michigan State alone was three lost turnovers to just one gained. In the last two games, Notre Dame has not committed any turnovers and has forced five turnovers. Against Stanford the Notre Dame defense picked off three passes, all in the first half. In fact, the six turnovers forced against Michigan were the difference in a narrow win as the Irish committed just two.

At The Game

Listening to the Tar Heel Sports Network at the game: WCHL 1360 is the local affiliate.

Parking/construction update: For the latest information, click here.

Pregame activities: Tar Heel Town will open at 12:30 PM on Saturday and the Countdown to Kickoff radio show will broadcast live there beginning at 1:30. The Old Well Walk will be at 1:15 and then the Marching Tar Heels will perform on the steps of Wilson Library at 2:30 before heading to the stadium. Then at 2:45, start making your way to Kenan Stadium and make sure you're in your seats early. For more information, see the new 2008 Fan Guide on TarHeelBlue.com. Subject to weather, there will be a flyover of a U.S. Air Force B-2 bomber just prior to kickoff.

Honorees: At the first media timeout, Chancellor Holden Thorp will be introduced. At halftime, Tyler Hansbrough will be honored for winning ACC Athlete of the Year and Sporting News Player of the Year.

Postgame activities: See the Fan Guide on TarHeelBlue.com for the latest information on postgame parking and activities.

Watching At Home

Turn down the sound: If you're watching at home while listening to the radio or over the computer via Carolina All-Access, there will inevitably be some delay. For the reason - and a possible solution - click here.

A full list of THSN affiliates can be found here.

ABC/ESPN coverage: The game will be shown regionally on ABC and on ESPN where available. For a coverage map, click here. Brad Nessler will handle the play-by-play, Bob Griese and Paul Maguire will serve as analysts and Stacey Dales will be on the sideline.

Names To Know

Bruce Carter: Carter set an ACC single-game record for blocks in a game with three blocked punts and he actually blocked four straight punts dating back to the Miami game. He has also already tied Bracey Walker's Carolina single-season record with four blocks. He blocked just enough of the punt at Miami to set Carolina up at its own 44-yard line for what would be the game-winning touchdown drive. On the season, Carter is fourth on the team with 27 tackles (3.0 for loss) and also has an interception that he returned for a touchdown against Rutgers. His three tackles for loss have all come in the last two games.

Carter's great day on special teams overshadowed what was perhaps his best defensive game of the season. He had seven total tackles, his most since the season-opener, and he notched a season-high two tackles for loss and broke up a pass. On Connecticut's first drive, it marched all the way to the Carolina 16-yard line. Carter and fellow linebacker Quan Sturdivant tackled Donald Brown after a four-yard gain on first down, and then hit Brown for the loss of a yard on 2nd and 6. On the next play, the Carolina defense held Connecticut to a four-yard gain and forced a field goal. In the second quarter, with Carolina up 10-3, he hit Brown again for a loss of seven yards on 2nd and 5, forcing a 3rd and 12 that the Huskies couldn't convert. Later in the quarter, he found Brown again at the Connecticut three-yard line on 3rd and 21, pinning the Huskies back in their own end zone. He blocked that punt that Matt Merletti recovered for a touchdown.

Shaun Draughn: The newly-converted sophomore tailback provided the Carolina running game with some energy against McNeese State, carrying seven times for 30 yards (4.3 yards per carry). He had eight carries for 44 yards (5.5 yards per carry) against Rutgers; he earned a combined three first downs in the first two games. Against Virginia Tech and Miami, he had just 23 yards on 10 carries (2.3 yards per carry) and no first downs, losing a fumble against Virginia Tech at the Carolina eight-yard line. Against Connecticut, Draughn finally showed just what he was capable of, running for 109 yards on 19 carries (5.7 yards per carry). He had five rushing first downs against Connecticut; as a team, Carolina had seven first downs running the ball.

Draughn approached the coaching staff before this season to ask to switch from safety to running back. He played the position in high school and felt he would be better-suited there. Cam Sexton has some appreciation for Draughn, not only because he helped take pressure off of him last week but also because Draughn is also taking advantage of his second chance. "I think that Shaun has kind of treated his situation a little bit like mine, that I've got to be ready when my name is called and I think he's really gotten himself ready," Sexton said. "I think that he provides a good little spark at times. This isn't the first time that he's done that. The McNeese game, he got a little bit going. Now that he's feeling a little bit more comfortable, I think he's seeing things a lot better and he's not thinking out there, he's just reacting. So it will be good for him to get a lot of reps in practice this week and hopefully continue."

Of Draughn's 44 carries on the season, eight have gone for first downs and 11 have set up second or third down of between 1-4 yards. Carolina has had trouble running the ball on first down, putting the offense in position to go three-and-out by gaining one or sometimes zero yards. Draughn has averaged 4.1 yards on 33 first-down carries this season. Second-down rushes have been a problem as well; when Carolina has tried to catch a defense off-guard on first down and pass, the second-down runs have not been enough to give Carolina a third-down and manageable distance. Prior to the Connecticut game, Draughn had 5 carries on second down for a total of 15 yards. He had picked up one first down on a second-down run against Rutgers. Against Connecticut, he had five carries for 56 yards (11.2 yards per carry), including a 39-yard touchdown run. Taking out that run, he still had 4.25 yards per rush on his other four second-down carries.

The best thing Draughn does on the field is refuse to go down. Sometimes, that can hurt him as it caused him to fumble against Virginia Tech and to nearly lose the ball again at the goal line against Connecticut. But it also allows him to fight for all the extra yards he can get. "I'm a determined runner. Every time I touch the ball, I'm determined to make something happen," Draughn said. "If you've got that mindset then I think that will set you apart. I'm an aggressive player. I go out there with a passion and a chip on my shoulder like I've got something to prove. So just me being me with my characteristics, that just pushes me."

Brandon Tate: Two years ago at Notre Dame, Brandon Tate returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown to cut the score to 24-13 in the second quarter. He had 162 return yards in that game. But the senior speedster has been relatively quiet as teams look to avoid him in all areas. Still, it didn't seem Tate-like to have just 28 return yards, one yard rushing and 17 yards receiving on two catches. After returning his only kickoff of the game against McNeese State for 56 yards, he followed that up with six returns for 162 yards in the next two games (27.0 yards per return). Then against Miami and Connecticut, he had four returns for a combined 87 yards (21.2 yards per return) including just one for 20 against Connecticut, a season-low average for a game. He also 149 yards returning punts this season but 142 of those came against McNeese State. Tate began the year with 141 yards rushing on seven attempts and one touchdown in the first three games and has two yards on four attempts in the last two games. He has remained fairly consistent with his receiving in the first four games, catching at least three passes for at least 60 yards. But against Connecticut, he had a season-low two catches for a season-low 17 yards.

Despite recent struggles, Tate still leads the ACC in all-purpose yards with 194.6 per game and in punt returns with 24.8 yards per return. He is fourth in kickoff returns with 27.7 and third in receiving yards with 75.2 a game. He leads that group in yards per catch at 23.5. He is still tied for sixth in the league in scoring with five touchdowns. Tate still has four of Carolina's ten long runs (15 yards or more) this season. He also has eight of Carolina's 13 long pass plays (20 yards or more) and four of Carolina's long returns (50 yards or more on a kickoff and 20 or more on a punt). Tate has allowed Carolina to do quite a few things on offense that it wouldn't ordinarily be able to do - just by faking a reverse to Tate, it can get the defense to go one way while someone else with the ball goes another way. Certainly, teams are doing all they can to avoid kicking to Tate. But he still is a game-changer and the offensive staff will always be trying to find ways to get the ball in his hands.

Jimmy Clausen: The sophomore quarterback had a rough start to his collegiate career but appears to have really turned things around. In his first seven starts last season, he completed 56.6% of his passes for 830 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions, averaging 118.6 yards per game with a 98.2 passing efficiency rating. Notre Dame was 1-6 in that stretch. In his next seven starts, Clausen completed 61.8% of his passes for 1,638 yards, 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions, averaging 234.0 yards and with an efficiency rating of 138.7. Notre Dame is 6-1 in that stretch.

Over the course of this season, the 6-3, 217-pound quarterback ranks 40th in the nation in passing efficiency with a 138.26 rating, 35th in passing offense with 246.8 yards per game and 94th in all-purpose yards per game (105). He has completed 104 of 171 passes (60.8%) for 1,248 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions this season. After throwing six interceptions in Notre Dame's first three games, he has not thrown a pick in the last two games. He is also making big plays down the field - he has 19 throws of at least 20 yards this season after lofting just 13 in ten games last year. Against Stanford, Clausen completed 29 of 40 passes for a career-high 347 yards and three touchdowns. He had 221 yards and two touchdowns by halftime. He also had a career-high six passes longer than 20 yards against Stanford. In the last two games, Clausen has completed 49 of 75 passes for 622 yards and six touchdowns.

Armando Allen: The 5-10, 195-pound sophomore running back does it all for the Irish - runs the ball, catches passes, and returns punts and kickoffs. Allen is 42nd in the country in punt returns (9.4 yards per return) and 50th in kickoff returns (23.5 yards). He leads and Irish is 20th in the nation in all-purpose yardage with 153.8 per game. He had his first career multiple-touchdown game last week against Stanford, rushing for 33 yards on nine carries and a touchdown and catching seven passes for 66 yards and another touchdown. In his last three games, he has also averaged 25.5 yards per kickoff return. He had four returns for 105 yards against Purdue, helping to change the complexion of that game. In addition to ranking second on the team in scoring with three touchdowns and in total offense with 47.6 yards per game, he is also fourth in receiving with 16 catches for 113 yards. In the last two games alone, Allen has 26 rushes for 167 yards and two touchdowns (6.4 yards per carry). In the first three games, Allen had 24 carries for 71 yards (2.9 yards per carry) and no touchdowns.

Allen is the kind of shifty, speedy back that the Tar Heels have had trouble with (see: Cooper, Graig) in recent games. The defense passed a huge test by containing the nation's leading rusher in Donald Brown last weekend. But Allen will be a different test; the Tar Heel special teams will also have a much tougher task in coverage than they did last week in containing Allen.

David Bruton: Bruton is one of Notre Dame's only senior starters and he has led the defense so far this season as well, picking off two passes, forcing two fumbles and ranking second in tackles with 45. He also has 1.5 tackles for loss, two passes defended, one quarterback hurry and a fumble recovery. The 6-2, 212-pound senior had a big day against Stanford last week, notching five solo tackles, four assisted tackles and an interception. In two of Notre Dame's biggest wins this season, Bruton has had big plays. Against Michigan, he had 15 tackles (10 solo) including 1.5 tackles for loss, a quarterback hurry and a forced fumble. He also had an interception in the red zone. Against Purdue two games later, he had six tackles (four solo) and a pass defended. Even in the season-opening win against San Diego State - a game that ended up being a narrow escape for the Irish - Bruton had five tackles (all solo), a pass defended and a forced and recovered fumble. Notre Dame has forced 14 turnovers as a team this season and Bruton is responsible for four himself.

Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly