Jump to content

1995 Carquest Bowl (December)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1995 Carquest Bowl
1234 Total
North Carolina 70130 20
Arkansas 7030 10
DateDecember 30, 1995
Season1995
StadiumJoe Robbie Stadium
LocationMiami Gardens, Florida
MVPRB Leon Johnson (North Carolina)
Attendance34,428
United States TV coverage
NetworkTBS
AnnouncersVerne Lundquist and Pat Haden
Carquest Bowl
 < 1995 (Jan) 1996

The 1995 Carquest Bowl (December) was a college football postseason bowl game between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Background

[edit]

Arkansas finished first in the Western Division of the SEC, getting the chance to play Florida in the SEC Championship Game, though they would lose 34-3. This was their first bowl game since 1991. They had lost the last five bowl games they played in. The Tar Heels finished fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference, with wins over Duke and NC State making them bowl eligible. They were in a bowl for the fourth time in eight seasons under Brown. The two teams had met just one time before, in the 1981 Gator Bowl, which the Tar Heels won, 31-27.

Game summary

[edit]
  • Arkansas – Lucas 25 pass from Lunney (Latourette kick)
  • North Carolina – Ashford 18 pass from M. Thomas (Welch kick)
  • Arkansas – Latourette 26 FG
  • North Carolina – L. Johnson 28 run (Welch kick)
  • North Carolina – Stevens 87 pass from M. Thomas

Anthony Lucas caught a 25 yard pass from Barry Lunney to give the Razorbacks an early lead, but Darrin Ashford’s 18-yard TD catch from quarterback Mike Thomas tied the game at 7–7. The second quarter passed with no points. Todd Latourette gave the Hogs a 10–7 lead on his field goal in the third period, but the Tar Heels took the lead for the second and final time on Thomas' pitch to Johnson for 28 yards to make it 14–10. Thomas threw another touchdown pass, this time to L.C. Stevens, to make it 20–10 as the Tar Heels held on from there to win. Johnson ran for 195 yards on 29 carries and was named MVP.[1][2][3]

Aftermath

[edit]

Arkansas reached just one more bowl game in the decade, while North Carolina reached three more. North Carolina returned to the bowl site (now called the Russell Athletic Bowl) in 2015, which they lost 49-38 to Baylor. Arkansas has never returned.

Statistics

[edit]
Statistics Arkansas North Carolina
First downs 26 20
Yards Rushing 44–162 49–242
Passing (C–A–I) 16–35–2 10–23–0
Passing yards 227 177
Total yards 389 419
Punts–average 4–38.8 4–32.5
Fumbles–lost 1–1 0–0
Penalties–yards 3–36 4–31
Possession time 30:03 29:07

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Tar Heels win Carquest before sparse JRS crowd". The Palm Beach Post. December 31, 1995. Retrieved February 9, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Archives". Los Angeles Times. December 31, 1995.
  3. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)