Sooners to host Carolina on Aug. 25th
February 11, 2001

Carolina will line up against the Sooners on ESPN
 
Oklahoma Sooners Oklahoma Sooners
Past season National Champions
John Bunting comments _  Carolina football coach John Bunting knows some people might think his decision to play defending national champion Oklahoma in a season opener on Aug. 25th is downright crazy.

"A lot of people are looking at me like I've got two heads," Bunting said Saturday.

Yet for Bunting, the decision was easy.

"It's important for us," Bunting said. "It'll help our progress. It will help us get better faster."

Bunting traveled to Miami for the Orange Bowl in January, when the Sooners beat Florida State, 13-2, for the national title.

"I wanted to see the best, because that's where we want to be," Bunting said. "I was able to tell our team, 'Guys, I went and saw the best. We want to be playing in a game like that.' Those guys are there. We're not even close."

The decision to accept the game will allow the Tar Heels about four or five more practice sessions. UNC will begin ACC play the following week, at Maryland.

from OU Athletics site _  The defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners will host the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Hispanic College Fund Football Classic on August 25, 2001. The game will be nationally televised by ESPN with kickoff slated for 6:45 p.m. CDT.

The game will mark the first preseason contest for the Sooners since OU's 1997 appearance in the Pigskin Classic and the first meeting with the Tar Heels since 1988. Oklahoma leads the all-time series 6-0.

Last season OU claimed its seventh national championship and won a school record 13 games without a defeat. The defending Big 12 champion Sooners return 42 letterwinners, including 14 starters.

"We're excited to play in a preseason game," said OU Head Coach Bob Stoops. "Certainly North Carolina has a very good tradition in football. We're anxious to get out there and play and it will be fun to play an extra game."

"We are proud to host this game for the benefit of the Hispanic youth of America," commented OU Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione. "The match-up with the University of North Carolina provides an outstanding seventh home game for our Sooner fans. We are also very pleased to announce that a significant portion of OU's share of the gate receipts will go to benefit our student-athletes by providing funding for our football locker room expansion project."

North Carolina, who will be under direction of first-year head coach John Bunting, finished 6-5 overall last season and did not receive a bowl berth. This is the first time North Carolina has added a 12th game to its schedule since 1993 when the Tar Heels played at Southern California in the Disneyland Pigskin Classic. UNC won that game, 31-9.

"It is quite an honor to have the national defending champion in college football, the Oklahoma Sooners, host the Hispanic College Fund's Football Classic," said Adam Chavarria, National Director of the Hispanic College Fund. "Many deserving Hispanic youth in America will benefit from the scholarships that will be funded from the proceeds of the game. And, there couldn't have been two more formidable institutions that we could have selected to participate in this event - the University of Oklahoma and North Carolina. The Hispanic College Fund is extremely proud to share in this rich tradition."

The Hispanic College Fund was founded in 1993 and has awarded more than 600 scholarships to aspiring Hispanic students enrolled in colleges and universities throughout the country. Proceeds from the game will benefit both universities and the Hispanic College Fund Scholarship Program.

Tickets for the game will cost $35 and can be purchased by calling the OU Athletic Ticket Office at (405) 325-2424. OU's entire 2001 schedule is expected to be released in the near future.