BY BRIANA GORMAN

bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668

CHAPEL HILL -- Earlier in the week, Duke coach David Cutcliffe called North Carolina's defense the best in the league.

Saturday against the Blue Devils, the Tar Heels lived up to his expectations.

UNC turned in a dominating defensive performance, shutting down the top passing attack in the ACC, and then let running back Ryan Houston carry the offensive load with a career-high 164 yards in a 19-6 victory at Kenan Stadium.

It was the first time since 2005 that the rivalry matchup didn't end the regular season for the Tar Heels, who kept the Victory Bell for the sixth consecutive season.

"People asked, 'What's it like not playing Duke at the end of the season?' " UNC coach Butch Davis said. "I don't think it makes one bit of a difference.

"If you played them week one, week six, week 12, if you played them in the summertime, it's going to be a hard-fought contest."

Davis said the real story of the game was the defense, which held the Blue Devils (5-4, 3-2 ACC) to 125 total yards of offense. Duke quarterback Thad Lewis, who entered the game averaging 289.4 passing yards per game, managed just 113 yards in the air and was picked off once.

UNC (6-3, 2-3) never allowed Lewis much time to throw, and the defensive line was constantly in his face as it recorded 14 quarterback hurries, three sacks and eight tackles for losses. When Lewis did get time to throw downfield, UNC's secondary clamped down on his receivers and broke up eight passes as Lewis finished 16-of-33.

"It was the best defense we've faced so far," Lewis said. "Those guys up front did a great job for them. They came in with a tenacious attitude and played the best game I've seen from watching film of those guys. They came to play."

And it was the Tar Heels' defense that came up with the biggest momentum swinger of the game at the end of the third quarter. The Blue Devils found themselves on UNC's 37, thanks to a Leon Wright interception, with the scored tied at 6 and a chance to take the lead.

But three plays later, UNC cornerback Charles Brown picked off Lewis and returned it 54 yards to Duke's 20. Casey Barth booted a 41-yard field goal, his longest of the season, to give UNC the lead for good as time expired in the third quarter.

"Charlie Brown's interception was a huge emotional, psychological swing," Davis said. "It looked like something was going wrong, and all of a sudden he put a fire out."

The Tar Heels put the game away on their next possession. After the defense forced Duke to turn the ball over on fourth down, Jheranie Boyd capped a 65-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run to put UNC up 16-6 with 6:57 to play. Houston churned out 55 yards on the drive, carrying the ball on 10 of the 12 plays.

"Ryan was basically carrying us through the whole drive," Boyd said. "[With] 3 yards to go, everybody thought he was going to get in. ... They didn't expect me to get the ball."

Houston became UNC's main option on the ground Saturday when starter Shaun Draughn left the game with a shoulder injury suffered on the first play from scrimmage. Houston had a career-high 37 carries, which was the most rushing attempts by a UNC back since 1990. The 6-2, 245 junior primarily has been used in short yardage situations, and his previous high for carries in a game was 18 in the win over Virginia Tech on Oct. 29.

"I'm a little sore," said Houston, who recorded his first 100-yard game.

Barth added a 33-yard field goal -- his fourth of the night -- to put UNC up 19-6 with 3:56 to go, and the defense took care of the rest. Robert Quinn, who had all three of UNC's sacks, said the biggest advantage for the defense was it wasn't on the field much. The Tar Heels dominated time of possession, holding the ball for 38:33 compared to the Blue Devils' 21:27.

The first half went back and forth while the teams traded field goals. A 26-yarder by Duke's Nick Maggio as time expired in the second quarter tied the score at 6 at halftime.

But in the second half, UNC's defense took over and held Duke to just 43 yards on 26 plays.

"The defense is probably the soul of our team right now," Boyd said.

NOTES -- Senior center Lowell Dyer did not dress for the game because of illness. ... UNC has held seven of its nine oppoenents to 17 points or less this season. ... It was the lowest-scoring Duke-UNC game since the Tar Heels won 16-3 in 1977.