bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668
CHAPEL HILL -- The most recent time North Carolina's Ryan Houston carried the ball 37 times in a game, he was 30 pounds lighter and in high school.
But in Saturday's win over Duke, Houston was forced to carry the load for the Tar Heels when starter Shaun Draughn was lost on the first play of the game. Houston finished with a career-high 164 yards and carried the ball more times than any UNC player since 1990.
"I got tired in that game like crazy," Houston (6-2, 245) said. "You can ask [quarterback T.J. Yates]; I was just dragging in the huddle. But it's just another conditioning factor. I just got to practice hard this week so I can be ready to carry the ball that many times."
Houston may be called upon to carry the ball even more over the next few weeks as he has become the primary running back for the Tar Heels since Draughn will miss the rest of the season with a fractured shoulder blade. Draughn leads the Tar Heels with 567 rushing yards this season.
Houston said he feels ready to carry the load, but Draughn's injury is another obstacle the Tar Heels -- who are one win from becoming bowl eligible and host No. 12 Miami on Saturday (3:30 p.m., WTVD) -- will have to overcome.
"[Draughn] gave us a good duo of two guys that could stay fresh in the ballgame," UNC coach Butch Davis said Monday. "Like any of the other unfortunate things that have happened to us offensively as far as injuries, it's something that's happened and we're going to have to deal with [it] and we're going to have to try to find somebody to compensate for it."
Draughn is the third UNC tailback to suffer a season-ending injury this year. In a win over Georgia Southern on Oct. 10, freshman A.J. Blue -- who was mostly used in the Wildcat formation -- tore multiple ligaments in his knee and redshirt freshman Jamal Womble fractured his wrist.
"We're about out of options," Davis said. "We checked the waiver wire this morning, and the ACC kind of frowned upon trying to take somebody off of somebody's practice squad. We are who we are."
Davis also said that senior tight end Ryan Taylor, who has yet to play this season because of a knee injury, will redshirt.
When Blue and Womble were lost for the season, Anthony Elzy was moved from fullback to running back and the junior now is the backup tailback. But luckily for the Tar Heels, Elzy isn't an inexperienced freshman.
Elzy was the team's second-leading rushing in 2007 with 321 yards on 92 carries but missed the final six games of the '08 season after fracturing his right shoulder blade. He got into Saturday's win over Duke and finished with two carries for 12 yards.
"Anthony's going to have to come in and play," Davis said. "He's going to have to play regular downs and distances."
The Tar Heels have also relied on some of their speedy wide receivers to carry the ball this season, and junior Greg Little, who is the team's third-leading rusher, spent some time at tailback a year ago before returning to his natural position of wideout.
But Davis also didn't rule out the possibility of Houston having to carry the ball 40 times per game, and Yates said if any player could handle that burden, it would be Houston.
"Thirty-seven carries, kind of pounding the ball the whole time, that's how he is; that's kind of the definition of Ryan Houston," Yates said. "He's ready for it. We're ready to give him the ball as many times [as needed] and kind of just let him take the load."
