Bunting After a Bye Week

North Carolina coach John Bunting has developed somewhat of a reputation for pulling off major upsets in the games following a bye week.

So, I thought I'd take a look at the numbers and see if this reputation was deserved or somewhat overblown. The result was a mixed bag.

Dating back to Bunting's first year at the Tar Heel helm in 2001, John Bunting's record following a bye week is 4-3 with one asterisk; the exception being the weekend following the 9/11 attacks of 2001 when no games were played in any college arena.

Following that week, Bunting pulled off a major shocker by abusing the Florida State Seminoles in Chapel Hill 41-9.

If you discount that week when everyone in the nation had a bye, Bunting's record is a respectable 3-3, a .500 winning percentage which is higher than his overall record.

Here's the list of Bunting's post bye week results:

10/22/2005 vs. Virginia W 7-5
10/30/2004 vs. Miami W 31-28
9/20/2003 @ Wisconsin L 27-38
9/28/2002 vs. Georgia Tech L 13-21
*9/22/2001 vs. Florida State W 41-9
11/1/2001 @ Georgia Tech L 21-28
12/1/2001 vs. Southern Methodist W 19-10

Make of this list what you will, but there's no doubt that Bunting's teams perform slightly better than average after a bye week.

Note also that he has beaten Miami following a bye, but is 0-2 in post bye week road games. He has won his last two, however.

We'll see how this trend plays out this weekend in Coral Gables where the Heels are 19 point underdogs.