UNC opens ACC play with 41-10 win over Virginia Tech, its most complete game of season
North Carolina’s defense previously had been so inconsistent, coach Mack Brown could name the quarters in which they performed up to par: The fourth quarter against Florida A&M. The second and third quarters against Appalachian State. The fourth quarter against Georgia State, and the first quarter against Notre Dame.
It took until the fifth game, but the Tar Heels played their first complete game of the season in a 41-10 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday in Kenan Stadium.
“Defensively, we saw a game where we’d been seeing quarters,” Brown said. “And they put a whole game together.”
The offense did what it has been accustomed to doing this season, rolling up more than 500 yards and 40-plus points. This time it was supported by an equally impressive defensive performance, which included a second-half shutout for the first time this season.
Linebacker Cedric Gray, who had his second interception of the season in the second quarter, said he’d left some of UNC’s wins this season with “a little bit of a sick feeling” because of the way they performed. He didn’t have that feeling on Saturday.
“Not just as a defense, but as a team, we wanted to play a complete game together and I feel like we did that today,” linebacker Cedric Gray said. “We played a complete football game on all cylinders and everybody was hitting on their parts so that was very exciting to see it was definitely fulfilling.”
The maligned Tar Heels defense had a players-only meeting prompted by another disappointing performance against Notre Dame. The session appeared to produce some clarity and accountability.
A week after UNC gave up 576 yards in total offense to an Irish team averaging just 300 yards, the Hokies managed just 273 yards. It set a new season low for Carolina, after its previous best was 335 yards against Florida A&M.
“There was a certain standard that we hold ourselves to and we weren’t playing up to that standard,” said UNC linebacker Noah Taylor said. “So I just think guys were just holding themselves to that standard throughout the week. And I mean, if you watch practice, there was a different urgency with guys running to the ball and guys holding each other accountable.”
Carolina jumped out to a 21-3 lead, but when it allowed the Hokies to score their lone first-half touchdown, it gave off a feeling of deja vu. The Heels held a 21-3 lead against Georgia State before giving up 25 straight points as the Panthers took a 28-21 lead.
Saturday’s game also had the feel of last week against Notre Dame, when the Irish used their final drive of the first half and first drive of the third quarter, scoring touchdowns on both, to take firm control of the game.
UNC’s defense provided a much different result this time.
Yes, Carolina allowed the Hokies to convert three third downs and a fourth-and-7 as they scored to make it 21-10. But the defense set the tone of the second half by stopping Hokies running back Bryce Duke on a third-and-1 from the Virginia Tech 45.
It was much more than a moral victory for a defense that entered the game ranked last in most major defensive categories in the ACC. It was a confidence builder the Heels used to close out the game.
“I feel like that really changed the tempo of the game for Virginia Tech for the fact that you kind of saw their confidence started to go down,” UNC defensive end Kaimon Rucker said. “They started hanging their heads and I feel like once we kept on doing that, you obviously saw that’s when we kept on picking our confidence up and we were able to make more and more plays.”
The Heels’ defensive trademark this season had been allowing big plays. On Saturday, they only allowed Virginia Tech one pass play for more than 15 yards and one run of more than 10 yards.
On offense, Carolina had no problem producing big plays of its own, even though it missed a few.
UNC trailed 3-0 when quarterback Drake Maye had J.J. Jones wide open on a post route in the first quarter, but overthrew him. Maye came right back and connected with tight end John Copenhaver for a 29-yard strike.
Running back Caleb Hood popped an 18-yard run up the middle and Carolina took the lead for good when tight end Kamari Morales caught a 3-yard touchdown pass.
On Carolina’s next drive, Maye overthrew Antoine Green on a deep route that could have been a touchdown. But on a fourth-and-7, Maye connected with Josh Downs for a 24-yard completion. It led to a Maye touchdown run and a 14-3 lead.
Carolina also tried its first trick play of the season in the third quarter when Maye threw a backwards pass to receiver Kobe Paysour. He had the option of throwing deep to Copenhaver, who was open on a crossing route. Paysour instead attempted to throw back to Maye, who had a wall of offensive linemen set up for what looked like a sure big gain.
But Paysour short-hopped his throw for an incomplete pass.
“In practice, we ran that probably five to 10 times and he put it right on the money every time,” Maye said. “So I maybe could have helped them with the initial pass out there. But they all said it was wide open. It’s a trick play and part of a trick play is to take a chance.”
Carolina still finished off that drive with a touchdown after Maye completed a 35-yard pass to tight end Bryson Nesbit to set up his second rushing score in the game.
Maye finished with 363 yards passing and three touchdowns and 73 yards rushing and two scores. His best drive of the game arguably is the one that ended in a field goal before the half.
The Heels fell flat with a three-and-out against the Irish in their two-minute offense. And given just 28 seconds to move the ball against Virginia Tech before halftime, Brown said he wanted to get close enough to at least throw a Hail Mary into the end zone. But Maye did one better.
He completed an 18-yard pass to Nesbit, scrambled for another 14 yards and hit Green for 16 yards. With six seconds left, Noah Burnette kicked a 44-yard field goal as Carolina answered the Hokies’ lone touchdown in the game to take a 24-10 lead into half.
“I thought the fact that we drove down and kicked the field goal was a huge message for momentum going into halftime,” Brown said. “And I do think that made a big difference.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2022 at 6:58 PM with the headline "UNC opens ACC play with 41-10 win over Virginia Tech, its most complete game of season."