The North Carolina Tar Heels are now 3-1 following a big 41-10 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday, opening up Atlantic Coast Conference play with a big win.
And a big reason why was because of the Tar Heels’ defense.
North Carolina started the game sluggish, punting on their first drive and watching the Hokies kick a field goal right after. However, after that, UNC saw a fire ignite on both sides of the ball.
The Drake Maye-led offense drove down the field for 75 yards leading to a passing touchdown to tight end Kamari Morales.
The next Tech possession went for 19-yards before UNC forced them to punt.
North Carolina then drove down the field again for 85 yards leading to a Maye rushing touchdown. Pressure has been echoing for Gene Chizik’s defense to step up all year, and they did just that the next drive, with Cedric Gray giving Hokies quarterback Grant Wells his sixth interception of the season.
UNC’s offense rewarded the defense by Maye tossing a 16-yard touchdown to Antoine Green two seconds later. After both teams punted, North Carolina’s defense gave up their first touchdown of the game late, with Wells having a rushing touchdown of his own. With just 28 seconds left to play, Maye led the UNC to field goal range for a quick field goal right in the middle of the upright.
UNC went into the half up 24-10.
The second half was all UNC as they forced Virginia Tech to a punt on their opening drive of the third quarter. North Carolina answered the Hokies’ punt with Maye’s second rushing touchdown stemming from a 94-yard, four-minute drive.
UNC forced the Hokies to punt, resulting in North Carolina putting another field goal on the ensuing drive. The defense stayed stout, making Virginia Tech punt for the fifth time of the day with UNC answering back with Maye tossing his third passing touchdown of the game, this time to Bryson Nesbit.
After that, North Carolina continued to pour it on Virginia Tech, getting to the point where backups came in, and we got a glimpse of backup quarterback Jacolby Criswell. The defense dominated all game, shutting out Virginia’s offense in the second half.
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