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Oct 27, 2024

Instant Analysis: UNC Smashes Reset Button, Routs Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — North Carolina effectively turned Saturday afternoon into a fresh start and then some. The Tar Heels smashed the reset button rather than merely pressing it, blasting Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — North Carolina effectively turned Saturday afternoon into a fresh start and then some.

The Tar Heels smashed the reset button rather than merely pressing it, blasting Virginia 41-14 during the process, in an ACC football blowout at Scott Stadium that stopped their four-game losing skid.

Jacolby Criswell threw two touchdown passes to J.J. Jones and Omarion Hampton ran for two touchdowns. And the UNC defense, which had been shredded during the team's slide, lowered the boom on a swarming performance coming off last week's open date on the schedule.

The Tar Heels forced two turnovers and piled up 10 sacks of UVa quarterback Anthony Colandrea, as this 125th all-time meeting in the long-running series known as the "South's Oldest Rivalry" became a rout. UNC (4-4 overall, 1-3 ACC) secured its first conference victory of the season, and won for the first time in 42 days, since Sept. 14.

Carolina's lead ballooned from 10-6 to 24-6 during the final 92 seconds of the first half. The Cavaliers (4-4, 2-3) coughed up a colossal failure there in regard to closing a half, and the Tar Heels capitalized to find a separating burst.

Defensive end Kaimon Rucker's interception got Saturday's second half started with a jolt, and UNC cashed in four plays later on Hampton's 8-yard touchdown. Hampton ran for 105 yards and added 37 receiving yards. Criswell finished 19-of-30 passing for 293 yards, and Jones delivered five catches for a career-best 129 yards.

Defensive tackle Jahvaree Ritzie's 84-yard interception return for a touchdown built the Carolina lead to 38-6 in the final seconds of the third quarter. The 6-foot-4, 290-pound Ritzie proved nimble enough to avoid the diving Colandrea, and the big man had enough in the tank to reach the end zone.

The Tar Heels arrived here in Charlottesville coming off the first proverbial bye week on their schedule having dropped to 5-9 in their last 14 games, including 3-9 in their last 12 games against FBS opponents, and were just 1-7 in their last eight conference games. Moreover, UNC hadn't picked up an ACC victory in 349 days, since its double-overtime defeat of Duke in November of last season. And UNC coach Mack Brown was shouldering his first four-game losing streak in a regular season since 1989, when he was 38 years old.

Virginia had won five of the previous seven matchups against Carolina. Brown has endured something of a haunted history with Virginia. Saturday improved his record to 6-10 all-time against the Cavaliers, including 2-6 in road games here on the Cavaliers' home turf.

J.J. Jones catches fire in first half

In the final seconds of the first half, Jones turned around and tiptoed in a tight corner of the end zone to haul in a pirouetting 31-yard touchdown catch on a pass from Criswell, moving Carolina ahead 24-6. It was a moment of supreme concentration from the veteran Jones, all while overcoming a pass interference penalty called against Virginia cornerback Jam Jackson, who was glued to Jones in coverage on the play.

Jones headed in at halftime with four catches for 98 yards and two touchdown grabs. He got the Tar Heels on the board in the first quarter, zipping through the UVa defense for a 37-yard touchdown on a jailbreak receiver screen, after Criswell was able to flick that pass with a defender in his face. Those were some slick moves and acceleration after the catch from the veteran Jones, who made two Cavaliers miss as he scampered toward the end zone.

Carolina pass rush returns with vengeance

Kaimon Rucker charged off the edge and sacked Colandrea on the final play before halftime, delivering the Tar Heels' sixth sack of the game and capping a dominating first half from the UNC defense. Carolina dropped Colandrea for 45 yards in losses on those first-half sacks.

Six defenders were credited with sacks during the first half for the Tar Heels — Amare Campbell, Des Evans, Alijah Huzzie, Stick Lane, Jahvaree Ritzie and and Rucker. Evans grabbed Colandrea on third down to supply UNC's fifth sack on Saturday. That had Evans, Ritzie and defensive lineman Kevin Hester Jr. posing together and pointing at each other, in a celebration imitating the Spiderman internet meme.

It was that kind of swarming and enjoyable first half for the Tar Heels, who arrived here having failed to register a sack across their previous two games, the losses to Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech.

Next on the schedule

UNC faces a second ACC road assignment in as many weeks, and travels to take on struggling Florida State next weekend. The Seminoles lead the all-time series 17-3-1 against the Tar Heels. The teams have squared off just three times across the last 13 seasons. In 2016, Carolina prevailed 37-35 in epic fashion, with Nick Weiler's 54-yard field goal as time expired sending the Tar Heels sprinting around Doak Campbell Stadium in celebration. FSU has won the last two meetings, in 2020 and 2021.

As UNC's coach, Mack Brown never has beaten FSU, where he was a running back in the early 1970s as a college player. He's 0-8 against the Seminoles. After claiming the 2023 conference title, FSU was picked as the ACC preseason favorite for this season. But the Seminoles have crashed and burned amid those expectations, and have won only one game entering Saturday night's matchup at No. 6 Miami.