Tar Heel Triumph in Charlottesville!

North Carolina (4-4, 1-3 ACC) needed a win and seized it in commanding fashion. The Tar Heels outmatched the Virginia Cavaliers (4-4, 2-3 ACC) in almost every aspect of the game, defeating them by a tidy 41-14 margin. UNC drastically outgained UVA by dominating the ground game on both sides of the ball: 135 yards rushing as opposed to a paltry seven (7) yards for Virginia. Carolina won the turnover battle 2-0. Omarion Hampton looked every bit the star RB that he is, averaging four yards per carry and scoring twice. QB Jacolby Criswell also scored two touchdowns and produced what was far-and-away his most complete game as a Tar Heel. The defense compiled nine sacks on the day – three belonging to DE Kaimon Rucker – while Criswell avoided hitting the dirt himself for only the second time this year.

Beyond the game itself, the Cavalier football program showed great class in honoring Carolina WR Tylee Craft by wearing the same, “Tylee Strong,” helmet decals that the Tar Heels have been sporting to commemorate his valiant fight against the stage 4 lung cancer which took his life two weeks ago. The Virginia locker room is tragically well-positioned to empathize with what UNC has endured: the Hoos suffered the loss of three players – D’Sean Perry, Devin Chandler, and Lavel Davis Jr. – in a multiple-homicide shooting on campus nearly two years ago. According to head coach Mack Brown, UVA head coach Tony Elliott instructed his players to write a note of sympathy for each member of the UNC football team. These notes were then delivered prior to today’s kickoff. As anyone could tell from Coach Brown’s tone immediately after the game was over, today’s one-sided matchup in Scott Stadium was played with heavy hearts.

Quarter-by-Quarter

The Tar Heels’ glorious day in Charlottesville began inauspiciously. A Carolina three-and-out was followed by a 24-yard punt return to the UNC 43 by UVA’s Ethan Davies. The Hoos then advanced the ball all the way down to the UNC 1 before a bad snap and some opportunistic play by the Carolina defense forced them to settle for a 30-yard field goal. The second Tar Heel drive was crippled by UVA pressure and a holding penalty, until Jacolby Criswell injected some life into the offense by scampering out of the pocket and up the left sideline on 2nd & 20 for a 19-yard gain. Hampton converted third down on the ground. Two plays later, Criswell dumped the ball off under pressure to WR JJ Jones, who escaped the UVA secondary for a 37-yard touchdown. Carolina’s LB Amare Campbell and DL Beau Atkinson each registered a sack on the next UVA drive, forcing a punt. Alijah Huzzie downed it and gave the Heels excellent field position at the UVA 47, but the drive sputtered on an incompletion after seven plays and UNC punted from the UVA 38, resulting in a touchback. Virginia ended the quarter down, but in possession of the ball at their own 22. Q1: UNC 7, UVA 3

Without even attempting a pass on the five-play drive, the Hoos punted from their 40-yard line for a touchback. Criswell was highly effective on Carolina’s next drive, picking up a first down with his feet and connecting with WR Nate McCollum on a 24-yard pass to the UVA 25. Defensive holding moved the ensuing first down to the UVA 15 before pressure by the Hoos caused UNC to send Noah Burnette on for a 30-yard field goal attempt, which he punched cleanly through the uprights. DL Jahvaree Ritzie sacked UVA QB Anthony Colandrea on the next drive, during which Colandrea hit WR Malachi Fields for an explosive 34-yard completion. The Hoos made it all the way down to the UNC 10 before again stalling in the red zone and kicking a 27-yard field goal. Carolina’s next drive began with the Omarion Hampton Show, as the star RB gained four yards on first down before turning a dump-off into a 15-yard gain. A flag for roughing the passer moved Carolina into UVA territory, where JJ Jones caught another short pass, escaped a pair of defenders, and picked up 25 yards to give UNC a first down from the UVA 15. Three more touches for Omarion Hampton and Carolina was back in the end zone after a drive that took only 2:30. The next UVA drive began with 1:32 remaining in the first half and ended in a punt a mere 22 seconds later after Kaimon Rucker and Des Evans succeeded in creating all kinds of havoc in the Virginia backfield. Carolina began the next drive from their own 45 and quickly moved downfield, displaying some of the most judicious clock management of the Mack Brown 2.0 era. From the UVA 31, Jacolby Criswell rocketed a beautiful ball to JJ Jones in the end zone for a touchdown with only nine seconds remaining. The half ended with another sack on Colandrea by Rucker, the sixth sack of the game for the Carolina defense, and the Heels took an 18-point lead into the locker room. Q2: UNC 17, UVA 3 ( UNC leads 24-6)

It was Virginia’s ball coming out of the half, but not for long. Another sack on Colandrea was followed by pressure from Power Echols which led to a Kaimon Rucker interception at 13:45. Less than 90 seconds later, after a few short Hampton runs and a 17-yard reception by Nate McCollum, Hampton took the ball in from eight yards out for his second score of the game. Another UVA drive ended in a three-and-out punt, followed by a methodical Carolina drive that featured big gains through the air for JJ Jones and Chris Culliver. That drive foundered at the UVA 33 after a holding penalty and resulted in a 51-yard field goal attempt by Burnette, which he missed wide left. UVA’s Colandrea completed a series of seven short passes on the Hoos’ next drive and led his team to the UNC 16 with 31 seconds remaining in the third quarter. What happened next was easily the most memorable play of the game. Colandrea took the snap out of the shotgun, made his reads, and launched the ball toward the end zone. It was tipped at the line of scrimmage by Ritzie, who then collected the ball and slipped a would-be tackler as he dashed for the left sideline. Courtesy of a well-timed block by Amare Campbell, Ritzie rumbled downfield undisturbed for an 84-yard touchdown. It was cinematic… electric… college football at its best. Q3: UNC 14, UVA 0 (UNC leads 38-6)

The Hoos found themselves in a 32-point hole entering the fourth quarter. During a drive in which Carolina’s Beau Atkinson once again made a nuisance of himself, UVA got only as far as its own 38 before turning the ball over on downs on 4th & 10 with a completed pass to the 46. UNC took a couple of minutes to gain 22 yards and arrive on the UVA 24 for 4th & 1. Up comfortably, the Heels decided to go for it using their most potent short yardage weapon: Omarion Hampton. This time, though, he would be stopped for no gain. When UVA took over, it was with backup QB Tony Muskett and a cadre of reserves. This penultimate drive, with the game’s outcome a foregone conclusion, would become the most successful of the day for the Cavaliers. After an incompletion and a short gain, Virginia lined up for 3rd & 2 from its own 32. Muskett found WR JR Wilson at the Carolina 39 and Wilson handled the rest, bolting to the Tar Heel end zone for a 68-yard touchdown. The Hoos converted a two-point attempt on this, their lone touchdown of the day. With a little over ten minutes to play and a sudden burst of offense in their pocket, UVA decided to try an onside kick. The kick looked poised to succeed before WR Christian Hamilton corralled it and put any thought of a miraculous Cavalier comeback to bed. Beginning the drive from the UVA 47, RB Davion Gause demonstrated why he is the first option behind Hampton in the Carolina backfield by breaking a physical 13-yard run for a first down. Two minutes later, Gause took a Criswell pass 25 yards to the UVA 7. Gause was given the ball and stuffed by Virginia defenders on the next three plays, leading to a 25-yard field goal by Noah Burnette. The Hoos began their last drive with exactly 5:00 to play. After several big plays, Virginia failed to convert a 4th & 8 on the UNC 30 and Carolina offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey got to dial up a most refreshing play: victory formation. Q4: UNC 3, UVA 8 (UNC wins 41-14)

The Bottom Line

A month of losses – on and off the field – were over for the Tar Heels. Jacolby Criswell played his most efficient game of the year: 19/30 for 293 yards and two passing touchdowns with no turnovers. Carolina’s offensive line, back at full strength after the bye week, played adequately and Criswell was never sacked. Omarion Hampton made it to 1,000 yards rushing on the season by carrying the ball 26 times for 105 yards and two touchdowns. The Tar Heel defense was below average against the pass, but intercepted the ball twice (once for a score) and completely dominated the run game.

The less said about Virginia’s rushing attack – all seven yards of it – the better. Virginia’s lone bright spot on the day was that they gained 281 yards in the air, though that stat is rather misleading: 125 of those yards came after Tony Muskett entered the game to lead his team’s two garbage time drives, including UVA’s only touchdown. Starting QB Anthony Colandrea had his worst game of the year, completing 16 passes on 28 attempts for 156 yards and no touchdowns. Colandrea was intercepted twice – once for the iconic Ritzie touchdown – and sacked nine times. The Cavaliers continued their run of exceedingly poor red zone offense, entering the red zone three times for two field goals and a turnover. They were 6/16 at converting on third down, compared to 7/14 for the Tar Heels, and were even less efficient in all other relevant categories.

Virginia’s last four games of the season involve competing with three top-25 opponents (as of this writing) and a road game against rival Virginia Tech. It is an unpromising road to bowl eligibility for the Hoos, who require two more wins just as UNC does. Carolina’s quest for six victories appears much more achievable, with all four remaining games on the schedule being against teams who entered this week at .500 or below. On paper, the toughest game will be a road matchup with Boston College on November 23rd.

Up Next

UNC travels to Tallahassee, Florida next weekend to take on the struggling Florida State Seminoles on November 2nd, while UVA goes on their bye week in preparation for a road trip to play the unbeaten Pitt Panthers on November 9th.