Losing streak over: 3 takeaways from North Carolina football’s resounding win at Virginia

North Carolina’s Tar Heels can finally exhale. The losing streak is over.

Given extra time to prepare during a bye week, the Heels put together a near-complete game against Virginia, taking a 41-14 victory Saturday at Scott Stadium for their first ACC win of the season.

Defensive lineman Jahvaree Ritzie had the game’s biggest – and most memorable – play, rumbling 84 yards with a pass interception in the second half. It was quite the sight.

While the UNC defense, much maligned this season, did its part, Jacolby Criswell and the offense was productive. Criswell’s 31-yard touchdown throw to J.J. Jones with five seconds left in the first half – Jones with a leaping catch in the back corner – gave UNC a 24-6 halftime cushion.

Criswell, whose stock as a starting quarterback continues to improve, finished 19-of-30 passing for 293 and two scores. Running back Omarion Hampton had 105 yards rushing on 26 carries and passed the 1,000-yard mark for the season.

The Tar Heels (4-4 overall, 1-3 ACC) have endured a lot this season, losing starting quarterback Max Johnson to a broken leg in the opener and then defensive star Kaimon Rucker to injury for four games. They were blitzed by James Madison, then had tough ACC losses to Duke, Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech, testing their football resolve as they dropped four straight games.

But the Tar Heels have been tested off the field, as well, by the death of wide receiver Tylee Craft after his two and a half year fight against cancer. The team attended a memorial service for Craft last weekend in Sumter, South Carolina, before returning to gear up for Virginia – and what would be a satisfying win.

There was some serious celebrating and loud music in the UNC locker room after the game, and why not?

“This has been a team I felt like that has been very confident,” UNC coach Mack Brown said. “We’ve made some plays but we wouldn’t put people away. And Duke, Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech are all good teams and we had chances to beat all three of them and we didn’t.

“I told the players we’re going to finish strong. We haven’t finished strong the last couple of years and today was a great step forward toward that.”

Three takeaways from the game:

A day for defense

Defense, defense, defense. That’s what all football coaches really want, as much as they can get, and especially UNC’s Brown.

Brown and the Tar Heels coaches couldn’t have asked for more out of the defense Saturday. The Heels were physical and active up front, attacked, had a paucity of missed tackles and made it a rough day at Scott Stadium for Virginia starting quarterback Anthony Colandrea, who was sacked nine times.t

Ritzie had the day’s most memorable play. His rumbling 84-yard interception return, big No. 5 on the move, will be shown and replayed in UNC football highlights for years.

Having Kaimon Rucker back and being, well, Kaimon Rucker at rush end is important. His interception of a Colandrea pass early in the third quarter, leading to a Hampton touchdown run and a 31-6 lead, might have been the knockout punch for UNC. If not, Ritzie surely landed the haymaker.

By halftime, UNC had six sacks and had limited the Cavs to 77 yards in total offense. Virginia, beaten last week at Clemson, had four net yards rushing in the half.

Virginia had some late success Saturday with backup quarterback Tony Muskett in the game, but the damage had been done. The Tar Heels got the big picks from Rucker and Ritzie while finishing with 10 sacks in the game, the most by UNC since 2000.

New look offense

The Tar Heels gave the Cavaliers a lot of offensive looks that seemingly had the Wahoos guessing and back on the their heels much of the day.

Criswell was in the shotgun a lot but also under center more than in most games. On one third-and-short play in the first half, Criswell went under center, then made a short but quick pitch to Hampton moving left – a wrinkle that clicked for a first down.

But this was a day when much worked well for UNC when it had the ball. There were a few penalties but no turnovers. Hampton got his carries. There were steady gains.

Criswell made good use of his receivers, picking and choosing. Jones was a constant target, and the 31-yard TD throw to Jones with five seconds left in the first half sucked some air out of Scott Stadium.

Criswell story continues

It has been said often in the past month or so and should be said again; Criswell’s emergence as a starting quarterback in the ACC has been quite a storyline.

Criswell has had to learn and develop on the fly. He has shouldered it all, displaying an admirable calmness and maturity about it. Did he want Max Johnson to suffer a broken leg in the opener? No. Did he want Conner Harrell to step in and succeed when Johnson went down? Yes.

But Harrell, too skittish on the pocket, couldn’t get the job done. It was up to Criswell to step in, accelerate his conditioning, quickly get a better grasp of the playbook and offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey’s system, take over as the starter and then perform.

“Jacolby gets better every week and the offensive staff is learning what he does best,” Brown said.

Criswell has done all of that. Recently the graduate said be believed he was playing well enough to give the Tar Heels a chance to win but wanted to lead them to wins. He did Saturday at Scott Stadium.