Who was that in No. 5 running 84 yards for a touchdown? UNC’s Jahvaree Ritzie?

At first, Mack Brown had a fleeting thought. The North Carolina coach looked out on the field to see the Tar Heels’ No. 5 with the football in his hands, legs churning and the end zone in sight.

But hold up. It wasn’t wide receiver J.J. Jones, who wears No. 5 on offense. It was defensive lineman Jahvaree Ritzie, No. 5 on UNC’s defense, all 6-foot-4 and 290 pounds of him.

The play came in the second half Saturday in the Tar Heels’ 41-14 dismantling of Virginia at Scott Stadium. Call it both symbolic and telling. Ritzie’s 84-yard touchdown return of an interception seemingly stunned everybody in the crowd of 44,550. So, too, UNC coming away with an easy ACC win.

North Carolina’s Kaimon Rucker already had gotten one interception Saturday, picking off an Anthony Colandrea pass early in the third quarter. That set up a touchdown run by UNC’s Omarion Hampton that gave the Heels a 31-6 lead.

Then, Ritzie. Eighty-four yards.

Late in the third quarter, Virginia had a first down at the UNC 16. But Ritzie got a hand on a Colandrea pass near the line, grabbed the ball out of the air and sped toward the left sideline.

“I saw the ball in the air and I said, ‘Let me make something happen.’ I got the ball in my hands and said, ‘Let’s take off.’ I just took off.”

Ritzie eluded a diving Colandrea at the UNC 30 – check out his stiff arm attempt – and got a downfield block from linebacker Amare Campbell on Cavaliers tackle McKale Boley near the Virginia 30 to go the distance.

“I thought it was J.J. when I was looking out there,” Brown said, smiling. “I couldn’t figure out how that No. 5 …

“He’s such a good athlete but I never dreamed he could score. And then he made a couple miss and I thought, ‘You know, it’s close to the sideline and it’s a hundred percent he will step out of bounds, he can’t possibly stay inbounds and score.’”

But Ritzie stayed inbounds. He scored.

“He did his thing,” quarterback Jacolby Criswell said.

Ritzie defiantly crossed his arms in the end zone as he was swarmed by teammates before returning to the bench.

“I let him catch his breath,” Brown said. “I walked over and said, ‘J.J.!’ He laughed. He thought that was funny.”

Ritzie, a senior from Kernersville who has NFL hopes, hardly seemed fazed by it later.

He played some quarterback in high school, Ritzie explained, and had long runs. He used to run track. He still has some of that quickness.

“I’ve always been able to run. I’ve just put on a little weight,” Ritzie said, grinning.

Big day for UNC defense

Ritize’s return flattened the Cavaliers (4-4, 2-3 ACC), who now have dropped three straight ACC games. Little went right for Colandrea as the Tar Heels (4-4, 1-3) continually collapsed the pocket and piled up the sacks – nine on Colandrea and 10 overall.

“No. 10 is a fun player. And if you stop him, you stop them,” Brown said of Colandrea, an energetic sophomore capable of big plays passing and running.

Mobile quarterbacks have hurt the Heels this season. This one did not.

“We brought the juice,” Ritzie said.

Virginia had little offensive success until the fourth quarter, when backup quarterback Tony Muskett came into the game, throwing a 68-yard TD pass.

“Defensively we came into the season saying we’re going to be more aggressive, we’re going to stop the run, we’re going to harass the quarterback,” Brown said. “All that happened today.”

Honoring Tylee Craft

In a season with so much stress, the Tar Heels were able to release some pent-up emotions in the locker room after the game, the walls all but shaking. Many wore “Tylee Strong” T-shirts to honor their teammate, who died of cancer at 23 two weeks ago on the day of the Georgia Tech game in Chapel Hill – wide receiver Kobe Paysour wore Craft’s No. 13 jersey in Saturday’s game.

The players slap a sign that says “Tylee Strong. Keep Swinging” as they take the field. That’s what they intend to do.

“Playing for something bigger than yourself was the main goal this week,” said Jones, who scored twice and set a career high with 129 receiving yards. “Definitely keep swinging every game. Keep swinging. Keep swinging,”