Three takeaways from North Carolina’s 45-10 win against NC Central at Kenan Stadium

It would be easy to dismiss North Carolina’s matchup Saturday against N.C. Central as a “money game” for the Eagles and let it go at that.

The Tar Heels were heavy favorites. For the Eagles, it was a $430,000 football payday, which will help bolster the athletic budget. Call it a win/win for both UNC system schools.

But there was the matter of winning the game at Kenan Stadium. NCCU coach Trei Oliver wasn’t conceding anything, noting the Eagles have a penchant for pulling upsets while quipping if the Eagles won Saturday they would “paint Chapel Hill maroon and gray.”

There wouldn’t be any of that, but the Eagles did make the Tar Heels work for a 45-10 victory, UNC putting it away with a 28-point fourth quarter to considerably widen the margin.

UNC’s Omarion Hampton pounded his way to 210 yards rushing and three touchdowns for the Heels (3-0), who alternated Conner Harrell and Jacolby Criswell at quarterback — Criswell playing better and getting most of the work. It was the second career 200-yard game for Hampton, the junior from Clayton who had 234 yards against Appalachian State last season.

“I knew the ‘Big O’ was going to do what he did today,” Criswell said. “He has put in so much work, and he had himself a day today.”

UNC held a 17-10 halftime lead after some tough defensive work near the goal line in the final two minutes of the half limited the Eagles (1-2) to a field goal. The score stayed the same until the fourth quarter, when the Heels finally opened it up on a Harrell TD pass to John Copenhaver, a Hampton touchdown run after a Kaleb Cost pickoff and another run by Davion Gause.

Charleston French added one last TD on a 45-yard burst in the final minute of the game to push UNC past 500 yards in total offense.

Three takeaways from the game:

Quarterback quandary?

Nothing like a little quarterback intrigue to spice things up, and it figures to continue at UNC.

In preseason, the question was whether Max Johnson or Harrell would be the starter in the opener at Minnesota. Johnson, the graduate transfer from Texas A&M, was the pick but sustained a broken leg in the second half as Harrell took over in the 19-17 comeback win.

Harrell had some good and not-so-good-moments against Charlotte in the Heels’ home opener, another win. UNC then sputtered on its first two possessions Saturday and in came Criswell — the former Tar Heel who came back from Arkansas as a graduate transfer this season, knowing he would be the No. 3 QB in camp and playing time might be sparse.

UNC coach Mack Brown said the pregame plan was for Criswell to enter the game on the third possession, and the coaches stuck with it despite trailing 7-0.

Criswell directed the Heels to two first-half TDs and had a touchdown pass to Copenhaver — the tight end weaving his way to the end zone for a 23-yard score — early in the fourth quarter as UNC took a 24-10 lead.

The UNC score came after Criswell made a scrambling 29-yard throw to Christian Hamilton for a third-down conversion. Criswell finshed 14 of 23 for 161 yards and a score before Harrell returned late in the game.

“We wanted to play both of them,” Brown said. “We’re going to give them both a chance. We’re going to have two quarterbacks who can play, and if one is struggling, we’ll just put the hot hand in and keep him in.”

Photos: First ever gridiron meeting between North Carolina and NC Central

Penalties, penalties

Coaches always like to moan about penalties and UNC’s Brown has done his share in preseason, saying there would be more emphasis on better discipline and fewer penalties this season.

The Heels had 10 penalties for 72 yards in the opening half Saturday, and while the temptation was for the head coach to be very loud at halftime, Brown said he tried to stay positive. But UNC would finish with 16 penalties for 102 yards, tying the school record for penalties set in a 1975 game against Virginia. NCCU had 11 penalties for 89 yards on Saturday.

“It was unbelievable,” Brown said. “We’ve been good the first two weeks not to have penalties and here we are, we look up and we’ve got 10 at halftime and 16 for the game. A couple of times, I thought we lost our composure. You’ve got to compete but you can’t lose your composure.”

North Carolina defensive end Des Evans was offside on the first snap of the game, perhaps setting a tone. The Heels wanted to be aggressive and active on defense. The problem: They overdid it at times and the referees would have none of it.

Evans was called for roughing the passer, twice. UNC fans were groaning after the second penalty, but Evans did put a two-hand shove on quarterback Walker Harris, who was injured late in the first half.

The UNC defense then bailed out cornerback Marcus Allen. The Eagles had first-and-goal at the 1 but could not punch it in, Harris being sacked on the third down, only to have Allen called for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play -- Brown later noted there was much trash-talking in the game.

The result was another first-and-goal for NCCU. But the Heels held again. The Eagles got only a field goal out of it on the last play of the half as UNC’s defense made six stops.

NCCU had 167 total yards in the game, the fewest allowed by a UNC defense since 2009, and 76 rushing.

“I’m really proud of the goal-line stand, and then we came back out and the defense totally dominated the game,” Brown said.

It’s not how you start ...

The Eagles couldn’t have scripted the start to the game any better and almost played a perfect first quarter. Almost.

They took the opening kickoff and went 75 yards for a touchdown on a drive that ate up 7 minutes, 28 seconds off the clock — 2 seconds shy of half the period on the first possession. J’Mari Taylor scored untouched from 5 yards on the 12th play of the drive, and Eagles fans had something quickly to cheer.

“We came out with a lot of energy, executed offensively and had a couple of stops defensively,” Oliver said.

NCCU then backed the Tar Heels up to their 5 after a punt and got a three-and-out series from its defense. Tom Maginness punted for UNC out of the end zone — and everything changed.

Chris Mosley muffed the punt and UNC’s Hamilton recovered with 53 seconds left in the quarter. The Heels scored in four plays, tying it 7-7 early in the second quarter.

UNC had more penalty yards (35) than total yards (34) in the opening period. The Eagles had the ball for a little more than 10 minutes. But that one muffed punt …