Tez Walker may have gotten his feet wet last weekend, but Saturday night against No. 25 Miami is when he truly introduced himself to Chapel Hill.
Walker hauled in six passes for 132 yards and a career-high three touchdown passes in Carolina’s fifth straight win over the Hurricanes, powering the Tar Heels through some sloppy penalties en route to the 41-31 victory. Walker is the first UNC receiver to catch three touchdown passes in a single game since Josh Downs did so at Wake Forest last year.
Final from Chapel Hill.#CarolinaFootball🏈 x #UNCommon x @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/aavRk72Jpo
— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) October 15, 2023
Walker accounted for three of quarterback Drake Maye’s four touchdown passes, as Maye tallied the fifth game of his collegiate career with four touchdowns through the air. He also became the sixth Tar Heel in school history to surpass 7,000 total yards in his career.
The offensive fireworks came in spite of an alarming amount of penalties called against Carolina. The Tar Heels were flagged for nine penalties totaling 97 yards in the first half alone, finishing with an eye-popping total of 14 flags for 147 total yards on the night. Both numbers are comfortably season highs.
“We’ve never had that many penalties,” head coach Mack Brown said after the game. We had a lot more than they had. So we’ll look at all those tonight and turn them in to the ACC office and see if they were real. That’s all I can say.”
The plentiful penalties wiped away several long UNC runs and gave Miami free yardage on its offensive drives, helping the Hurricanes kick a field goal as time expired in the first half to take a 17-14 lead. Considering Miami had fumbled on the goal line in the first quarter to nullify a potential touchdown, the Tar Heels should’ve considered themselves lucky to be down just three points.
“I told the guys that we were gonna win the game,” Brown said of his halftime speech. “This was a heavyweight fight, and it’s exactly what we needed. If we’re gonna be good… this is a determining moment in our season.”
The inspired Tar Heels came out and blitzed the Hurricanes in the third quarter, outscoring them 21-0 (with a pair of Walker touchdowns in a span of 5:01 leading the charge) to blow the game open before the stroke of the fourth quarter. It also sent Carolina over 30 points for the sixth consecutive game to start the season. The last time the Tar Heels did that, it was 1914. The United States had not yet entered the First World War.
“It’s just one of those things where we find ways to win,” Maye said. “It’s a testament to this team… when things go wrong, people just keep stepping up and making plays.”
Walker added a 19-yard rush to total 151 all-purpose yards on the night, though he was still outgunned by running back Omarion Hampton, who amassed 197 rushing yards and 20 receiving yards while catching Maye’s fourth touchdown pass. It’s the second time this season Hampton has topped 200 total yards of offense.
Defensively, linebacker Cedric Gray continued to torment Miami by recovering the Hurricanes’ goal-line fumble, intercepting Tyler Van Dyke during the critical third quarter and leading the Tar Heels with 10 total tackles. Gray has now forced at least one turnover in three consecutive games against the Hurricanes, and three of his five career interceptions have come against them.
“Cedric’s such a leader, and he’s got so much confidence,” Brown said. “I love Cedric Gray. The fact he turned down being a second-round draft choice and came back for all the right reasons is so unlike what’s happening in college football. I’m so proud of him.”
Ultimately, though, Carolina provided plenty of evidence it still has room to grow this season. The 14 penalties were evidence enough of that, but the Tar Heels also allowed the Hurricanes to score 14 points in the fourth quarter to keep a sliver of hope alive until the waning seconds. Brown has often said this season he tells coaches to treat wins like losses, and that may prove easy after Saturday.
“I think this team can be really good,” Brown said, “[but] we’ve got to coach them better, and they’ve got to play better for us to get where we want to go.”
Featured image via UNC Football on Twitter
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