North Carolina vs. South Carolina Postgame Notes
Posted Sep 3, 2023
Mack Brown becomes the first head coach in college football history to win 100 games at two FBS schools. Brown won 158 games at Texas and has 100 at Carolina. The nine sacks were the most by the Tar Heels since they had 10 against Wake Forest on 9/9/2000. The Tar Heels gained 437 yards. UNC has won the last 10 times it gained 400 or more yards.
• North Carolina is 1-0, South Carolina falls to 0-1.
• Brown is 275-144-1 overall in 35 seasons as a head coach, including 100-68-1 at UNC. The Tar Heels are 31-22 since Brown returned to Chapel Hill as head coach prior to the 2019 season.
• The Tar Heels are 36-20-4 vs. South Carolina. This is UNC’s first win against an SEC team since beating the Gamecocks, 24-20, on 8/31/19 in Charlotte (the 2019 season opener). Brown is 3-4 all-time vs. South Carolina.
• UNC improves to 17-9-2 in Charlotte.
• Carolina has won the last six times it scored 30 or more points.
• Drake Maye was 24 for 32 for 269 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. It was the 15th time in as many starts he threw for at least 200 yards.
• Maye completed his first 10 passes for 73 yards. Eight different Tar Heels made receptions in the first quarter.
• Maye threw two touchdown passes. It was the 12th time in 15 career starts he threw multiple scoring passes in a game.
• Maye threw a 34-yard touchdown in the first quarter to Kobe Paysour. It was the 13th time in 15 career starts Maye threw at least one touchdown pass.
• Maye gained 294 total yards (269 passing and 25 rushing). He passed Mitch Trubisky for eighth place in UNC history in total yards with 5,464 (Trubisky had 5,201).
• Maye has 41 career touchdown passes, tying Trubisky for sixth in UNC history.
• Maye has 373 career completions, passing Jason Stanicek (372) for seventh in UNC history.
• Omarion Hampton opened the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run on the Tar Heels’ first drive. It was Hampton’s seventh career touchdown, his first since the Miami game on 10/8/22.
• Hampton added a 1-yard scoring run in the third quarter. It was his third career two-touchdown game – he rushed for two touchdowns last year in the opener vs. Florida A&M and the third game at Georgia State.
• Ryan Coe, who made 19 of 23 field goals last year for Cincinnati, made a 37-yarder on his first attempt as a Tar Heel to give UNC a 10-7 lead.
• The Tar Heels led 17-14 at the half. Last year, UNC was 6-2 when leading at the half (losses to Georgia Tech and Oregon).
• Gavin Blackwell’s 37-yard catch to set up Hampton’s second rushing touchdown was Blackwell’s longest career reception. His previous long was 36 yards last year at App State.
• Tight end John Copenhaver caught an 18-yard touchdown from Maye in the third quarter. It was Copenhaver’s second career TD catch and first since a 2-yarder vs. Miami in 2021.
• British Brooks played for the first time since he rushed for a team-high 72 yards in Charlotte against South Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on 12/30/21. Brooks led both teams in rushing tonight with 103 yards on 15 carries.
• Brooks gained at least 100 rushing yards for the second time in his career. He rushed for a career-best 124 at NC State in 2021.
• The Tar Heels sacked South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler nine times for 65 yards. Last season, the Tar Heels had 17 sacks in 14 games with a high of three in the season opener against Florida A&M. UNC made a combined eight sacks in the last nine games a year ago.
• Six different Tar Heels sacked Rattler. Jack linebackers Kaimon Rucker and Amari Gainer each had two, Beau Atkinson and Cedric Gray each had one and a half and Tomari Fox and Desmond Evans each made one.
• Rucker made a career-high five and a half of UNC’s 16 tackles for losses. He came into the game with 15.5 career tackles for losses, including 5.5 in 2021 and seven in 2022. Rucker had 5.5 TFL for 33 yards this evening.
• While the Tar Heel defense made 16 tackles for losses for 81 yards, the UNC offense was dropped for a loss just one time in 71 offensive plays for a loss of five yards.
• The Tar Heels held the Gamecocks to -2 net rushing yards on 31 attempts (including the nine quarterback sacks). Rattler scrambled twice for 15 yards, South Carolina’s only rushing plays that gained more than six yards.
• UNC’s defense limited the Gamecocks to 4 for 14 on third down conversion chances and 0 for 4 on fourth down.
• Cedric Gray led the Tar Heels with nine tackles.
• The Tar Heels committed the game’s only two turnovers, but the UNC defense held the Gamecocks to only three points after those turnovers.
Courtesy UNC Athletics
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