CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—Fourteenth-ranked North Carolina raced out to a 27-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 40-7 win over Syracuse in its ACC home opener on Saturday afternoon at Kenan Stadium, extending the Tar Heels’ best start to a season in nearly three decades.
Carolina amassed 424 yards of total offense in a suffocating first half, including 280 through the air from quarterback Drake Maye and a rushing advantage of 144-15. By the end of the game, UNC piled up a season-high 644 yards
Maye sliced through the Orange defense for a season-high 442 yards passing (six shy of his career high) and three touchdowns, including 23 of 35 for 280 yards and two scores while completing passes to 10 different receivers in the first half. He also ran for 55 yards and a TD.
Wide receiver Nate McCollum dazzled with seven catches for 135 yards, averaging 19.3 per grab. Kobe Paysour tallied three grabs for 100 yards and a brilliant, 76-yard touchdown on a one-handed catch.
The Tar Heels are 5-0 for the first time in 26 years, when they started 8-0 in 1997 in the final season of Mack Brown‘s first coaching stint in Chapel Hill.
Ranked No. 14 by the Associated Press and No. 13 by the coaches this week, Carolina should climb in both polls after improving to 5-0, 2-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference before next Saturday’s showdown with Miami in Chapel Hill. Syracuse fell to 4-2, 0-2.
Carolina’s defense blanked the Orange in the first half and held Syracuse to 221 total yards. UNC controlled time of possession by a margin of 37:16 to 22:44 and posted 33 first downs to the Orange’s 11.
The game marked the long-awaited Tar Heel debut of wide receiver Tez Walker, a transfer from Kent State who missed the first four games of the season due to an eligibility dispute with the NCAA. Ruled immediately eligible on Thursday by the NCAA, Walker finished with six catches for 43 yards.
“I just felt blessed to be out there,” Walker said afterward. “My teammates have been in my corner since I arrived. Regardless if it’s on the field or off, my teammates are there for me. I’m truly blessed.”
How It Happened
First Half
• After the Tar Heels went ahead, 3-0, in the early going, Maye capped a 17-play drive and scored on a one-yard dive to give UNC a 10-0 lead with 1:33 left in the first quarter.
• After a Carolina defensive stop, Maye put the Tar Heels up, 17-0, with a 23-yard strike to Bryson Nesbit with 12:36 left in the second quarter.
• A 48-yard toss by Maye to McCollum set up UNC on the Syracuse 1-yard line, and a Maye shovel pass to John Copenhaver a play later made it 24-0 with 6:10 remaining before halftime.
• On Carolina’s next drive, Maye marched the Tar Heels 72 yards in 12 plays for a field goal to cap a near-perfect first half.
Second Half
• Syracuse got on the board on its first drive after halftime, going 75 yards in nine plays to cut the UNC lead to 27-7.
• The top Tar Heel highlight of the second half was a spectacular, 76-yard touchdown catch by Paysour, who adjusted to a pass thrown behind him by grabbing the ball with his left hand, spinning and racing nearly untouched for a TD. The completion put Maye over 400 yards passing on the day.
Inside the Box Score
• Carolina played its best first half of the season, dominating and piling up 424 total yards (and 7.2 yards per play) to Syracuse’s 70 in the first 30 minutes. UNC built a 280-55 advantage in passing yards and a 144-15 edge rushing the ball in the first half. UNC had 23 first-half first downs to Syracuse’s four.
• Carolina improved to 55-22 as a ranked team in 15 seasons under head coach Mack Brown.
• Maye has thrown for at least 200 yards in all 19 starts of his career and has tossed multiple TD passes in 15 of those starts. He reached both of those thresholds in the first half against the Orange.
• Maye posted his ninth career 300-yard game and his third 400-yard effort.
• Carolina scored on each of its first seven drives of the game while building a 37-7 lead through three quarters.
• After completing 33 of 47 passes Saturday vs. the Orange, Maye is the only UNC quarterback to begin a season by completing at least 20 passes in five straight games.
• Carolina has scored at least 30 points in each of its first five games in 2023 and has won 10 consecutive games when scoring 30 or more.
Up Next
Carolina will continue its three-game ACC homestand next Saturday when it hosts Miami. UNC will play four of its next five games at Kenan Stadium before closing the season with road games at Clemson and NC State.
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