Maye's five touchdowns pace UNC in rout of Virginia Tech

By Brian Murphy, WRAL sports reporter

Chapel Hill, N.C. — Five games into his career as North Carolina's starting quarterback, Drake Maye has been nearly flawless.

He might, however, need to work on his hurdles.

Maye accounted for all five UNC touchdowns -- three passing and two rushing -- in Saturday's 41-10 rout of Virginia Tech in the Tar Heels' ACC opener at Kenan Stadium.

But the redshirt freshman gave Tar Heel fans and coaches a scare with a third-quarter hurdle attempt that left him gasping for air. Maye was hit and landed awkwardly on his back, knocking the wind out of him but averting major injury.

"Stop doing that," Maye said head coach Mack Brown told him after he regained his breath and jogged to the UNC sideline. "It's just not smart for the football team."

That's how important Maye has become to the Tar Heels (4-1 overall, 1-0) and their prospects this season. Against the Hokies, he completed 26-of-36 passes for 363 yards and led the team with 73 yards rushing. He had nine completions of 20 or more yards.

He has 19 touchdown passes and just one interception on the season. ESPN's Rece Davis called him the ACC's best quarterback on College GameDay, high praise in a league with several established standouts at the position.

"Drake just continues to do some amazing things," Brown said. "Standing in the pocket or moving and finding the open guy. I think he's a very special player."

Maye had touchdown passes of 3, 16 and 25 yards and scoring runs of 1 and 2 yards.

Standout receiver Josh Downs led the Tar Heels with eight catches and 120 yards. He had a leaping grab on 4th-and-7 on the Tar Heels' second scoring drive of the game.

UNC converted all three of their attempts on fourth down, including Maye's first touchdown pass of the game to tight end Kamari Morales. It came on 4th-and-goal from the Virginia Tech 3.

The Tar Heels built a 21-3 lead midway through the second quarter, but the Hokies (2-3, 1-1) put together thier lone sustained drive of the game, marching 69 yards in 14 plays for a touchdown.

Given that UNC was unable to hold big leads in victories against App State and Georgia State, it was a troublesome drive. But Maye with two passes and a 14-yard rush moved the Tar Heels into field goal territory. Noah Burnette connected from 44 yards to give UNC a 24-10 halftime edge.

"The fact that we drove down (and) kicked the field goal was a huge message for momentum going into halftime," Brown said. "I do think that made a big difference."

UNC outscored Virginia Tech 17-0 in the third quarter.

The Tar Heels' maligned defense, which was among the worst in yards allowed in the Football Bowl Subdivision entering the game, held Virginia Tech to less than 273 yards of total offense. The Hokies did not score in the second half.

Virgnia Tech was 8-of-18 on third downs.

The solid defensive performance came after a player-led meeting this week. UNC's defense has been shredded in victories and in last week's loss to Notre Dame. The Irish had nearly 600 yards of total offense.

"We were very upset with the product we put on the field last week," linebacker Cedric Gray said. "There was definitely some pent-up frustration we were ready to let out."

Gray had an interception in the second quarter and returned it to the Virginia Tech 16. On the next play, Maye connected with Antoine Green for a touchdown.

Hurricane Ian hit the Triangle on Friday, bringing rain and strong winds to the region and creating power outages for some in the area. Light rain fell during parts of the game.

The attendance was 45,029.

UNC plays at Miami on Oct. 8.

First quarter

VT – Will Ross 34 field goal, 9:19. Key plays: The Hokies converted on 3rd-and-2 with a 4-yard pass from Grant Wells to Dae'Quan Wright. Wells hit Kaleb Smith for a 34-yard catch and run. Drive: 9 plays, 59 yards, 3:51. Virginia Tech 3, North Carolina 0.

UNC – Kamari Morales 3 pass from Drake Maye, 4:37. Key plays: UNC converted two 4th-down tries on the drive, including the touchdown pass; running back DJ Jones picked up a key block on the pass; Maye hit tight end John Copenhaver for 29 yards. Drive: 12 plays, 75 yards, 4:42. North Carolina 7, Virginia Tech 3.

Second quarter

UNC – Drake Maye 1 run (Noah Burnette kick), 12:37. Key plays: Maye 24-yard pass to Josh Downs on 4th-and-7 from the VT 43. Downs had an 18-yard reception on the next play to set up Maye's second touchdown run of the season. Drive: 11 plays, 85 yards, 4:18. North Carolina 14, Virginia Tech 3.

UNC – Antoine Green 16 pass from Drake Maye (Noah Burnette kick), 10:28. Key play: Linebacker Cedric Gray intercepted a pass from VT quarterback Grant Wells and returned it 17 yards to the VT 16. Drive: 1 play, 16 yards, :06. North Carolina 21, Virginia Tech 3.

VT – Grant Wells 2 run, :28. Key play: Wells completed a 7-yard pass to Da'Wain Lofton on 4th-and-7 from the UNC 14. Drive: 14 plays, 69 yards, 5:04. North Carolina 21, Virginia Tech 10.

UNC – Noah Burnette 44 field goal, 0:00. Key plays: Drake Maye had completions of 18 and 16 yards, plus a 14-yard run to move the Tar Heels into field goal range. Drive: 4 play, 48 yards, :28. North Carolina 24, Virginia Tech 10.

Third quarter

UNC – Drake Maye 2 run (Noah Burnette kick), 7:45. Key plays: UNC converted three third-downs on the drive, including an 11-yard run by Maye on 3rd-and-9 at the UNC 18. The 94-yard drive was UNC's longest of the season. Drive: 12 plays, 94 yards, 4:00. North Carolina 31, Virginia Tech 10.

UNC – Noah Burnette 21 field goal, 3:50. Key plays: Drake Maye hit Bryson Nesbit for 20 yards on 3rd-and-11, but Maye had to leave the game after crashing to the ground trying to hurdle a defender inside the VT 5 later in the drive. Drive: 8 plays, 61 yards, 2:26. North Carolina 34, Virginia Tech 10.

UNC – Bryson Nesbit 25 pass from Drake Maye. Key plays: Drake Maye connected with Josh Downs for 31 yards on 2nd-and-14 at the UNC 41. Receiver Gavin Blackwell recovered a fumble for UNC at the end of the play. Drive: 4 plays, 55 yards, 1:56. North Carolina 41, Virginia Tech 10.

Pre-game notes

At stake: It is the ACC opener for the Tar Heels (3-1), who suffered their first loss of the season against Notre Dame. Virginia Tech (2-2, 1-0) dropped its last game to West Virginia, snapping a two-game win streak under first-year coach Brent Pry.

Standing out: Freshman quarterback Drake Maye is tied for the national lead with 16 touchdown passes. He is third in the nation in total offense (353.3 yards per game) and sixth in passing efficiency. He leads the ACC in all three categories.

Defensive struggle: The Tar Heels rank 126th in the 131-team Football Bowl Subdivision in total defense. UNC is allowing 495.2 yards per game through four games.

Home woes: UNC is 2-7 against Virginia Tech at home since the Hokies joined the ACC in 2004.

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