West Virginia led North Carolina from start to finish and defeated the Tar Heels, 30-10, on a wet Wednesday evening in the Duke's Mayo Bowl at Bank of America Stadium.
The Mountaineers scored on a 75-yard scoring pass on their first play from scrimmage and never looked back. WVU scored the game's final 16 points and held the Tar Heels scoreless in the second half.
Garrett Greene threw for 204 yards and a touchdown for WVU, which forced three UNC turnovers.
Starting his first career game in place of Drake Maye, who opted out to prepare for the NFL Draft, redshirt freshman quarterback Connor Harrell completed 18 of 27 passing attempts for 199 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions for the Tar Heels. He also ran 17 times for 39 yards.
Omarion Hampton rushed 19 times for 74 yards for Carolina. J.J. Jones caught four passes for 53 yards and a score, and Gavin Blackwell hauled in three catches for 78 yards, including a 47-yarder in the first half.
The Tar Heels scored a season-low 10 points and fell to 8-5 to end the season. Carolina finished the season by losing five of its last seven games after starting the season 6-0.
How It Happened
First Half
• WVU took control just 11 seconds into the game when Greene connected with Traylon Ray for a 75-yard touchdown pass on the game's first play from scrimmage that made the score 7-0.
• UNC appeared ready to reply with a score of its own in the final five minutes of the first quarter after Harrell connected with Blackwell for 47 yards down to the WVU 21-yard line. It was just Blackwell's seventh reception of the season. Three plays later, however, Harrell threw an interception in the end zone to end the scoring threat.
• Late in the second quarter after forcing a Mountaineer punt, the Tar Heels committed a special teams error to give the ball back to WVU. Paul Billups II was charged with a muffed punt when a West Virginia punt touched his leg as he was blocking for the returner. The Mountaineers recovered deep in Tar Heel territory.
• Carolina's defense came up big to limit the damage caused by the turnover, stifling WVU and forcing a missed 52-yard field goal attempt to preserve the 7-3 Mountaineer lead.
• With 1:29 left in the half, WVU's Beanie Bishop Jr. scored on a 78-yard punt return to make the score 14-3 in favor of West Virginia.
• Just over a minute later, Harrell connected with J.J. Jones for a 16-yard touchdown reception. The TD capped a whirlwind, five-play, 76-yard UNC scoring drive in just 58 seconds.
• The Mountaineers marched 63 yards in six plays in 27 seconds, adding a field goal at the halftime gun to make the score 17-10 in favor of WVU.
Second Half
• West Virginia blanked the Tar Heels in the second half while adding a touchdown and two field goals for the final margin of 30-10.
