University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina Postgame Notes vs. Virginia, Sept. 15, 2007
September 15, 2007 | Football
Sept. 15, 2007
Recap |
Box Score |
Quotes |
AP Photo Gallery 
|
Photo Gallery
• Redshirt freshman quarterback T.J. Yates threw for three touchdowns for the third time in as many games and went over 300 yards passing for the second straight week. He finished 25 for 38 for 339 yards. He connected with Hakeem Nicks on scoring plays of 4 and 53 yards and with tight end Richard Quinn for 2 yards.
• Yates' nine touchdown passes are the most by a UNC quarterback over the first three games of any season. Yates' nine TD passes are the second most by a UNC freshman, trailing only Darian Durant's 17 in 2001. Chris Keldorf held the previous mark for most TD passes in the first three games of a season as well as a quarterback's first three career starts with six against Clemson, Syracuse and Georgia Tech in 1996.
• The 339 yards by Yates marks the ninth-most passing yards in a game by a Tar Heel (last week he had 344 at ECU, the seventh-most). Yates joins Darian Durant and Chris Keldorf as the only Tar Heel quarterbacks with at least two of the 10 highest yardage games in UNC history (Durant has the 1st and 5th, Keldorf the 2nd and 8th, Yates the 7th and 9th).
• The 339 yards by Yates are the most passing and most total offense yards ever by a Tar Heel against Virginia. The previous passing high was 281 by Kevin Anthony in 1984. The previous total offense high was 328 by Derrick Fenner in 1986 (all 328 yards by Fenner were rushing).
• The 53-yard score from T.J. Yates to Hakeem Nicks marked the Tar Heels¹ fourth play of 50 or more yards this season - all passes from Yates, but to four different receivers: Brooks Foster (65), Nicks (53), Bobby Rome (53) and Brandon Tate (51).
• Wide receiver Hakeem Nicks, who had seven catches for 113 yards, had his second career two-touchdown outing Saturday and first since at Notre Dame last season. Nicks has three touchdown catches this year and seven in for his career.
• Wide receiver Brooks Foster led UNC with a career-high 139 receiving yards on seven catches for his second career 100-yard game and first this season. The 139 yards are the most by a Tar Heel receiver this season, eclipsing the 102 by Brandon Tate last week at East Carolina. Foster previously had a career-best 120 yards against Rutgers in 2006.
• Carolina had two players with 100 or more receiving yards in a game for the first time since September 20, 1997, when L.C. Stevens had nine for 114 and Jason Peace had five for 105 in a 40-14 win over Maryland.
• At one point today, Virginia held an edge in total offense of 216 to 39. y game's end, Carolina held the advantage, 399 to 350.
• Freshman h-back Zack Pianalto had a career-best five catches for 43 yards, but had one of three UNC turnovers on a fourth-quarter fumble.
• Defensive end Hilee Taylor posted his first career three-sack game and second career multi-sack effort. Taylor¹s previous career-best sack effort came against Duke in 2004 when he recorded 2.5 sacks. Taylor leads the Tar Heels with 3.5 sacks this season and has 12 in his career. Taylor finished with seven tackles, including four for losses totaling 22 yards.
• Linebacker Durell Mapp recorded his second career sack and first since 2005 in the third quarter when he brought down Jameel Sewell for a 10-yard loss. Mapp finished with a team-high 12 tackles (10 solo).
• Quarterback T.J. Yates was sacked twice on the Tar Heels¹ second drive after being sacked just three times over the first two games.
• After averaging 247 yards of offense in the first half in each of its first two games, the Tar Heels managed only 125 yards in the opening half against Virginia. Carolina put up 72 of its 125 first-half yards on the final scoring drive.
• Freshman defensive lineman Tydreke Powell saw his first action as a Tar Heel, bringing the number of true freshmen to play this season to 10.
• The opposition scored first for the first time this season. Virginia's Cedric Peerman scored on a 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
• Virginia's Chris Gould was the first kicker to make five field goals against Carolina since Clemson¹s Nelson Welsh did so in 1994.
• This was Carolina's third straight home loss by seven or fewer points (17-24 to Wake Forest, 0-7 to Georgia Tech and 20-22 to Virginia).
