UNC-Wake Forest Postgame Notes
October 29, 2011 | Football
Oct. 29, 2011
Recap |
Final Stats |
Quotes |
Photo Gallery 1 
|
AP Photo Gallery |
Photo Gallery 3
North Carolina vs. Wake Forest • Oct. 29, 2011 • Postgame Notes
Final Score: North Carolina 49, Wake Forest 24
• Carolina scored a season-high 49 points, its highest scoring output since beating William and Mary, 49-38, on Sept. 4, 2004. It was the highest point total in an ACC game by the Tar Heels since they beat Duke, 52-17, on Nov. 17, 2001. It was also the most points allowed by Wake Forest this year (previous high 38 by Virginia Tech).
• The Tar Heels amassed a season-high 562 yards, its highest yardage total since Carolina gained 575 yards against William and Mary on Sept. 4, 2004. Its previous high this year was 461 vs. James Madison and its previous high this year in an ACC game was 429 vs. Miami.
• Redshirt freshman tailback Giovani Bernard had 27 carries for 154 yards and two rushing touchdowns. Bernard also had his first touchdown reception, a 7-yard scoring catch-and-run to the pylon in the first quarter. He is the first Tar Heel to score three times in a game since tailback Shaun Draughn had three rushing touchdowns against East Carolina in 2010.
• Bernard's 154 rushing yards were the most by a Tar Heel against Wake Forest since Ronnie McGill rushed for 244 yards in 2003. It was the most rushing yards allowed by the Deacons this year (previous was 136 by Virginia Tech's David Wilson).
• Bernard has rushed 168 times for 965 yards and 11 touchdowns this year, an average of 5.7 yards per carry and 107.2 yards per game. His 11 rushing touchdowns are the most by a Tar Heel since Leon Johnson scored 12 times in 1995.
• Bernard has scored 12 total touchdowns this year (11 rushing, one receiving), tied for eighth-most in single-season school history. His 12 scores are the most since wide receiver Hakeem Nicks scored 13 times in 2008. He has scored touchdowns in seven of Carolina's nine games this year.
• Bernard's 154 yards today were just one yard off his season high, a 155-yard effort at Georgia Tech. Bernard is the first Tar Heel to rush for 150 or more yards in two games in the same season since 1997 when Jonathan Linton gained 177 vs. NC State and 199 vs. Duke.
• Bernard rushed for 100-plus yards for the sixth time this season, tying the UNC record for 100-yard games by a freshman with Amos Lawrence (1977).
• Bernard is the first Tar Heel to rush for at least 100 yards six times in a season since 1992 when Natrone Means did it seven times.
• Bernard's final rush today was a 54-yarder that set up UNC's final touchdown. It was his third 50-plus yard gain this year (also had a 60-yarder against Rutgers and a 55-yarder vs. Georgia Tech).
• Sophomore quarterback Bryn Renner finished 21 for 28 for a career-high 338 yards and three touchdowns, his first career 300-yard passing game (previous high was 288 yards vs. Miami). It was his second game this year with at least three touchdown passes (had four at East Carolina).
• The 338 yards passing by Renner are the 13th-most in a game by a Tar Heel and the second-most ever by a Tar Heel against Wake Forest (Darian Durant had 361 against the Deacs in 2001).
• Renner has completed 168 of 231 pass attempts this year for 2,195 yards, 19 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He has completed 72.7 percent of his pass attempts. He is tied for second in touchdown passes in a season by a Tar Heel (record is 23 by Chris Keldorf in 1996, TJ Yates also had 19 in 2010). The completions and yardage are ninth-most in a season. No Tar Heel with at least 100 attempts has ever completed 70 percent of his passes in a season.
• Senior wide receiver Dwight Jones finished with six catches for 138 yards. It was his third 100-yard receiving game of the season (first since the first two games of the season) and the seventh of his career. Jones has 121 career catches, moving him into 10th place on UNC's all-time receptions list. He passed LC Stevens, who had 120 catches.
• Senior tailback Ryan Houston scored his sixth touchdown of the season, a 1-yard plunge in the third quarter. He now has 24 career touchdowns and 16 of those have been from either one or two yards out.
• Houston's 24 career touchdowns have covered a total of 66 yards and place him eighth all-time at Carolina, tied with Ronnie McGill (2003-06).
• Junior wide receiver Erik Highsmith caught four passes for 87 yards and two touchdowns, his second and third of the season. It was his first career two-score game.
• Carolina scored on an 8-play, 96-yard touchdown drive at the end of the first half, its longest scoring drive by yardage in 2011.
• The Tar Heel defense forced five turnovers by a Wake Forest offense that had committed just five for the entire season entering the game. The Demon Deacons had not had a multiple-turnover game prior to Saturday. Carolina scored 28 points off the five takeaways.
• Senior linebacker Zach Brown finished with nine tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss, an interception, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Brown now has a team-high 62 tackles this season with team-highs of 5.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss.
• Senior defensive tackle Tydreke Powell notched his first career interception in the third quarter, a diving effort after Kevin Reddick and Zach Brown both deflected a Tanner Price pass attempt.
• Senior cornerback Charles Brown picked off his first pass of the season in the second quarter, the seventh interception of his career and first since the Duke game in 2009.
• Redshirt freshman place-kicker Thomas Moore made all seven of his PAT attempts and is now 28 for 28 on the season. Carolina has made 110 consecutive PATs, including a school-record 82 in a row by injured senior Casey Barth.
• Carolina leads the series against Wake Forest, 68-34-2, including a 41-18-2 record in Chapel Hill. The 49 points are the most by the Tar Heels against the Deacons since a 50-0 win in 1994.
