University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Notes - Liberty
August 31, 2014 | Football
Postgame Notes • Aug. 30, 2014
• North Carolina is now 2-1 in season openers under head coach Larry Fedora. The Tar Heels also defeated Elon in 2012.
• Saturday's win was Fedora's 50th as a head coach in his seventh season. He is now 16-10 in three seasons at UNC and 50-29 overall.
• The 85 combined points are the most scored in Carolina's season opener since 2004 when the Tar Heels beat William and Mary, 49-38 (87 points).
• Carolina scored 28 consecutive points in three minutes and 49 seconds after falling behind 22-21. Carolina scored on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Marquise Williams to Mack Hollins, a 19-yard interception return by Jeff Schoettmer, a 15-yard run by Williams and a 4-yard pass from Mitch Trubisky to Jack Tabb to take a 49-22 lead.
• The teams combined for 10 turnovers that led to 49 points. Liberty lost four fumbles and had two passes intercepted that led to 28 Carolina points; the Tar Heels lost one fumble and had three passes picked off that led to 21 Liberty points.
• Carolina's four consecutive touchdowns in the third quarter came after a punt, an interception and two Liberty fumbles.
• Marquise Williams started at quarterback and was 19 of 29 for 169 yards, two interceptions and two touchdowns. He also rushed six times for 52 yards and two scores.
• Tonight marked the fifth time that Williams rushed for a touchdown and threw for a touchdown in the same game. He did it once as a freshman in 2012 and three times in 2013.
• QB Mitch Trubisky saw his first collegiate action and finished 10 for 16 for 66 yards, one interception and one touchdown. His first career scoring pass was a 4-yard strike to tight end Jack Tabb in the third quarter.
• TB Romar Morris scored on a 1-yard run. Morris now has eight career rushing touchdowns (2 in 2012, 5 in 2013), including three in his last two games (two in the 2013 Belk Bowl).
• TB Charles Brunson was Carolina's leading rusher with 54 yards on nine carries and a touchdown. He accounted for all nine plays and yards on Carolina's final scoring possession of the game.
• TE Jack Tabb caught his third career touchdown pass, a 4-yard scoring throw from Trubisky in the third quarter. Tabb has now scored in consecutive games after a 3-yard TD in the 2013 Belk Bowl.
• WR Ryan Switzer caught a career-high eight passes for 43 yards. Switzer's previous high was five several times last year. He also returned seven punts for 70 yards, with a long of 30 yards.
• WR Mack Hollins caught two passes for 40 yards, including a 33-yard touchdown in the third quarter. A special teams captain last year as a freshman, the receptions were the first of his career. The 33-yard catch-and-run down the left sideline was the go-ahead score that gave Carolina a 28-22 lead with 5:55 to play in the third quarter.
• LB Jeff Schoettmer returned an interception 19 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter. It was the first career interception and first career touchdown for Schoettmer, who also had four tackles.
• DB Tim Scott had a team-high eight tackles, forced a fumble and had a pass breakup. Scott moved to safety in the offseason but started at corner against Liberty.
• CB Kedrick Davis recovered a fumble and had an interception.
• Strong safety Dominquie Green recovered three fumbles and had 20 yards on returns. Carolina scored touchdowns following two of his three fumble recoveries.
• The Tar Heels played eight true freshmen and six redshirt freshmen. The true freshmen included DB Allen Artis, WR Austin Proehl, LB Tyrell Tomlin, LB Cayson Collins, TB Elijah Hood, OL Jared Cohen, OL Bentley Spain and DL Tyler Powell. The red-shirt freshmen who saw action for the first time included QB Mitch Trubisky, DL Dajaun Drennon, WR Jackson Boyer, OL Brad Henson, WR Jordan Fieulleteau and DL Nazair Jones.
• Place-kicker Nick Weiler kicked off nine times tonight. Eight of those kickoffs resulted in touchbacks and the ninth was run out of the end zone for just 12 yards. Weiler also made all six of his point-after-attempts, the first of his collegiate career.
• The Tar Heels ran 93 offensive plays. The last time UNC ran 90 or more plays in a game was in 1994 when UNC ran 96 plays against Georgia Tech.
• Liberty gained 240 yards in the first half and 106 in the second. Carolina had 214 in the first and 229 in the second.
• Liberty scored on a safety in the second quarter on a bad snap on a UNC punt. That was the first safety allowed by the Tar Heels since the Duke game in 2010.
• Ten different Tar Heels caught passes. Switzer led with eight, Bug Howard had five, Quinshad Davis and Jack Tabb each had three.
Players Mentioned
