University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Notes - Illinois
September 19, 2015 | Football
• Carolina improves to 2-1 overall and 2-0 at Kenan Stadium this year. Larry Fedora is now 23-18 at Carolina and 57-47 overall as a head coach.
• The Tar Heels lead the series vs. Illinois, 3-0, and have out-scored the Illini, 109-28, in the three games. UNC's 48 points today are a series high.
• Today's win over Illinois marked the 17th time in Larry Fedora's four seasons as head coach that the Tar Heels scored 40 or more points.
• WR Quinshad Davis caught his 22nd career touchdown reception to establish a UNC record. He passed Hakeem Nicks' mark of 21 with a 9-yard scoring reception from Marquise Williams in the second quarter. It was Davis' first receiving touchdown this year.
• Davis caught five passes for 56 yards today. He moved ahead of Na Brown for sixth place in UNC history in receiving yards with 2,124. Davis has 163 career receptions and trails Brown by just two catches for fifth place in school history.
• Ryan Switzer returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, his sixth career punt return touchdown. It was his first punt return touchdown since the 2013 Belk Bowl vs. Cincinnati. He tied an NCAA single-season record that year with five punt returns for TDs. Today's 85-yard return extended his own school record for career punt return touchdowns.
• Switzer's punt return for a TD ties the ACC career record, which Maryland's Steve Suter set from 2001-04 (he four had four in 2002 and two in 2003).
• Switzer returned five punts today for a total of 168 yards, breaking the UNC single-game record previously held by Bud Carson, who had 166 yards on eight returns against NC State in 1951. In addition to his 85-yard return for a touchdown, Switzer had a 71-yarder that set up a UNC field goal.
• Carolina set a single-game team record for average yards per punt return (minimum five) by averaging 33.6 yards on Switzer's five returns. UNC's previous record was 30.2 yards vs. Georgia in 1948 (151 yards on five returns).
• Switzer's 85-yard touchdown return was the first punt return allowed for a touchdown against Illinois since 2007.
• Switzer also recorded his first TD catch of the season on a 34-yard pass from Marquise Williams in the third quarter. Switzer has eight career touchdown receptions.
• QB Marquise Williams was 17 of 24 passing for 203 yards and three touchdowns. Today's game marked his fourth career contest with at least three touchdown passes. Williams has 43 career touchdown passes after scoring throws today of nine yards to Quinshad Davis, 34 yards to Switzer and three yards to Austin Proehl.
• Williams also ran for 105 yards, his fourth career game with at least 100 yards on the ground. In all four of those games, Williams also passed for at least 200 yards.
• This is the eighth time in UNC history that a Tar Heel rushed for 100 yards and passed for 200 and Marquise Williams has done it four of those eight times. The others are Danny Talbott, Gayle Bomar, Ronald Curry and Darian Durant, who did accomplished the feat one time apiece.
• TB Elijah Hood had 16 carries for a team-high 129 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown.
• Today's game marked 34th time in school history and the first time since East Carolina in 2010 that two Tar Heels rushed for at least 100 yards (Hood 129, Williams 105). Johnny White and Shaun Draughn were the 100-yard gainers vs. the Pirates in 2010.
• Today is just the third time in 21 seasons that UNC had two 100-yard runners in one game (vs. William and Mary in 2004, vs. ECU in 2010).
• This is the third time in UNC history that the Tar Heels had two 100-yard runners and a 200-yard passer in the same game. The previous two occasions were against Georgia Tech in 1980 and William and Mary in 2004.
• Today's game was Hood's second 100-yard rushing game of the season and second of his career (he had a career-best 138 vs. South Carolina in the 2015 season opener in Charlotte). Hood has 323 yards on 45 carries in three games, an average of 107.7 per game and 7.2 yards per carry.
• PK Nick Weiler matched his career long with a 48-yard field goal in the first quarter and added a 32-yarder in the second quarter. He is 5 for 5 on the season with all five makes coming from at least 32 yards out and three coming from either 47 or 48 yards. Weiler's long in 2014 was 23 yards and UNC's long for the season was 30 yards.
• CB M.J. Stewart made his second interception of the season in the first quarter. The turnover led to a Tar Heel touchdown. He leads the team in that category and now has four interceptions for his career. Stewart had two tackles, an interception and a pass breakup in the first quarter.
• TB Romar Morris scored his first touchdown of the year in the first quarter, a 7-yard rush up the middle one play after he gained 20 yards on a swing pass from Williams.
• The Carolina defense shut out Illinois in the first and third quarters Saturday, marking the fifth and sixth time in 2015 the Tar Heels have kept an opponent off the scoreboard in a quarter. UNC only had four shutout quarters in all of 2014 and never more than one in a game. Carolina has had two shutout quarters in all three games so far in 2015.
• Illinois' 14 points were the fewest allowed by Carolina against a FBS opponent since a 45-14 win over Virginia on Nov. 9, 2013.
• The 34-point margin of victory is Carolina's largest against a “Power 5” conference opponent since a 44-10 win at Virginia on Oct. 16, 2010.
Players Mentioned
