Maye, Tar Heels Dominates Syracuse at Home

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—Fourteenth-ranked North Carolina raced out to a 27-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 40-7 win over Syracuse in its ACC home opener on Saturday afternoon at Kenan Stadium, extending the Tar Heels’ best start to a season in nearly three decades.

Carolina amassed 424 yards of total offense in a suffocating first half, including 280 through the air from quarterback Drake Maye and a rushing advantage of 144-15. By the end of the game, UNC piled up a season-high 644 yards

Maye sliced through the Orange defense for a season-high 442 yards passing (six shy of his career high) and three touchdowns, including 23 of 35 for 280 yards and two scores while completing passes to 10 different receivers in the first half. He also ran for 55 yards and a TD.

Wide receiver Nate McCollum dazzled with seven catches for 135 yards, averaging 19.3 per grab. Kobe Paysour tallied three grabs for 100 yards and a brilliant, 76-yard touchdown on a one-handed catch.

The Tar Heels are 5-0 for the first time in 26 years, when they started 8-0 in 1997 in the final season of Mack Brown’s first coaching stint in Chapel Hill.

Carolina’s defense blanked the Orange in the first half and held Syracuse to 221 total yards. UNC controlled time of possession by a margin of 37:16 to 22:44 and posted 33 first downs to the Orange’s 11.

The game marked the long-awaited Tar Heel debut of wide receiver Tez Walker, a transfer from Kent State who missed the first four games of the season due to an eligibility dispute with the NCAA. Ruled immediately eligible on Thursday by the NCAA, Walker finished with six catches for 43 yards.

Ranked No. 14 by the Associated Press and No. 13 by the coaches this week, Carolina should climb in both polls after improving to 5-0, 2-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference before next Saturday’s showdown with Miami in Chapel Hill. Syracuse fell to 4-2, 0-2.