North Carolina 48, Illinois 23
When: 7:30 PM ET, Saturday, September 10, 2016
Where: Memorial Stadium, Champaign, Illinois
Temperature:
71°
Head Official:
Jerry Magallane
Attendance:
60670
By The Sports Xchange
Quarterback Mitch Trubisky passed for two touchdowns and ran for two as North Carolina rebounded from a season-opening loss to Georgia with a 48-23 victory over Illinois on Saturday night in Champaign, Ill.
Trubisky was 19-of-24 passing for 265 yards and extended his string of attempts without an interception to 139 as the Tar Heels (1-1) improved to 4-0 against the Fighting Illini. Running back Elijah Hood's 62-yard touchdown run with 6:49 remaining -- his second score of the fourth quarter -- gave North Carolina a 45-23 lead.
Quarterback Wes Lunt was 17 of 35 for 127 yards and two touchdowns for Illinois (1-1), which fell to 23-3 in August/September home games since 2007. Illini running back Ke'Shawn Vaughn totaled 116 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown.
Vaughn sent the Memorial Stadium crowd into a frenzy when he broke through a huge hole on the right side of the line and raced untouched 65 yards for a touchdown on the third play from scrimmage. The Tar Heels responded less than five minutes later with the first of two Trubisky touchdown runs and the junior later threw a 24-yard scoring toss to running back T.J. Logan, helping North Carolina take a 24-16 halftime lead.
Trubisky's pass to wide receiver Mack Hollins was incomplete from the Illinois 2-yard line on the final play of the first half as coach Larry Fedora opted against a short field goal attempt.
Tar Heels kicker Nick Weiler missed a 42-yard field goal try to start the second half and after a three-and-out by the Illini, Trubisky connected with Hollins for a 20-yard touchdown. Illinois trimmed the deficit to 31-23 when Lunt threw a 7-yard TD pass to wide receiver Malik Turner on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Hood restored North Carolina's 15-point lead with a 7-yard touchdown run on the ensuing possession before his long jaunt sealed the victory.
Top Game Performances
Receiving
North Carolina |
|
Illinois |
Ryan Switzer
|
Player |
Malik Turner
|
5 |
Receptions |
3 |
68 |
Yards |
33 |
13.6 |
Avg Yards |
11.0 |
0 |
Touchdowns |
1 |
0 |
Long |
0 |
Team Stats Summary
|
Yards |
Scoring |
Defense |
Team |
Tot |
Rus |
Pas |
TD |
FG |
INT |
Sck |
FF |
North Carolina
|
462 |
197 |
265 |
6 |
2 |
0 |
2.0 |
1 |
Illinois
|
309 |
182 |
127 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2.0 |
0 |