Keeping It Heel
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UNC vs. Illinois: Three key stats in Tar Heels win

By Zack Pearson

Sep 10, 2016; Champaign, IL, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels safety Dominquie Green (26) deflects a pass intended for Illinois Fighting Illini wide receiver Justin Hardee (19) during the 3rd quarter at Memorial Stadium. North Carolina beat Illinois 48 to 23. Mandatory Credit: Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 10, 2016; Champaign, IL, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels safety Dominquie Green (26) deflects a pass intended for Illinois Fighting Illini wide receiver Justin Hardee (19) during the 3rd quarter at Memorial Stadium. North Carolina beat Illinois 48 to 23. Mandatory Credit: Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports /
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The North Carolina Tar Heels and Illinois Fighting Illini battled under the lights in Champaign on Saturday night.

In the end, the Tar Heels came out with the victory — their first of the season.

The Illini got off to a fast start, scoring on the third play of the game and it looked like another nightmare scenario for the Tar Heels. But they turned it around and did so in a big way.

UNC scored 17 straight points to build a double digit lead after trailing 14-7. It was a big turnaround in the game, giving the Heels all of the momentum.

The win is a big one as UNC is trying to build some momentum ahead of their home opener against James Madison on Saturday.

Here are three key stats from UNC’s win in Champaign:

Six different Tar Heels caught a pass of 20 yards or more

Sep 10, 2016; Champaign, IL, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels running back T.J. Logan (8) carries the ball against the Illinois Fighting Illini during the 3rd quarter at Memorial Stadium. North Carolina beat Illinois 48 to 23. Mandatory Credit: Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 10, 2016; Champaign, IL, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels running back T.J. Logan (8) carries the ball against the Illinois Fighting Illini during the 3rd quarter at Memorial Stadium. North Carolina beat Illinois 48 to 23. Mandatory Credit: Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports /

Okay, talk about getting production from your receiving core. During Saturday’s win, quarterback Mitch Trubisky completed 19 of his 24 pass attempts. More importantly, Trubisky spread the ball around to eight different receivers.

But the stat that really stands out? Six of those eight receivers caught a pass that went for 20 yards or more.

Out of that group, receiver Bug Howard had the longest which was 28 yards. The play came in the second quarter, helping extend a UNC drive.

Two of those also resulted in a touchdown.

Running back T.J. Logan took a screen pass from Trubisky on third down 24 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. Then in the third quarter, receiver Mack Hollins caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Trubisky.

Tar Heels averaged 7.5 yards per play against Illinois

After a sluggish start on their opening drive, UNC’s offense really got going.

The Tar Heels exploded for 48 points on the game, marking back-to-back years they scored that total against Illinois. They were full of big plays all-around as they averaged 7.5 yards per play, running a total of 62 in the game.

Among those plays were six different receptions of 20-plus yards (noted above), a 62 yard rush by Elijah Hood and a few nice big gains on key downs.

It was certainly a different Tar Heels offense than we saw against Georgia just a week prior. This time around, UNC took advantage of the big plays and made Illinois pay.

Keep doing that in the future and this season will certainly be successful.

One turnover on both sides of the ball..

Sep 10, 2016; Champaign, IL, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini quarterback Wes Lunt (12) sets up to pass against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the 1st quarter at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 10, 2016; Champaign, IL, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini quarterback Wes Lunt (12) sets up to pass against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the 1st quarter at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports /

When you win the turnover battle in a game, good things usually happen.

For the Tar Heels on Saturday, the turnover battle was even. But there was still an importance to this.

The Tar Heels turned the ball over once when Ryan Switzer muffed a punt in the first quarter as he didn’t get his forearms under the ball. Illinois recovered and the next drive they scored a touchdown to take a 14-7 lead.

The fumble hurt the Tar Heels at the time, but they managed to bounce back thanks to an Illinois turnover later in the quarter. UNC recovered a fumble by quarterback Wes Lunt which lead to a touchdown just two plays later.

UNC forced 5 total fumbles on the game, which is pretty damn good. The problem is, they only recovered one. Fedora spoke about that in his postgame press conference.

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