CHARLOTTE — West Virginia and UNC met for just the third time ever in Wednesday night’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl, and the Mountaineers cruised to a 30-10 victory at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium.
WVU (9-4) held a 17-10 lead at halftime and added 13 unanswered points in the second half, rolling to a 20-point victory over the Tar Heels (8-5), who ended the season with three straight losses.
It was the first meeting between the teams since WVU topped UNC 31-30 in the Meineke Car Care Bowl inside the same stadium 15 years ago.
“Tonight was really about our special teams and our defense,” WVU coach Neal Brown said following the game.
Ranked as high as 10th in the country midway through the season, UNCentered the bowl with four losses in its last six games. West Virginia, meanwhile, had won four of its past five.
“We’ve got to figure out why we’re not finishing well. … It’s my job to figure out how to get over the eight- or nine-win hump,” UNC coach Mack Brown said after his team’ dropped its fourth straight bowl game.
It only took 11 seconds for the Mountaineers — whose fans traveled well enough that it could have been mistaken for a Mountaineers home game despite being played in UNC’s home state — to jump on the Tar Heels. On the first play from scrimmage, WVU quarterback Garrett Greene hit a wide-open Traylon Ray for a 75-yard touchdown pass.
“The crowd is what it is,” Brown said, addressing the lack of UNC fans in attendance. “Rather than talk bad about our crowd, I’ll just applaud West Virginia for their crowd. They had a great crowd. It was impressive.”
Greene finished with 204 yards on 11-for-22 passing to go along with a team-high 75 rushing yards and was named the game’s MVP. His top two targets — Ray and Hudson Clement — finished with 91 and 89 yards, respectively.
The Tar Heels struggled with several key pieces not in the lineup.
Drake Maye — UNC’s 6-foot-4, 230-pound sophomore quarterback from Huntersville — opted to sit out the bowl game to prepare for the 2024 NFL Draft where he is likely to be one of the first few names called. Leading receiver Dez Walker and a few other starters also opted out of the game.
With backup Conner Harrell in at quarterback for his first start, the Tar Heels struggled offensively. While the redshirt freshman showed flashes of his passing and scrambling ability, his two interceptions proved to be fatal mistakes for UNC’s offense.
Harrell completed 18 of 27 passes for 199 yards and a touchdown and added 39 rushing yards.
Midway through the first quarter, he connected with wide receiver Gavin Blackwell on a 47-yard pass down the right sideline to put the Tar Heels in scoring position. The threat ended, however, when he then threw an interception in the end zone to Mountaineers safety Aubrey Burks.
Early in the third quarter, a promising UNC drive anchored by running back Omaurion Hampton ended when Harrell threw his second interception of the game.
Hampton finished with a team-best 74 rushing yards.
At the 8:34 mark of the second quarter, Tar Heels kicker Noah Burnette put UNC on the board with a 28-yard field goal.
The Tar Heels were forced to punt on their next drive, and WVU returner Beanie Bishop Jr. zigzagged for a 78-yard touchdown return to put the Mountaineers up 14-3.
UNC narrowed WVU’s lead to 14-10 with just 27 seconds left in the half when Harrell connected with receiver J.J. Jones on a 16-yard touchdown along the sideline. The play was initially ruled an incomplete pass, but the referees determined in a booth review that Jones had gotten a foot down in bounds.
The Mountaineers added three points before halftime thanks to three big passes from Greene, setting up a 30-yard field goal by Hayes.
Hayes added a 34-yard field goal in the third quarter to increase WVU’s lead to 20-10. He then kicked a 29-yarder, finishing the game 3 for 4 on field goals.
The Mountaineers added an 11-yard touchdown run by running back Jaheim White, who had 50 yards on a dozen carries in filling in for injured starter CJ Donaldson (ankle).
