At first, Mack Brown had a fleeting thought. The North Carolina coach looked out on the field to see the Tar Heels’ No. 5 with the football in his hands, legs churning and the end zone in sight.
But hold up. It wasn’t wide receiver J.J. Jones, who wears No. 5 on offense. It was defensive lineman Jahvaree Ritzie, No. 5 on UNC’s defense, all 6-foot-4 and 290 pounds of him.
The play came in the second half Saturday in the Tar Heels’ 41-14 dismantling of Virginia at Scott Stadium. Call it both symbolic and telling. Ritzie’s 84-yard touchdown return of an interception seemingly stunned everybody in the crowd of 44,550. So, too, UNC coming away with an easy ACC win.
North Carolina’s Kaimon Rucker already had gotten one interception Saturday, picking off an Anthony Colandrea pass early in the third quarter. That set up a touchdown run by UNC’s Omarion Hampton that gave the Heels a 31-6 lead.
Then, Ritzie. Eighty-four yards .
Late in the third quarter, Virginia had a first down at the UNC 16. But Ritzie got a hand on a Colandrea pass near the line, grabbed the ball out of the air and sped toward the left sideline.