UNC defeats San Diego State 31-27: Three things to note

The North Carolina football team rallied after trailing at halftime to take down the San Diego State Aztecs Saturday night in a striped out Kenan Stadium, 31-27.

Here are three factors that made the difference for UNC. 

Big Plays

Not only did the Tar Heels make plays that mattered in important situations, but they made them historically big in terms of yardage.

With a 100 yard interception return by cornerback Brian Walker and a 91-yard reception by wide out Mack Hollins, Saturday was the first night in UNC history that the team had two plays of 90 yards or longer.

Walker's return was only the third 100-yard interception return in UNC history, the most recent being in 1994 and the first being in 1950.

Hollins also made history — scoring the longest Tar Heel passing touchdown in Kenan Stadium, and the third longest in UNC history.

Brian Walker

Coming off of a one-game suspension for violating team policy, Walker did more than just return one interception for a touchdown. He plucked another poor thrown ball during prime-time as well.

With 5:44 left in the game, Walker intercepted quarterback Quinn Kaehler’s pass deep in Aztec territory while UNC was up 28-27 — leading to the field goal that would ultimately win the Tar Heels the game.

Last season as a freshman Walker intercepted just one pass all season. In this game alone he accumulated the second-highest single-game figure for interception return yards with his two picks, amassing 126 yards.

Aztec Penalties

While San Diego State had no problems running through UNC’s porous defense, netting 168 yards on 35 carries, penalties in important situations came back to bite the Aztecs.

In a game in which the Aztecs had a chance to bounce out to an early lead, San Diego State was forced to punt on its first two drives due to offensive penalties on third downs.

With a total of nine penalties that chewed up 65 yards, San Diego State’s 509 yards of total offense were crippled by the team's own incapability to remain disciplined in its most important moments.