CHAPEL HILL
Brandon Tate's strong legs and shifty moves helped North Carolina score three touchdowns in a span of 15:15 starting late in the third quarter last night to defeat McNeese State in its season opener at Kenan Stadium.
North Carolina won 35-27 to give Coach Butch Davis his second season-opening win in a row.
McNeese State surged into a 20-14 lead in the third quarter after trailing 14-0, but Tate put North Carolina ahead for good when he caught a 57-yard touchdown pass from quarterback T.J. Yates with 4:35 left in the third quarter.
Tate amassed 397 all-purpose yards to set a school record. The former mark was 339 yards set in 1986 by running back Derrick Fenner against Virginia. Fenner had 328 yards rushing in that game.
Tate had 106 yards rushing on three carries, 93 receiving on four catches, 142 on three punt returns and 56 yards on one kickoff return. He carried the ball a combined 11 times.
Tate's output is the No. 2 total in ACC history, behind the 411 yards of John Leach of Wake Forest. Leach set the record in 1993 in a game against Maryland. Leach touched the ball 51 times in that game.
McNeese State, a Football Championship Subdivision school, was also playing its season opener. The game was delayed by lighting and then a thunderstorm for 1:48 after North Carolina had taken its 14-0 lead with 12:03 left in the second quarter.
Tate helped the Tar Heels take the early lead be generating 237 all-purpose yards in the first 18 minutes. He opened the game by returning the kickoff 56 yards to the Cowboys' 40, but the Tar Heels couldn't take advantage of the field position.
Tate next returned a punt 38 yards to the McNeese State 41, but North Carolina again couldn't take advantage of the field position. Tate finally decided to take the scoring matter into his hands and returned a punt 82 yards for North Carolina's first touchdown.
Casey Barth, a freshman walk-on, kicked the extra-point to put the Tar Heels ahead 7-0. The punt return was the longest of Tate's career.
Tate then helped set up the Tar Heels' second touchdown. He ran to his right and took a handoff from Yates and sped 54 yards to the Cowboys' 3, where he was forced out of bounds.
Yates connected with wide receiver Brooks Foster on a 4-yard touchdown pass three plays later and Barth again added the point-after kick.
The weather delay was called immediately after the Tar Heels' touchdown. The Cowboys had no trouble handling the break and ripped into the Tar Heels when play resumed by scoring on three of their next five possessions to take the lead.
Backup quarterback Mark Fontenot led McNeese State on a 92-yard touchdown drive that sliced the lead in half. McNeese State held and forced North Carolina to punt and immediately scored to force a tie.
Steven Whitehead caught the punt at the McNeese State 30. He ran to his left and tossed the ball to Quinten Lawrence, who was headed to the right, and Lawrence sped 70 yards for a touchdown.
The teams settled for a 14-14 deadlock at halftime, which was reduced to five minutes because of the weather delay. The teams didn't leave the field.
McNeese State started moving again on its second possession of the third quarter.
Starting quarterback Derrick Fourroux led a 61-yard scoring drive that needed only three plays to reach the end zone. Fourroux scored on a 2-yard run after escaping the clutches of Darrius Massenburg, a lineman who had his hands on Fourroux at the 5-yard line.
Marvin Austin blocked the point-after attempt by Blake Bercegeay and McNeese State's lead was six points. McNeese State stopped punting and kicking to Tate in the final 42 minutes but couldn't keep North Carolina out of the end zone once Yates got the offense moving.
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
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