Tar Heels pick Boston College 31-13

Junior safety Deunta Williams picks off one of three passes in UNC's victory.

North Carolina got three touchdowns in the opening 10 minutes of play — and not a whole lot else.

The Tar Heel's opening 21-0 lead was enough to hold up against Boston College on Saturday at Alumni Stadium, and the Tar Heels (8-3, 4-3) walked away with a grimy 31-13 win.

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View photos from the game.

BC (7-4, 4-3) managed to close the score to 21-13 at the start of the second half, but neither team generated any offense the rest of the way — UNC's final touchdown came after Deunta Williams returned an interception (his third of the day) back to the one-yard line.

Williams' pick was the fourth of five UNC interceptions on the day. 

On North Carolina's opening drive, the Tar Heels marched 70 yards down the field in 11 plays capped by a Ryan Houston touchdown run.

Then the Tar Heel defense went to work. First, Cam Thomas returned a fumble for a touchdown, and on the next BC drive, Kendric Burney stepped in front of a pass and took it into the endzone for the early 21-0 lead.

While Boston College scored 13 points to close the gap, the Eagles couldn't get through a stingy North Carolina defense. In the second half, BC didn't reach the UNC side of the field.

UNC moves on to play N.C. State next week and is riding a four-game win streak.

Houston led the Tar Heels with 45 rushing yards on 18 rushes. He left the game in the second half with a bruised leg but coaches said he should be fine to play going forward.

T.J. Yates tossed three interceptions but did complete 23-of-34 passes for 182 yards. Greg Little caught seven passes for 69 yards. The five picks were the most for UNC since 1997.