Peppers' Eye Leads to INT

Julius Peppers said when an OU lineman tried to cut-block him, he knew what play the Sooners were running.

NORMAN, Okla. - There are many things you can try to do in life. Cut-blocking Julius Peppers should not be one of them.

But that's exactly what Oklahoma offensive lineman Frank Romero attempted near the end of the first quarter of the Sooners' 41-27 win against North Carolina on Saturday night.

Peppers, the Tar Heels' All-American defensive end, danced around the 6-foot-4, 290-pound Romero's block and snatched OU quarterback Nate Hybl's screen pass, which was headed for wideout Damian Mackey on the left flat.

With no one between him and the end zone, Peppers coasted 29 yards for a touchdown, putting UNC on the board for the first time and cutting Oklahoma's lead to 24-7 with 1:48 left in the quarter.

"If somebody keeps doing the same play over and over, pretty soon you're going to get hip to it," said Peppers, who finished with five tackles, including two for loss. "As soon as the tackle tried to cut me, I knew what they were trying to do. Actually, I was just going to try to get a hand on it and bat it down, but once I saw that I could catch it, I just pawed it and took off."

It was Peppers' third career touchdown and second in two games. He returned a pick 27 yards for a score in last year's season finale, a 59-21 win at Duke.

Waddell Breaks Loose

Michael Waddell had one of the worst gaffes of the game, fumbling the ball after being hit by OU kicker Tim Duncan on a first-quarter kickoff return.

The UNC cornerback made up for it in the second quarter, though, fielding a punt at UNC's 11-yard line and racing 89 yards for a touchdown.

Waddell broke along the right sideline and then cut toward the middle in recording the second-longest punt return in school history (Johnny Branch returned one 96 yards in 1930).

"I thought my team needed a little lift-up," Waddell said, "not knowing that I was going to take it back, but I pressed my luck and what happened happened."

The junior said he nearly called for a fair catch until UNC safety Dexter Reid, on the field with the coverage unit, yelled at him to take off.

"So it's Dexter Reid's fault that I ran that touchdown back," Waddell said.

Thornton Makes Most of Debut

Starting for the first time in his UNC career, senior linebacker David Thornton proved he's up to the challenge Saturday, tying a game-high with 13 tackles.

The former walk-on, who played primarily on special teams the past two seasons, also had a game-high four tackles for loss, totaling 12 yards.

Not a bad showing for a guy who had 16 tackles all of last season as a backup.

"I just wanted to go out and perform to the best of my abilities," Thornton said. "My coach told me to play hard every play, every snap because you never get it back. So I just wanted to go out every play I got and gave 100 percent -- just ran around to the ball, make plays and make things happen."

End Zone

Junior punter John Lafferty, handed the starting job after last season's starter, Blake Ferguson, left UNC two weeks ago, averaged 44 yards on nine punts.

Kicker Chris Bender, filling in for injured starter Jeff Reed, took five kickoffs, the first of which was returned 88 yards for a touchdown. He sent one kick into the end zone for a touchback, but the other four traveled no deeper than OU's 11-yard line. Bender also missed an extra point after UNC's last touchdown.

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.