Nick Chubb powers Georgia past Tar Heels, 33-24 [photos]

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart gets some air coaching in his first game for the team against North Carolina during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game in Atlanta, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart gets some air coaching in his first game for the team against North Carolina during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game in Atlanta, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

ATLANTA - The North Carolina Tar Heels won the premature cheer award for college football's opening weekend during Saturday night's Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game.

After taking a 10-point lead midway through the third quarter against Georgia, the UNC section started chanting, "ACC! ACC!"

The Heels fans forgot about Nick Chubb.

Georgia's junior tailback rushed 32 times for 222 yards and two touchdowns as the No. 18 Bulldogs scored the final 19 points in roaring back for a 33-24 triumph over the No. 22 Tar Heels before a Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game record crowd of 75,405 at the Georgia Dome. It was Chubb's first game back since tearing knee ligaments on the first play from scrimmage last October against Tennessee.

"Just to come back out here for the first time with my team felt amazing," Chubb said. "I took my mind off of everything else and was just playing with my boys that I've been with the past couple of years. I felt good the whole game. I didn't know where I was as far as carries and yards, and that didn't matter to me.

"I went through a lot to get here, but I didn't do it by myself at all."

Bulldogs first-year coach Kirby Smart promised this past week that Chubb would not be on any kind of "pitch count," and that was certainly the case. The 5-foot-10, 220-pounder from Cedartown had 20 carries for 118 yards in the first half alone, when the Bulldogs ran the ball 28 times and threw it just seven.

Chubb finished with a higher number of carries than he had in any game last season before the injury. His career high of 38 carries came in a 34-0 win at Missouri in 2014, and he had 33 rushes in the 37-14 Belk Bowl rout of Louisville that December.

"Nick Chubb is a special person," Smart said. "He's got great humility and is from a great family. He has worked so hard, and not many know what he went through late at night and early in the morning."

Chubb capped his return with a 55-yard touchdown run with 3:34 remaining to ice the victory.

"They got us outnumbered on a gap, and we didn't fit it well," Tar Heels coach Larry Fedora said. "We had a couple of guys who had opportunities to make a tackle on him, but we won't be the only ones who don't make a tackle on that guy. He's pretty good."

Said UNC defensive tackle Nazair Jones: "That dude doesn't stop."

The Tar Heels trailed 14-10 at halftime but opened the second half with T.J. Logan's 95-yard kickoff return. They made it 24-14 midway through the third when Logan, who had 80 yards on just six carries, scored from 21 yards out.

Georgia answered with an 11-play, 75-yard drive that was engineered by freshman quarterback Jacob Eason, who drew a pair of pass-interference penalties on deep throws and had a 17-yard shuffle pass to Isaiah McKenzie that made it 24-21. The Bulldogs pulled within 24-23 with 48 seconds left in the third quarter when Roquan Smith tackled Elijah Hood in the end zone for a safety.

"I've been in this stadium a lot of times, and that's the loudest I've ever heard it," Smart said. "These kids really played hard. They were resilient. They had adversity, and they kept fighting. There were a lot of doubters out there when that ball got kicked off and ran back to start the second half, but not one kid on our sidelined doubted it.

"Our offense was cheering for our defense, and our defense was cheering for our offense. I really thought that the line of scrimmage was the difference in the game."

Georgia racked up 474 yards of total offense and held North Carolina to 315. The Tar Heels averaged 486.9 yards per game last season.

The biggest negative to Georgia's performance was a kicking game that allowed Logan's score and also included William Ham's 42-yard missed field goal midway through the third quarter and Marshall Long's 23-yard punt early in the fourth quarter.

Saturday marked the final Chick-fil-A Kickoff in the Georgia Dome, as next season's matchup between Alabama and Florida State will be held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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