By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — Mikai Gbayor brought the Lambeau Leap to Kenan Stadium on Saturday, putting an exclamation point on a dominant afternoon for North Carolina’s defense and running back Demon June.

That came after CJ Mims stripped the ball away from Richmond running back Jamaal Brown. Gbayor grabbed it and dashed 62 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown in the Tar Heels’ 41–6 blowout of Richmond.

Gbayor celebrated with students after leaping up the wall behind the wall.

“It was a real good team effort today,” Bill Belichick said afterward, noting that UNC got “good plays out of all three units.”

Belichick pointed out the fake-punt stop on special teams, the field goals that added to the cushion, the offensive big plays and the defense’s ability to “turn the ball over, score on defense.”

But the day belonged to June, affectionately known as “Juju,” the true freshman who ran for 148 yards, including a 45-yard score, and caught a 19-yard pass in his first start.

Belichick didn’t hesitate to credit the work June had done to get here.

“He’s earned it,” Belichick said. “Nobody gave him anything. He started at the bottom of the depth chart and just kind of worked his way up. He’s made some yards on his own, and that’s a big thing.”

June’s ability to break tackles turned ordinary runs into explosive ones.

“We didn’t really block it that well,” Belichick said of the 45-yard touchdown run. “There’s two unblocked guys in or near the hole, and he made them miss and turned it into a long run.”

Belichick cautioned against letting one breakout game define him.

“Confidence comes from performance,” he said of June, who is the first true freshman to lead UNC in rushing in back-to-back games since Michael Carter against Western Carolina and N.C. State in 2017. “You can talk about it all you want, but until you go out there and do it, it’s still not there. Can’t let today go to his head. He’s still got a long way to go, but he’s got a great future if he can keep doing the same things he’s been doing.”

The defense extended its streak of not allowing a touchdown since the TCU game and forced three turnovers. Belichick praised their improvement since that rough second half against the Horned Frogs.

“We’ve done a better job of defeating blockers and holding the line of scrimmage, playing with better technique,” he said. “It’s right about fundamentals. I mean, there’s no secret sauce. You’ve got to line up and be able to defeat the blocks in front of you.”

Delaware transfer Mekart Abu-Jaoude had two sacks and a fumble recovery that set up a score. Belichick said he “just continued to build” through training camp.

“He’s just put a lot of consistency together,” Belichick said. “That’s a guy you can count on to come in and work hard, do the right thing almost every single day, every single time.”

Quarterback Gio Lopez finished 10 of 18 for 119 yards, two touchdown passes, and a rushing score. He overcame some inaccurate throws early, some were still caught.

“There are things he does really well, and we want to try to feature those,” Belichick said, emphasizing Lopez’s ability to protect the football and make good decisions.

Jordan Shipp caught both of Lopez’s touchdown passes and continued to establish himself as a reliable target. Belichick called him “smart,” a player who can “play all positions” and “an excellent blocker.”

Even with the 41–6 blowout, Belichick kept his focus on improvement.

“Certainly a lot of things we can still work on and do better. There’s no question about that,” he said. “We left some plays out on the field. You give Richmond a lot of credit. That’s a good football team. They’re very well coached. We saw how hard they fought all the way to the end.”

June ran for 59 yards, including a 50-yard play on a jet sweep (the longest by a freshman since Omarion Hampton’s 58-yard run against Georgia State in 2022), but the Tar Heels had to settle on a 27-yard Rece Verhoff field goal.

Abou-Jaoude sacked the Richmond quarterback Kyle Wickersham on back-to-back first-quarter plays after recording two sacks against the Spiders last season playing for Delaware. That forced a three-and-out, leading to the first Shipp scoring reception for 29 yards.

Richmond failed on a fourth-down conversion attempt on a fake punt, giving UNC the ball at the Spiders 25 and leading to a 22-yard Verhoff field goal. After Richmond went without a first down for the fourth consecutive drive, Lopez threw for 19 yards to June before scoring on a 1-yard run.

The Spiders went without a first down until getting five (one via a penalty) and driving 76 yards for a 25-yard Jayden Alsheskie field goal. Fourteen of Richmond’s 26 first-half plays came on that drive.

After recovering an onside kick to start the second half, Richmond drove 53 yards to the UNC 1 but the Tar Heels stopped Wickersham on a fourth-and-goal at the 1. Andrew Simpson (his fifth career game of at least seven tackles) and D’Antre Robinson getting in on the tackle. That left Richmond with three points to show for running 26 of 32 plays and having the ball or nearly 15½ minutes of nearly 16½ minutes.

Abou-Jaoude recovered a Wickersham fumble after Gbayor’s strip sack gave UNC the ball at the Richmond 34. Lopez rolled out and connected with Shipp, along in the end zone, for a 3-yard touchdown pass.

Gbayor’s big play and June’s 45-yard touchdown run made it 41–3. Richmond got a 28-yard Alsehskie field goal with seven seconds left.

Belichick looked ahead to next week’s road trip to UCF next weekend.

“Big challenge this week going down to Orlando,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of skilled athletes. They get the ball in space a lot. Defensively, they’ve got some explosive guys we’re going to have to handle. We’ll just have to gear up for what they do.”

NOTES — North Carolina goes on the road next Saturday for its final nonconference game, taking on Central Florida in Orlando, Fla, at 3:30 p.m. (Fox). The Knights (2–0), under Coach Scott Frost in his first season back at the school, were off this weekend after winning at home 17–10 against Jacksonville State on Aug. 28 and North Carolina A&T 68–7 on Sept. 7. … It’s the first time two consecutive UNC opponents have failed to score a touchdown since East Carolina got only two field goals a week before Idaho was shut out in 2012. .. UNC scored on its first four possessions for the first time since doing it on the opening seven possessions against Syracuse on Oct. 7, 2023. … Brady Manek was on the field before the game getting the crowd fired up. Coby White was also at the game. … NFL scouts representing the New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders and Minnesota Vikings were at the game. … UNC didn’t commit its first penalty until a personal foul with 8:47 left in the first half. … Richmond declined two pass interference penalties against UNC nickel back Kaleb Cost (because it accepted another penalty.). … UNC left tackle William Boone left in the first half with a lower-body injury. … UNC has won 25 consecutive games against FCS teams, five in a row against Richmond and leads the series 13–2. … Richmond fell to 25–131–9 against ACC teams. … Although the game was sold out, it was well under a capacity crowd. … Gbayor’s fumble return for a touchdown was UNC’s first since Trey Morrison against Duke in 2021. … Richmond won time of possession 37:59 to 22:01.

UNC 41, Richmond 6

Month/ date	Score/ time	Opponent	Record/ TV
September
1	L, 48–14	vs. TCU	0–1
6	W, 20–3	at Charlotte	1–1
13	W, 41–6	vs. Richmond	2–1
20	L, 34–9	at UCF	2–2
October
4	L, 38–10	vs. Clemson	2–3, 0–1 ACC
17 (Fri.)	L, 21–18	at California	2–4, 0–2
25	L, 17–16, OT	vs. No. 16 Virginia	2–5, 0–3
31 (Fri.)	W, 27–10	at Syracuse	3–5, 1–3
November
8	W, 20–15	vs. Stanford	4–5, 2–3
15	L, 28–12	at Wake Forest	4–6, 2–4
22	L, 32–25	vs. Duke	4–7, 2–5
29	L, 42–19	at N.C. State	4–8, 2–6