UNC beat South Carolina 48-10, while Florida got by Georgia 22-15 in Saturday’s Matrix games.

The start of the UNC-USC game was marked by a minute’s silence in honor of former UNC student body president Eve Carson, who was shot and killed earlier this month in Chapel Hill, NC.

Several UNC seniors knew Carson and this was the first opportunity since spring break that they had to pay their respects.

North Carolina took the points early via the boot of flyhalf Ed Perkins and then added some five-pointers on their way to building a 31-10 halftime lead. South Carolina looked a bit lethargic at times whereas UNC jumped out of the blocks fast and didn’t give the opposition a sniff.

“It was just the win we needed after that trip to Arkansas State,” North Carolina head coach Andy Richards told ARN. “I think the difference was that we put an extra 20 points on the board by kicking forward and following up.”

From USC’s standpoint, they gave up too big of a head start and couldn’t peg back the difference.

“They were far superior in the rucks and we had no continuity,” added South Carolina head coach Geoff Mason.

Elsewhere, the Gators made the trek to Athens, GA, to take on the Georgia Bulldogs and put up a 17-5 scoreline at the main break.

The home team came out all fired up in the second half though and rattled off two unanswered tries to get within two points with just five minutes to go, but Florida scored a late try to seal the deal. Gator try-scorers were winger Ryan Hammond (2), and prop Matius Groetaers.

“They surprised us with the intensity they played with,” Florida coach Ken Simmons told ARN. “Their support in rucks and driving mauls was excellent, we know what we need to work on.”

The results saw North Carolina improve to 5-2 overall, Florida moved to 3-4, South Carolina dropped to 2-3, and Georgia remained winless at 0-5.