WINSTON SALEM — Ronald Curry may be on the road to stardom, but he had to stop and pay a few tolls Saturday night.

The North Carolina quarterback barely gave himself a passing grade in a 35-14 win at Wake Forest.

“I have a bad habit of trying to make too much out of nothing,” the junior explained after throwing for 143 yards and two touchdowns in Carolina’s ACC opener. “The coaches wanted me to throw the ball away more. I guess I didn’t always make the best decisions and they cost the team a lot of yards on sacks.”

Curry, making the 11th start of his injury-riddled career, spent more time on his back than Michaelangelo. He was frequently caught in rush hour and took five sacks for 51 yards in losses.

“Ron struggled some and he knows he made some mistakes,” said UNC coach Carl Torbush. “But the great thing about him is he’s been through adversity before. He’s been through tough times. But because he’s such a competitor, he came back in the second half and made the plays that helped us win the ballgame.”

Only 6:31 remained when Curry placed an exclamation point on UNC’s dramatic, come-from-behind victory. The Tar Heels owned a two-touchdown lead and had the ball in a predictable clock-melting situation.

“That’s probably what they were thinking — along with everyone else,” Curry said.

Instead, he faked an inside handoff to tailback Willie Parker, corkscrewed out to the left flat and lofted a 60-yard touchdown pass to wide-open wideout Bosley Allen, who grabbed the ball in stride and pranced into the end zone.

“I was just hoping the ball would get to me before they caught on,” said Allen, who also had a 51-yard reception and returned a punt 78 yards for a fourth-quarter TD. “How could they miss me like that?”

Curry was equally surprised to see Allen racing unguarded in deep center-field. “Coming off the rollout, I could have run the ball,” he said. “But then I saw Boz streaking all alone down there. He was a sight to watch.”

So was the Carolina defense, which limited Wake (0-2) to 162 yards total offense, including minus-2 on the ground.

“We were hungry the whole game,” said defensive end Julius Peppers, the 6-6 sophomore who recorded two of UNC’s record-tying eight sacks. “We take pride in our defense and we knew it was up to us to win this game. If we had gone home 1-1, that would have been devastating.”

With Peppers’ help, UNC erased a 14-10 halftime deficit and took the lead for keeps early in the third quarter. His 12-yard fumble return for a touchdown not only rattled Wake quarterback C.J. Leak out of his comfort zone, it shifted the game’s momentum.

Teammate Sedrick Hodge said the Heels’ multiple defensive looks may have caused Leak’s pivotal fumble. “All the movement probably confused him,” said Hodge. “He’s a young quarterback and it’s tough to adjust to something different on every play.”

Torbush called the unexpected score, “the game’s biggest play,” and added, “We needed big plays from our defense, and those guys hit Leak a number of times. In the second half they really turned it on.”

UNC extended its lead when Jeff Reed kicked a 37-yard field goal late in the third period, then poured some more clam sauce on their plate of linguini when Allen gathered a punt on his 22-yard line and eluded several defenders down the right sideline.

“You better watch out for us,” Curry warned afterward. “Our offense is very talented and we’ve got lots of guys who can go for a touchdown at any time.”

Wake coach Jim Caldwell was visibly disappointed during a postgame interview. “We played good football for one half,” he beefed. “We need to put two halves together before I start thinking that we’re making progress. We had a good effort, but we’re more interested in winning, not just putting on a good show.”

NOTES: The Deacons took a 7-0 lead when Leak scored on a quarterback sneak midway through the first quarter. After falling behind 10-7, they regained their advantage when Bryan Ray recovered a Curry fumble in the end zone with 1:55 left in the half. ... UNC will visit defending national champion Florida State next Saturday (3:30 p.m/ABC). Wake travels to Clemson for a 1 p.m showdown. ... The crowd of 30,087 was the largest at Groves Stadium since Sept. 9, 1989, when 30,200 watched the Deacs battle Appalachian State. ... Former Wake basketball players Dickie Hemrick, Mugsy Bogues, Randolph Childress, Rodney Rogers and Tim Duncan were among a group of athletes honored at halftime.