Art’s Angle: The Strange Truth

In some ways, it was as unbelievable as the Wainstein Report.

• A quarterback who hasn’t played in three weeks comes off the bench to take one snap and throws the go-ahead touchdown into a wide-open secondary that had previously been impenetrable.

• Then the team tries and recovers an on-sides kick when failure would have left the opponent about one first down from attempting the winning field goal. Remember the Saints’ on-side kick in Super Bowl XLIV? That kind of gamble.

• A field goal to ice the game by a kicker who had already missed twice was never tried because the other team sent 12 men onto the field to block it, resulting in the first down that ran out the clock.

There were so many other key and/or incredulous plays in Carolina’s 28-27 thriller at Virginia that the Tar Heels’ fifth straight win over the Cavaliers and third straight in Charlottesville indeed seemed like it was scripted by a bunch of lawyers.

An otherwise impotent offense scored its first three touchdowns on three plays that totaled 172 yards and averaged 57. Marquise Williams bolted 52 yards on a simple read option, and Mack Hollins twice tied up the game by running under long bombs from Marquise the amazing. Williams set the school record for rushing touchdowns at quarterback, 14, one better than Ronald Curry. Hollins caught his team-leading sixth and seventh TD passes of the season.

Other than that, the Tar Heels averaged 1.4 yards on the ground and 7.3 yards in the air. The two big fourth-quarter completions were 27 yards to Ryan Switzer on third down and Mitch Trubisky’s off-the-bench-cold dagger to T.J. Thorpe alone across the middle. Trubisky had not played since the deflating loss to Virginia Tech on October 4th, after which Williams became the full-time quarterback.

A defense that had been shredded more than Wainstein Reports all over campus last week came alive in the second half, allowing only 130 yards and snaring two game-saving interceptions. Des Lawrence’s first career pick, on a batted ball in the red zone, prevented Virginia from putting more points on the board, and defensive end Nazir Jones stepped in front of a screen pass in traffic and rumbled 20 yards into Virginia territory to set up the winning score. “I was a tight end back in the day,” said Jones, a 6-5, 280-pound freshman from Roanoke Rapids.

Carolina got called for roughing the passer on what looked like a clean hit, and Williams was knocked silly after many of his 28 attempts with no flags thrown. Williams had to come out, enabling Trubisky’s heroics, when a Virginia rusher ripped off his helmet. Doesn’t that have to be some kind of face-mask, horse-collar penalty?

A dropped pass by Virginia that everyone watching on TV saw on every replay shown was upheld as a reception by the review booth that must have been reading the Wainstein Report and learning how to do the wrong thing.

Coach Larry Fedora said his team didn’t do very well in any phase of the game but made enough plays to win. Besides the quick strikes and stout second-half defense, Tommy Hibbard twice pooch-pinned Virginia inside its own two-yard line with floaters that were caught in the air by Tar Heel cover guys. Hibbard is having a spectacular senior season and should be the All-ACC punter.

The Cavaliers ran 84 plays to 63 for Carolina and had the ball for 15 more minutes. Yet the Tar Heels left as many as 20 points on the field, coming up empty on two drives deep into UVa territory and freshman Nick Weiler missed two makeable field goals. Anything close to their offensive efficiency at Notre Dame and against Georgia Tech, and it would have been a three-score victory.

Why did Fedora not call a timeout that would have allowed Williams to come back in the game without missing a play and instead put Trubisky in for a critical third-and-15? “We have confidence in Mitch,” said The Hat. “He can make plays. That’s why we’ve been doing that with Mitch earlier, giving him snaps in a game.”

And why would Fedora call for the on-side kick when Weiler booting it through the end zone seemed the far higher-percentage play? “It was there all day, and it was a good time to do it,” Fedora said, explaining that Virginia’s return team was backing up to set up blocks as soon as the ball was kicked. “We wanted the ball in our hands at the end of the game.” Hollins, the former walk-on, ran right to Weiler’s end-over-end bouncer and fell on it to essentially end the game.

And was Weiler really going to attempt his third field goal on 4^th and 2 while holding the one-point lead? “We sent him out there to kick it through,” Fedora said.  Fortunately, Virginia sent 12 men out there for the block, and UNC got a new set of downs before the ball was ever snapped.

Carolina, 4-4 and 2-2 in the ACC, now finds itself four wins from capturing the Coastal Division and a trip to Charlotte for the ACC championship game. Two of those four – Miami Saturday and Duke on November 20 – are on the road against the top two preseason picks in the Coastal.

But like the Wainstein Report, the Tar Heels are proving that anything is possible. Fedora had a word for that, too.

“A lot of our people are out there getting blasted,” he said. “But UNC, this football program and all Tar Heels will be stronger for it.”