As shoppers flooded the stores the day after Thanksgiving, the UNC Football team had its own version of Black Friday at Kenan Stadium—losing 28-21 to the NC State Wolfpack on Senior Day in a sloppy game that eliminated the Tar Heels from contention for the ACC Coastal Division.
The most common vision of Black Friday is the idea of going out and taking advantage of big sales, while at times fighting other people over certain products.
In this case, UNC (8-4, 5-3 ACC) did get in a fight—as both benches cleared during a second-quarter skirmish over a loose ball—but struggled mightily to find any deals on points.
Wearing brand new black uniforms, quarterback Mitch Trubisky and the high-flying Tar Heel offense were held to just 156 yards in the first half as everything seemed out of sync. Punter Tom Sheldon was called on five times before the break, while Trubisky gave the ball away on one occasion thanks to a botched exchange with tailback Elijah Hood.
Referees had to separate a skirmish between NC State and UNC during the second quarter. Tar Heel sophomore DT Jalen Dalton was ejected for throwing a punch. (Smith Cameron Photography)
Using a wide range of trick plays and long passes, a motivated Wolfpack squad (6-6, 3-5 ACC) playing for both a bowl berth and their embattled head coach Dave Doeren jumped on UNC for a 21-0 lead during that span.
That proved to be too big of a hole, as the Tar Heels have recovered to win from that deficit just once in school history.
Junior defensive tackle Naz Jones, like most of his teammates, didn’t have many answers as to how things played out the way they did.
“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Jones said. “We saw the game coming. [Defensive Coordinator Gene Chizik] told us when those plays were gonna come, and how they were gonna do it and everything.
“But we still failed to execute,” he continued. “So that’s on us.”
Playing his final game in Chapel Hill, senior wide receiver Ryan Switzer did everything within his power to keep the Tar Heels’ chances alive. He finished the game with 13 catches for 171 yards—accounting for more than half of Trubisky’s 23 completions and 280 yards.
For as good as Switzer was, though, the rest of the offense left plenty to be desired.
At one point late in the third quarter, UNC faced 3rd-and-1 at the NC State nine-yard-line. After a direct snap to tailback TJ Logan brought up fourth down, head coach Larry Fedora called for a wide receiver reverse pass from Switzer to Trubisky—which predictably fell to the turf and ended a precious scoring opportunity.
Faced with questions about his decisions after the game, Fedora showed no regrets.
“I don’t really care about what everybody out there thinks about the calls,” Fedora told reporters. “We called what we worked [in practice]. We do it every week.
“When it works, everybody loves it,” the coach added. “And when they don’t everybody can criticize it. That’s just the way the world works.”
UNC was able to make it a one-score game with under eight minutes remaining after a 48-yard touchdown pass from Trubisky to Bug Howard. But the Tar Heels failed to capitalize when they had a shot to tie things up after a huge defensive stop.
Senior wide receiver Ryan Switzer tried to will the Tar Heels back into the game, but ultimately the team came up just short. (Smith Cameron Photography)
This allowed the Wolfpack to then run out the clock on not only the game, but also UNC’s chances of playing in next weekend’s ACC Championship, and the hope that its senior class could end their time at Kenan Stadium with a win over its biggest rival.
“I hate it for this football team, but especially for these seniors because of what they mean to this program and what they’ve done for the culture here at Carolina,” Fedora said. “I can’t say enough about what these guys have done.
“If you remember back when they were coming out of high school it was pretty dark around this place,” he added. “But they believed and came in here and built something—so yeah it was tough today.”
The atmosphere surrounding each of the players made available to speak with the media—including leaders like Trubisky and Jones—was one filled with deep sorrow.
There were no hurricanes, no blatant missed calls and no one play that could take all the blame.
UNC simply failed to play up to its standards and suffered the consequences.
Not a single player needed to be reminded of that, as the team tries to regroup over the next month before it officially ends the season with a bowl game.
“We didn’t have to do anything superhuman today,” Fedora said. “We just needed to execute and play football. And we didn’t do that.”
Up Next:
The Tar Heels finished their regular season on Friday, and now must wait until after next week’s conference championship games to figure out their bowl destination.
Game Notes:
- It’s the first time since 2003 that UNC has lost to both Duke and NC State in the same football season.
- Ryan Switzer’s 13 grabs gave him 91 for the season, setting a new single-season school record. He also became just the third Tar Heel (Hakeem Nicks, Dwight Jones) to break the 1,000 yard mark as a receiver.
- Mitch Trubisky’s three touchdown passes tied him with Bryn Renner for the school’s single-season record, giving him 28 for the year.
- North Carolina wore all black uniforms for the first time since facing Miami at home in 2013. The Tar Heels are 0-2 when wearing all black uniforms.
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