The Tar Heels were left wondering what could have been Saturday evening in the waning minutes of a hard-fought, but altogether frustrating loss to the undefeated Fighting Irish.

Small mistakes, again, doomed the UNC football team.

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UNC head coach Larry Fedora says the 50-43 loss at Notre Dame was tough to swallow in the locker room, especially with all the self-inflicting wounds the team suffered.

“They’re hurting. They know that was a heck of a football team they played today. You play a game like that, and you feel like you’re not that far away. We just need to get over the hump. We’ve got to get better in all three areas. We’ve got to eliminate the mistakes we’re making and do much better with the details, just the little things,” Coach Fedora says.

Larry Fedora (AP)

Larry Fedora (AP)

In total, the 2-4 Tar Heels tallied nine penalties for 94 yards. UNC also tossed in a pair of turnovers – one lost fumble and an interception.

But one bright spot for the Tar Heels came at the quarterback position. Coach Fedora abandoned his typical rotation formula, saying he didn’t want to disrupt Marquise Williams’ fine rhythm in South Bend.

“We decided to take some pressure off 10 [Mitch Trubisky] and let 12 [Williams] go. He was moving the ball. We were effective against a good defense. I thought 12 had a really good feel with what he was doing and seeing, so we decided to keep going with him,” Coach Fedora says.

Williams’ dual-threat ability was on full display at Notre Dame Stadium last weekend, avoiding tackles and even finding the end zone with his feet.

Missed tackles, however, plagued the UNC defense yet again, leading to big plays that Coach Fedora says crippled his team’s chances.

“You can’t give up big plays. If you give up big plays, you’re going to have a hard time winning. That’s one of the two things that we look at – the turnover battle and the explosive play battle,” Coach Fedora says.

Uncharacteristically, mistakes even began to infect the special teams department Saturday.

Photo courtesy of ledger-enquirer

Photo courtesy of ledger-enquirer

Carolina missed a field goal, had an extra point blocked, and botched a makeable two-point conversion. And don’t forget, the usually reliable Tommy Hibbard punted from the 33-yard line in the third quarter and sailed the ball into the end zone for a net gain of 13 yards, costing the UNC defense valuable field position.

The most controversial special teams play was the roughing-the- snapper penalty that kept alive an Irish fourth-quarter scoring drive. The Tar Heels were leading and about to get the ball back. Oh, what could have been?

With all that said, Carolina did show improvement and impressive fight on the road in a hostile environment against a top-five opponent, but until the ‘little things’ are cleaned up, the Tar Heels may have to settle for more moral victories.