Maybe it’s a blessing that UNC doesn’t play No. 14 Notre Dame until October 30 in South Bend, where Carolina tries to win its first road game of the season.

While the Fighting Irish take on Southern Cal, the Tar Heels will have an off weekend to figure out how they have become an up-and-down, in-and-out, sort of schizoid version of what they were supposed to be.

At least they were more consistent this week. Whereas it has been good offense and bad defense, or vice versa, it was good-and-bad on both sides of the ball.

In holding on to beat 3-4 Miami, an average team with an average quarterback in an average conference, they played two halves right out of a Jekyll and Hyde novel, except it wasn’t fiction.

Rather than building on a 31-17 halftime lead, Carolina needed a batted ball by Jeremiah Gemmel that two defenders fought over before Cedric Gray snagged it (his second interception of the day) and prevented the Hurricanes from tying the game and forcing overtime or winning it with a touchdown.

Before the heart-stopping finish, Miami had found its groove with a freshman quarterback named Tyler Van Dyke going from a 5-for-15 Jekyll with happy feet in the first half to completing 15 of his 30 throws in a second half Houdini act. Over the last 30 minutes, the clever Mr. Hyde transformed from harassed and awkward small-college geek to a taller version of Patrick Mahommes, slinging a side-arm two-point conversion pass that sent the Kenan Stadium crowd into panic.

As in, “Holy #%&*! We might lose this game!”

The Heels were a four-touchdown and long field goal juggernaut in the first half. In the second, they resembled an in-step conga line, TOUCHDOWN, punt, punt, TOUCHDOWN, punt, punt. Meanwhile the ‘Canes were scoring on their first three possessions to turn a potential blowout into a, well, you get the point.

Funny how the first half mirrored the crazy mediocrity of the ACC and college football this season.

Duke had lost at Virginia 48-0, which ended with David Cutcliffe complaining to Bronco Mendenhall about the UVa defense drawing the Blue Devils into a false start on a first-and-goal. Really?

Connecticut, which entered the game 0-7, was beating Yale. Why were they even playing?

Texas blew another huge lead, this time at home to Oklahoma State. Call it the curse of Mack Brown, who went from 9-3 and a Heisman Trophy winner in his first season at Austin to a 10-plus win standard that even he couldn’t live up to his last four years there and certainly his three subsequent successors cannot.

Five ranked teams lost, four others won by a touchdown or less. (And the Red Sox hit grand-slam homers in consecutive innings, no kidding!)

Brown said before the Miami game that “neither team has been lucky, maybe one will be today.” When was Carolina unlucky, getting thoroughly outplayed in their three losses? Miami, after being beaten badly by Alabama and Michigan State, missed a chip-shot field goal against Virginia. Is that unlucky or just a bad kick?

The Tar Heels were determined to shake up the offense, which had been Sam Howell passing and running and Josh Downs receiving. They started seldom-used Justin Olson at wide receiver (he did catch two passes), and third-string tight end John Copenhaver also caught two, one for his first college touchdown.

But it was still the Howell and Downs Show with some Ty Chandler thrown in.

Howell hit 17 of 26 for two more touchdowns and 18 on the season, 78 for his career as he moved past Darian Durant into second place in two UNC categories: total offense behind Marquise Williams, his high school hero, by only 466 yards; passing yards, trailing T.J. Yates by 299 yards. Sam padded his national lead on active players with consecutive TD-pass games (32).

To follow the theme of the day (which included bright sun, a downpour and bright sun), Howell also had one horrendous pick-six on a screen pass that the Miami defender tipped, caught and took to the house to tie the score after Carolina had opened the game by going 75 yards, the last 51 on a Chandler burst off left tackle. TC added another and finished with 104 yards rushing, six more than the 98 the relentless Howell netted out after scoring twice and being sacked four times for minus-29 yards.

Downs was targeted 14 times, caught 11 of them for 96 yards (75 after the catch) and on his 45-yard slant and score that left three Hurricanes in failed pursuit. No other wideout caught more than one pass, a big reason why Downs’ talent has him among the national leaders in several receiving categories, including catching touchdown passes in eight consecutive games.

At the end of the 45-42 win, Carolina (4-3) had almost nine more minutes with the ball, but fewer first downs, 40 yards less total offense and more penalties (10 for 102 yards). And the Heels had more mental mistakes, the last leaving Brown so furious on their final possession and allowing Miami to mount its desperation drive that he carried it onto the field for his post-game TV interview.

Notoriously tough on his coordinators, Brown will be all over the high-paid Phil Longo and Jay Bateman this week for another uneven performance of which they can only respond, “Coach, at least we won the game.”

Lots more to fix, and this time two weeks to do it.

 

Photo via ACC Media.

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