Here is a trivia question for you. When was the last time Carolina started a football season 5-1 before Saturday’s weird and wonderful win at Miami?
It was Larry Fedora’s best season in 2015, after the Tar Heels lost the opener to South Carolina in Charlotte and then reeled off 11 straight Ws on the way to the Coastal Division title before losing the ACC championship game to Clemson and the Russell Athletic Bowl to Baylor by the combined basketball score of 94-75.
Aside from Everett Withers’ interim season, when Carolina opened 5-1 and finished 2-5 to clear the runway for Fedora, you have to go back to the last two years of Mack Brown 1.0 when his 1996 and ’97 Tar Heels started 8-1 each time.
The thrilling, heart-throbbing 27-24 win at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens gives this unranked, almost-forgotten team a chance to match Brown’s three 10-win seasons before departing for Texas. The Heels go to 4-2 Duke Saturday night, where they will be a slight favorite to clinch Carolina’s fourth straight bowl bid and pad their 2-0 ACC Coastal lead.
It was a strange first half, to say the least, where Drake Maye lived up to ACC Network play-by-play guy Dave Pasch’s early mention as a Heisman Trophy candidate. But the game wound up a pass-happy battle between two ACC Rookies of the Year, the former and current.
And those people who did not have ESPNNews or the ESPN App missed Carolina taking 14-0 and 21-7 leads before Miami sophomore Tyler Van Dyke rallied the Hurricanes to scoring 10 points in the last 28 seconds of the first half, when terrible tackling and questionable coaching turned a potential blowout into a hand-wringer down the stretch.
Maye had hit J.J. Jones on a busted-coverage bomb for 74 yards along the left sideline on Carolina’s first possession and set up a second touchdown with a perfect laser down the seam to Antoine Green. Freshman Omarion Hampton bulled his way into the end zone for a his sixth touchdown and a 14-0 lead with Noah Burnette’s second of three PATs.
After Miami scored on Van Dyke’s first TD pass that beat cornerback Tony Grimes, Maye gave the Heels their second two-score lead on an incredible touchdown toss. With a defender hanging on him, Maye side-armed the ball to Josh Downs, who juked a couple of ‘Canes before diving across the goal line.
The reason viewers without the ESPN “full family” of cable channels and the App missed most of this was because the Cleveland Guardians (nee Indians) and Tampa Bay Rays went into 15 innings in their American League Wildcard game on ESPN2, the scheduled home of Carolina-Miami (the Guardians won on a walk-off homer and our game appeared magically on the Deuce). Such is TV these days.
The Tar Heels and Hurricanes scored 38 points in the first half and 13 in the second, as both defenses showed up to frustrate both offenses when it counted. Carolina managed only two field goals from Burnette.
North Carolina place kicker Noah Burnette (98) kicks an extra point as punter Cole Maynard (92) holds during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Miami, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
After completing 13 of his first 19 passes, Maye threw consecutive interceptions to end the first half and begin the second. “The first time he’s looked like a freshman,” said Pasch.
The first came with 28 seconds left before halftime, when Brown and Phil Longo tried to get more points despite receiving the third quarter kickoff. Van Dyke led a hurry-up drive, aided by several UNC defenders whiffing, to a field goal that resulted in an uncomfortable 21-17 halftime score.
Maye then became more of a facilitator to protect a tender lead while being chased around by the ‘Canes, sacked four times and completing 6 of his 8 passes in the second half, including two RPOs for key first downs on the sideline to Caleb Hood and Kamari Morales.
Meanwhile, Van Dyke had found his touch again after being benched in the home loss to Middle Tennessee State two weeks prior, throwing for 496 yards and was the quarterback Pasch and his color commentator talked about for the rest of the game while completing 22 of 32 in the second half, one for his third touchdown with 2:20 left.
Then came the madness of the on-side kick, originally ruled to be recovered by Miami while the TV crew noted that call would not hold up because a Hurricane who batted the ball had stepped out of bounds.
Miami got the ball back one more time but had used all its timeouts and was in desperation mode. After completing two previous passes that had been tipped at the line of scrimmage, Van Dyke had another misdirected by Kaimon Rucker and picked off by nickel back D’Andre “broken hand” Boykins to finally end the game and deliver UNC’s fourth consecutive win over The U.
The game featured Carolina’s two longest touchdown drives of the season, 95 yards and 99 yards, and the Tar Heels’ longest drive of 8:21 to Burnette’s second field goal.
Despite what was supposed to be a high-scoring shootout became a defensive struggle at its core. Sophomore middle linebacker Power Echols had his second great game with 14 total (12 solo) tackles. Cedric Gray had 13 tackles (9 solo) and caused a key fumble in the fourth quarter recovered by Gio Biggers as Miami mounted a potential game-tying drive. Even freshman Travis Shaw, the fourth-string nose tackle, got into the action with one important tackle.
The Tar Heels had some big stops, none bigger than keeping the ‘Canes out of the end zone on four straight downs from the 2-yard line in the first half while holding an opponent under 100 yards on the ground for the second straight game.
This was Carolina’s third win on the road, but first leading wire to wire, after failing to scratch away from Kenan Stadium last year. Just another buying sign to take Mack Brown 2.0.
“To have a great year, you have to win close games and you have to win close games the road,” a hoarse Brown said afterward. “The offenses dominated the first half and the defenses dominated the second half. So our defense is growing up. They got three or four fourth-down stops and stripped the ball when Miami was going in to score, which saved us.”
Photo via AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee.
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