In a rivalry with a century of memorable moments, Carolina gave NC State a seminal two minutes that will last forever.
Tar Heels will try to forget them, but Wolfpackers will never stop reminding them of that 2021 game.
You remember the one, when State had a better team with a better season coming in and was all but beaten, 30-21, with two minutes left.
Forget the dropped touchdown passes and other miscues that would have turned what happened from improbable to impossible. Mack Brown’s team committed three horrific errors and handed a 34-30 win over to the rival in red.
For alumni, fan base and student body that had waited nervously through Thanksgiving for a game they figured would be hard to win, the investment of time and final four hours was too much to take. A blowout would have been easier to forget than this complete collapse or monumental meltdown, whatever you want to call it.
State has roster as young as UNC’s with enough returning veterans to make the Wolfpack a force for years to come. And, at least on paper, Carolina won’t be as good as the Pack next year and perhaps for a few seasons after that.
And this result helped that evolution, as it erased any doubts that might have arisen from State squandering its most important game after leading 14-0 early.
State hadn’t lost at home this season and for the last nine games. Carolina hadn’t won on the road. So the Tar Heels’ slow start was no surprise.
But as the white-shirted visitors took control of the chilly night with 24 straight points, the capacity crowd lost its home field advantage.
And when Grayson Atkins’ 50-yard field goal barely crossed the bar for a nine-point lead with two minutes left, momentarily making Brown look like a coaching genius, the Heels had the road victory they had been chasing all of an unfulfilled season.
Then they handed it back in a way that you have to blame young people for getting too inebriated with the thrill of apparent victory.
Their foolishness began by players coming off the sideline to congratulate Atkins and getting flagged for 15 yards, which gave State great field position after the kickoff.
The second error was an unforgivable coverage blunder on a wide-open 64-yard touchdown pass by the Wolfpack that cut the deficit to two points.
No. 3 was not covering the onside kick, which happens only 22 percent of the time.
After a roughing-the-passer penalty, the Wolfpack had a great chance to win the game with a field goal, but did it with another touchdown pass into the left corner of the end zone.
When Sam Howell’s Hail Mary was caught by the wrong team, the stunned crowd that spent most of the fourth quarter fearing defeat stormed the field as State kept alive its hopes to win the Atlantic Division and a spot in the ACC championship game.
Carolina ended the regular season horribly at 6-6 and will be hard pressed to get excited about playing in whatever bowl game they are invited to.
The shocking turn of events overshadowed one of the more courageous performances of Howell’s career and the near heroics of one-time walk-on British Brooks, plus a defense that was responsible for turning the game around before basically giving it away.
In his 40-plus years of coaching, Brown has lost some heartbreakers but, chances are, nothing has ever or will ever compare to this one.
A lot was at stake for in-state bragging rights, which is important in recruiting, and Pack coach Dave Doeren has been doing better than advertised while Brown and Carolina were sucking all of the oxygen out of the subject.
Without much fanfare, Doeren has built a program at least equal to their arch rival, and this Carolina-induced comeback victory will become part of that story for next season and many to follow.
No matter how spun, it will be remembered as far more than a wild win or agony of defeat, rather an outcome for the ages of both programs to ponder.
Photo via AP Photo/Chris Seward.
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Another epic fail in a season of epic fails. Mistakes, silly penalties, blown assignments repeated from game to game. There is a disconnect between the players and coaches. I know Mack can see it but what will he do to fix it?