A late-season slide continued for the UNC football team Saturday in Charlotte, as the Tar Heels fell flat against No. 9 Clemson 39-10 in the ACC Championship. It’s Carolina’s third straight loss after starting 9-1. The program still hasn’t won an ACC title since 1980.
Speaking of hot starts, UNC was feeling good midway through the first quarter. The Tar Heels got on the board first on a rushing touchdown from Drake Maye and had forced consecutive 3-and-outs against the Clemson offense. But the Tigers then brought in backup quarterback Cade Klubnik in favor of D.J. Uiageleilei, and that decision changed the complexion of the game.
“We totally thought we would see D.J., because they hadn’t changed all year,” head coach Mack Brown said afterward. “We stopped them the first two times. D.J. was struggling. That’s exactly what we thought would happen and we were hoping would happen, because he’s played good at times… and then Cade came in.”
Klubnik immediately led the Tigers on a touchdown drive to tie the game. On UNC’s next possession, a fumbled exchange between Maye and running back Omarion Hampton gave Clemson the ball at the Tar Heel 23-yard line. Klubnik and Clemson took advantage of the mistake, scoring the Tigers’ second touchdown in a span of just 1:06.
A litany of gut-punch errors defined the rest of the first half: a blocked field goal to end a 17-play drive, a 68-yard pass by Klubnik to set up a one-yard touchdown, and a quick Clemson drive at the end of the first half that ended in a 52-yard field goal.
But the killing blow came midway through the third quarter: with Carolina inside the Clemson 10 and looking to cut the deficit to seven points, Maye rolled out on 3rd-and-goal and made perhaps his worst throw of the season. It landed right in the arms of Clemson’s Nate Wiggins, who returned the interception 98 yards for a touchdown. To add insult to injury, the Tigers ran a fake on the ensuing extra point, instead running the ball in for a two-point conversion to make the score 32-10. Though there were still more than 20 minutes to go in the game, the result had been all but finalized.
“I should’ve thrown it away,” Maye said of the play, “or maybe tried to run.”
The Tar Heels handily won time of possession, holding the ball for 10 more minutes than the Tigers. Carolina drove the ball inside the Clemson 15-yard line five times during the game, but only came away with 10 points from those five drives. The difference came in defensive playmaking: the Tigers forced two turnovers resulting in 14 points, and also amassed four sacks and seven tackles for loss on the night. In all of the aforementioned categories, Carolina came up with zeroes. Since the win at Wake Forest in November, UNC has only scored a touchdown on 40 percent of its red zone possessions, which ranks 112th in FBS college football.
“[We’ve] gotta learn how to win,” Brown said. “I thought they tried hard, but you’re 1-5 in red zone touchdowns, you have two turnovers that lead to 14 points, you have a blocked field goal, you’re not gonna win many games. We’ve gotta score more points in the red zone.”
Klubnik finished with by far his best statistical line of the season: 20-24, 279 yards, a touchdown and no turnovers. Maye was just 26-42 for 268 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. His last throw before being pulled for backup Jacolby Criswell was a pick in the end zone.
Saturday night’s loss marked the third straight week in which UNC lost to a quarterback who wasn’t his team’s starter at the beginning of the season.
In what could be his final game as a Tar Heel, junior wide receiver Josh Downs had another solid performance: 11 catches for 100 yards. He had almost as many catches as the rest of UNC’s receivers (16) combined.
Now 9-4, Carolina will await its bowl game bid, which will be announced on Sunday. It will provide yet another opportunity for the team to reach the 10-win plateau.
“We lost seven games last year, and we won nine this year,” Brown said. “So that’s a tremendous amount of progress. We’re playing one of the best teams in the country that unless they lost by one point last week, they would be in the [College Football Playoff]. So it shows you where we are. We’re making progress, but it also shows you what we’ve got to do to get better.”
Featured image via The News & Observer/Robert Willett
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