You have to hand it to Carolina’s defense. For the record-breaking unit in yards, first downs and points allowed, clearly the Tar Heels’ pièce de résistance is impeccable timing.

On the second occasion this season, Carolina let the opponent score with enough time on the clock for the offense to go back down and win the dad-gum game. If I didn’t know any better, I would think they do it on purpose.

Weren’t some savvy fans yelling, “Let ‘em score, let ‘em score” before the end of UNC’s 40-35 win over Pitt Saturday in Kenan Stadium?

Just like against Georgia Tech one month ago, when the Tar Heels relinquished the lead on a 75-yard double-reverse touchdown with three minutes to play in the game, they did it again in allowing the visiting Panthers to score the go-ahead points with 3:33 left on the clock.

On both occasions, led by the heroics of junior quarterback Marquise Williams, Carolina had enough time to hurriedly if methodically win the game in the closing seconds. Against Tech, there was virtually no time left when T.J. Logan scored his first touchdown of the season to ice the 48-43 victory. Logan did it again Saturday with a 1-yard burst to beat Pitt with 50 ticks showing.

And this time, the much-maligned defense had to make one more play, as Malik Simmons flipped Pitt quarterback Chad Voytik in the air in the secondary, the ball popped free and Shakeel Rashad recovered it to end the game and keep Carolina’s chances alive for a third straight winning season and second straight bowl bid.

So the UNC defense, last in the ACC in every statistical category except one (and we’ll talk about that later), gave up 500 yards and 35 points for the sixth time this season but still made winning plays. Against Liberty it was a rash of forced turnovers that turned that game around. Against San Diego State, it was a Tim Scott interception in the corner of the end zone when all was thought lost. At Virginia, two key late picks by Des Lawrence and Nazir Jones turned the tide.

And against Georgia Tech and Pitt it was a matter of timing. The Yellow Jackets’ reverse faked out the entire Carolina defense, and the Jackets turned what could have been a time-consuming winning drive into a quick fix for the Tar Heels. Then, after Pitt’s ramrod running back James Conner bulled his way into the end zone for his fourth touchdown of the snappy afternoon, the fans who braved the cold weather to stick with their team on the brink pretty much knew what was coming when the Panthers went ahead 35-34.

“I wasn’t thinking field goal,” Coach Larry Fedora said after the game, “I was thinking touchdown. I pretty much knew our guys could get into the end zone.”

Photo courtesy of the Daily Tar Heel

Photo courtesy of the Daily Tar Heel

And, dicey as it was in spots, the Tar Heels did just that. A fourth-and two at the Pitt 30 presented a chance for a long, winning field goal attempt. But since Carolina is also last in the ACC in FGs tried and true and still hasn’t decided who to trot out there for placekicks (Thomas Moore or Nick Weiler), Fedora went for it.

A beautiful read option by Williams got the first down. Then it was ‘Quise to Quinshad on a leather dart to the Pitt 1-yard line. On the next snap, Logan burst across for the winning touchdown, his second such score of the season.

Williams was again brilliant, completing 23 of 40 attempts for 276 yards and one touchdown.  He also rushed 19 times for 122 yards and three TDs, the first time in college that Williams ran for three scores in a game. It was also his second 100-yard rushing game this season and the third of his career. His current 628 yards also breaks the UNC record for rushing yards at quarterback set by “Sweet Jim” Lalanne back in 1940 – 74 freaking years ago!

Williams completed a school-record 16 consecutive passes at one stretch, besting Bryn Renner’s 15 straight against Miami last season. Williams completed just four of his first 16 attempts for 31 yards, and then got hot and hit 19 of 24 for 245 yards the rest of the game.

The Marquise de Sod scored on runs of 23, 2 and 45 yards, extending his UNC career record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback to 19. He has a team-best 10 TDs on the ground this season and is the first Tar Heel to score three times in a game. The last Tar Heel to do that was Logan against Old Dominion last year. Logan, ironically, only has two touchdowns this season, but both have been last-minute winners.

(He better keep it up, by the way, as Khris Francis went out with a wrenched knee, joining the injured Elijah Hood and suspended Romar Morris on the sideline, although Morris may be back for the next game. Former walk-on Charles Brunson came out of moth balls to score on a nifty 27-yard pop up the middle.)

Now, the Tar Heels have the BIG ONE, a football game that finally rivals the round ball rivalry between Carolina and Duke, Thursday night in Durham on national television with a chance to not only secure that third straight bowl bid but to knock the 8-2 Blue Devils out of the ACC Championship game after they threw up on their shoes Saturday and lost to Virginia Tech.

Duke, not UNC, is last in the ACC in red zone defense, which could keep the Blue Devils from stopping the Tar Heels and returning to the ACC Championship game.

If Duke defeats Carolina for a third consecutive time and then beats 2-8 Wake Forest the following week, the Devils again earn the dubious distinction of getting flogged by Florida State for the ACC title in Charlotte on December 6th. Last year, it was 45-7, and the ‘Noles did not score in the first quarter. If the Heels can snap that two-game skid against Duke, they become bowl eligible and send Georgia Tech to play undefeated FSU (do we need ACC division realignment, or what?).

With a home finale against N.C. State (perhaps the worst bowl eligible team in America) left on November 29, Carolina can still get a better-than-Shreveport bowl and wind up 8-5 on the season. That would be a Houdini-like escape for the team with just about the worst defense in college football.

But at least one with good, good timing.