It’s never easy with the Tar Heels. Particularly in what’s been a program house of horrors. The No. 17 UNC football team did just enough to move to 8-1 overall and 5-0 in ACC play Saturday afternoon at Virginia. Though Carolina won’t be able to clinch the ACC Coastal Division this weekend, the victory was another step toward lifting the trophy.
5⃣ road games, 5⃣ road wins!#CarolinaFootball 🏈 @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/dOuUVXUQXv
— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) November 5, 2022
Redshirt freshman quarterback and Heisman hopeful Drake Maye wasn’t his sharpest, but he still ended the day 26-37 for 293 yards and a pair of touchdown passes, as well as 16 rushes for 74 yards and a touchdown. Maye hooked up with junior wide receiver Josh Downs a whopping 15 times on the day, as Downs amassed 166 yards and a touchdown for one of the best games of his career. It was Downs’ seventh career game of 100 or more receiving yards.
But it was a rather inauspicious start for the Tar Heels, one which aroused memories of other defeats of Mack Brown-led Carolina teams in Charlottesville, where Brown had never won before Saturday. The Virginia offense, held out of the end zone entirely in a loss against Miami the previous week, marched right down the field on its opening drive and scored on a run by quarterback Brennan Armstrong. Armstrong ended the day with 296 total yards and a pair of touchdown runs.
Carolina drove the ball inside the Virginia 10-yard line on its opening possession, but were forced to kick a field goal after Maye was sacked on third down. That lost opportunity proved to be the difference after a half of play, as the Cavaliers took a 14-10 lead into halftime.
After receiving the second half kickoff, the UNC offense opened the third quarter on the front foot. The Tar Heels scored three consecutive touchdowns to seize a 31-21 lead. Running back Elijah Green, who started in the absence of the injured Caleb Hood, accounted for two of them. Green ran it in from four yards out and then took a swing pass from Maye 22 yards at the beginning of the fourth quarter to give Carolina a 31-21 lead. Green accounted for 113 total yards and ran the ball 22 times. He was the only running back on the roster to record a rush.
But has been the case for the Tar Heels on the road this season, the end of the fourth quarter made Carolina fans just a little nervous. UNC possessed the ball twice with a 10-point lead in the quarter, but punted on one drive and turned it over on downs deep in Virginia territory on the second. The Cavaliers, who had no timeouts remaining, promptly marched 71 yards in seven plays after the latter drive and scored a touchdown with 3:24 remaining.
Trailing 31-28 and with no way to stop the clock, Virginia was forced to attempt an onside kick. But it bounced right into the hands of Antoine Green, and Carolina was able to run the clock out after converting a final third down. Both teams were efficient on third down on the day: Carolina ended 7-14 and Virginia 7-13.
It may not feel like it, but the Tar Heels are 5-o on the road this season. That’s the team’s best mark since the 1997 season, Brown’s last in Chapel Hill before leaving for Texas. That season was also the high-water mark for the Tar Heels in the major polls, as Carolina topped out at No. 4. UNC won’t climb quite that high after sending Virginia to 3-6, but it seems likely they’ll move up past their No. 17 roost in the College Football Playoff rankings after improving to 8-1.
With a Coastal Division title in sight, the Tar Heels will look to finish off a perfect road record at Wake Forest next Saturday. That game will kick off at 7:30 p.m.
Featured image via Associated Press/Mike Caudill
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