Carolina was on the wrong side of history Saturday in its own house.
The Tar Heels’ 34-31 loss to opportunistic Appalachian State gave the Mountaineers from Boone their first major college win since the famous upset of Michigan in 2007. And their first win over an ACC school since beating Wake Forest in 2000 will mean much more to their fans than either of those victories.
There aren’t nearly as many Michigan or Wake Forest alums in this state as Tar Heels, and App will own gloating rights until UNC goes up there to open the 2022 season for the second of a three-game series between the two schools that hadn’t played in football since 1940.
“We expected to win this game,” enthused first-year head coach Eli Drinkwitz said after the contest. Drinkwitz, by the way, was born in 1983 – the year Mack Brown was the 32-year-old head coach at Appalachian State for one season. Brown was the youngest head coach in the country back then, and Drinkwitz, 36 and a former NC State offensive coordinator, is the fifth-youngest in college football today.
What a game before another sold-out, electric crowd at Kenan Stadium, which has been transformed from a morbid, almost-empty football field the last two years into a full-house led by 7,000 pompom-pumping students in the west endzone. Because of UNC’s status in the state, the win means much more to App State than the loss will hurt the Tar Heels’ program, which is rebuilding under Brown and will host top-ranked and defending national champion Clemson this coming Saturday at 3:30.
“We love Mack Brown,” said one excited middle-aged women in gold and black, “but we love Appalachian State more.”
Carolina was a slight favorite in the battle of head coaches who offered similarities and contrasts. Drinkwitz is in his first-year at App after never having had a losing season as an assistant at his four prior stops. And he has coached in eight bowl games, all victories.
Brown, of course, is the active head coach with the most wins (246) and a Hall of Famer who had a Heisman Trophy recipient (Ricky Williams) in his first year at Texas, won a national championship in his eighth and had 14 straight seasons in Chapel Hill and Austin with 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13 wins. His next victory on the Tar Heels sideline will tie Dick Crum for the most in school history.
Hired to resurrect the program that collapsed over the last two seasons of Larry Fedora’s otherwise successful stay in Chapel Hill, Brown’s second UNC stint starting with upsets of South Carolina and Miami made the fan base giddy with overconfidence. The Tar Heels had some good luck earning that 2-0 record and definitely had some self-imposed bad luck in last week’s loss at Wake Forest and this one.
“Turnovers were the key to this game,” Brown said, and indeed without a fumble and interception that handed the Mounties 14 points and another pick that snuffed out an important drive at the end of the third quarter, App State could not have won. Carolina continued losing players to injury and isn’t mature enough right now to make those mistakes and still beat a good team.
After scoring in the first 17 seconds, thanks to a 75-yard kickoff return by Michael Cater and Sam Howell’s 21-yard touchdown pass to Dazz Newsome on the first snap, Carolina went nearly 23 minutes before scoring again. Meanwhile, the Mounties had kicked two field goals and capitalized on two catastrophic turnovers by Howell. The first came when his blind-side blockers let massive App defensive end Demetrius Taylor have a clear shot at Howell’s No. 7 jersey as he cocked to throw. The hit was so perfect that Taylor saw the ball pop free, scooped it up at the UNC 20 and had a clear path to the end zone. About six minutes later, Taylor deflected Howell’s pass and then caught it to set up another touchdown and a 20-7 lead. He also stripped the ball away from Howell in the third quarter before the Tar Heels fell on it. In his first two games this season, the 6-1, 275-pound junior from Miami had five tackles, one sack, two quarterback hits and one forced fumble.
Perhaps the biggest play of the game was a no-call in the end zone with App ahead 34-24. The teams had swapped touchdowns within a 2:17 span, the Heels cutting the lead to 27-24 on Howell’s third TD pass to tight end Carl Tucker, who snagged the ball with one hand and pulled it in. App struck like lightning on two long passes, but Carolina came right back and had momentum as it crossed midfield.
Dyami Brown had beaten his defender in the endzone and was looking up for Howell’s long bomb when he was inadvertently tripped to the turf. There was no flag for interference, which would have given the Tar Heels a first-and-goal at the 2-yard line. On the very next play and the crowd still booing the no-call, Howell threw his second interception to kill the drive. It was his one miscue of the second half, when he completed 16 of 23 passes for 216 yards. He also turned a high snap into a two-yard touchdown run with 3:01 left in the game.
Howell had another gutty game but the lack of a more consistent running attack (146 yards net rushing) put too much pressure on the young signal caller, who may be the only healthy scholarship quarterback left on the roster. Jace Ruder got in for one third-down play and probably would have had more if he hadn’t injured his left leg on the draw up the middle into traffic.
The Tar Heels’ last reasonable chance ended when App converted a third-and-5 near midfield. Quarterback Zac Thomas pulled the defensive end and linebackers in with a fake and then skirted around what might have been a block in the back to a first down that made it desperation time for the home team. With no timeouts left, Howell got the Heels to the App 38 with five seconds remaining, but Noah Ruggles’ 55-yard field goal attempt into a slight breeze to force overtime was tipped at the line of scrimmage. The clock ran out on Carolina for the second straight week and the party began from the many Mounties in Kenan to those watching in Boone.
“Great win for App, disappointing loss for us,” Brown said. He and his Heels will see them again in three years, which will be Howell’s senior season, with a much deeper and hopefully healthier team.
Great call on the “App St can’t win” thing.
Art! Long time my man. Your post from Sept 20 is starting to ‘trend’ in App State alum circles—building some new audience! Hope you are well! It was a good day for App. Take care! Bill Zadeits
My, aren’t we a lot more humble today than on Sept. 20th. Arrogant a–hole must own Chapelboro or at least be a partner in.
I can’t imagine you still having a job after that cocky and conceited garbage you wrote on the 20th. No where in this article did you mention how damn stupid and wrong you were and are most of the time. I remember you writing an article like this back during basketball season either this past year or the year before. Yea, the Heel lost then also. I wish “Tar Heel Times” would stop having your articles on the their site.
Larry Jackson
Roxboro, NC
“Because of UNC’s status in the state, the win means much more to App State than the loss will hurt the Tar Heels’ program” …this particular statement, like much of your previous work on 9/20, harbors the ABC sentiment that many in this state have for Carolina’s arrogance. You clearly didn’t and must still not know or appreciate the culture and passion of the App State program-fan base-and insitutional affinity. This article like the earlier one is a very Division II like angle.
“Mounties”? No research/no knowledge Artie strikes again.
Is that the way he wants to build a new audience? By writing foolish, unrealistic articles, full of inaccuracies, like a sensationalistic shock jock yellow journalist?
The use of’ Mounties” instead of Mountaineers shows a condescending arrogance seldom seen outside of Chapel Hill. I guess this is another example of”The Carolina Way” !
Art, you are so pathetically arrogant that you can’t stand not being condescending for long enough to “write” this article. You can keep being so naïve and self-centered that you believe you’re in our top 5 wins all time. Newsflash – you’re not Michigan and you never will be. So I would recommend you start showing respect to your in-state football schools who will be hereafter referred to as “your daddy.”
A little bit of humbleness will go very far. You keep writing articles that show your arrogance and we will keep that “chip” on our shoulders as APP STATE that helps us win against programs that far out pace us in money and resources. We will keep up our tradition of WINNIG and you can have your tradition of feeling “entitled” that you should have won because of who you are.
It was not PI in the end zone. Do some research, read a rule book! I noticed there was not one mention of UNC’s blatant holds by the OL in the 2nd half that did not get called. What BS excuses are you going to come up with after the Tigers maul the Tar Heels in Kenan this Saturday? Bet you can’t wait for b-ball season!
I just assumed UNCheat didn’t have a football team since they had never played Appalachian State. I figured it was a tuneup game against a new FBS program. That’s neat.
If you talk to Mack anytime soon thank him for the tune up for the Coastal game. Have fun Saturday. Can’t wait to hear the excuses on why you WILL LOSE to Clemson. I’m sure it will be the refs, or the clock, or injuries, or air pressure in the ball or something. Basketball season will be here soon enough Art…