After playing stellar on defense all night long, the UNC football team faltered in crunch time on Saturday at Kenan Stadium—as the Virginia Tech Hokies drove the ball 91 yards in 18 plays to score a touchdown in the final seconds and hand the Tar Heels a crushing 22-19 loss.
If there’s one thing that’s for certain about UNC’s performance against the Hokies, it’s the sheer number of missed opportunities that will come back to haunt them.
Time and time again, the Tar Heels had chances to put the final nail in the coffin. And time and time again they came up short.
Nine times UNC moved the ball inside the Virginia Tech 30-yard-line, but produced only one touchdown.
Kicker Freeman Jones went 4-for-6 on field goals, with the longest attempt coming from only 43 yards away. The Tar Heels also turned the ball over twice in those situations, once on downs and another on a fumble by tailback Michael Carter at the goal line late in the fourth quarter that could have iced the game—but instead gave the Hokies that crucial last chance to drive the ball down the field.
UNC sophomore receiver Dazz Newsome drops what likely would have turned into an 85-yard touchdown catch. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
To put it simply, head coach Larry Fedora’s squad thoroughly outplayed Virginia Tech in a number of ways before ultimately shooting itself in the foot.
“I don’t have a single explanation other than when we get down in the red zone, you’ve got to smell the end zone and you’ve gotta want to get there in the worst way,” Fedora said.
Offensively, the Tar Heels outgained the Hokies 522 to 375 in terms of total yardage.
Explosive plays dominated the night for UNC as the team recorded five plays of at least 40 yards, with those plays accounting for 261—or exactly half—of the Tar Heels’ offense.
Carter ripped off a pair of 49-yard runs on his way as he finished with a career-high 168 yards on 18 carries.
True freshman quarterback Cade Fortin pulled off a 40-yard run of his own in the first half of his first career start at the college level before leaving the game with a leg injury.
A trick play helped receiver Dazz Newsome toss a 43-yard pass to tight end Carl Tucker, who also caught an 80-yard bomb from Nathan Elliott late in the fourth quarter just before Carter’s critical fumble.
Still, though, UNC left even more explosive plays on the board in the game with the most notable being a drop from Newsome on what likely would have been an 85-yard touchdown.
“We just didn’t make enough plays to win a football game,” Fedora told reporters afterwards. “We had a lot of opportunities. A lot of opportunities.
“There were a lot of good things that happened on the field today,” the coach added. “But we just didn’t get it done.”
Malik Carney led the UNC defensive effort by posting a team-high 2.5 sacks in the game. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
Perhaps the most frustrating part of the loss, among many, for UNC is the way it wasted a phenomenal performance from its defense.
Virginia Tech piled up over a quarter of its total yardage on the final drive of the game, and rarely found success outside of scrambles by quarterback Ryan Willis—who finished with 110 yards on just 15 carries.
Despite the lack of early success against a motivated Tar Heel defense, the Hokies found a way to get the job done late.
In total, Virginia Tech overcame four third downs and one fourth down in the final minutes before Willis found Dalton Keene on a 1-yard screen pass with 19 seconds remaining to steal the victory—a play that became just the latest gut punch for the struggling UNC football program.
“Is it frustrating?” Fedora said. “Yeah it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating for me, it’s frustrating for our staff and it’s frustrating for all of our players.
“I’m no more frustrated than any of them,” he continued. “I want it bad for them. I really do. I just want to make sure they know how close they are.”
Up Next:
A road trip up north awaits the Tar Heels in their next game, as they travel to face the Syracuse Orange on Saturday, Oct. 20. That game is scheduled to begin at 12:20 p.m.
Game Notes:
- Cade Fortin became the first true freshman to start at quarterback for UNC since Cam Sexton back in 2006.
- The 235 rushing yards by the Tar Heels are the most allowed by Virginia Tech this season.
- Freeman Jones tied his season high of four field goals in a single game, matching the amount he made in UNC’s loss to ECU back on Sept. 8. His six field goal attempts also tied a school single-game record.
Cover photo via Associated Press
