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RALEIGH – For 58 minutes Friday night, North Carolina carved out a terrific story.
One of resilience, grit, fortitude, and a defense that stepped up on a night it was most needed.
Carolina was going to spoil its arch rivals’ conference championship hopes, and do so in front of their fire-breathing, all-things-baby-blue-hating fans.
But then the bottom fell out in what became a 34-30 loss to No. 20 NC State here at frigid Carter-Finley Stadium.
UNC went from posting perhaps the best win of the Mack Brown part two era to suffering one of the biggest meltdowns in recent memory. The mother of all meltdowns, to be frank.
It was an unbecoming display of football on so many levels, that Brown’s disgust after the game didn’t need many words.
“Yes, I’ve never seen anything like that,” UNC’s coach said about his team’s colossal collapse. “I’ve got to do a better job. I’m really disappointed in me that our team doesn’t win that game.”
Blame goes all around for this one, it wasn’t solely on Brown. This was a program loss.
Before the crumbling, all signs indicated NC State was done. When Grayson Atkins converted a 50-yard field goal with 2:12 remaining giving the Tar Heels a 30-21 lead, all Carolina had to do was not completely screw up, and it would close a disappointing campaign on a very high note and owning a winning record. It would enhance its bowl possibilities, too.
But that’s when literally everything went wrong for Brown’s team. Plenty of time remained, which appeared lost on the Heels.
“I think guys got too excited; thought the game was won, thought the game was over…,” senior linebacker Jeremiah Gemmel said. “I think that’s what really got us in the butt, we need to act like we’ve been there before.”
A 37-yard kickoff return to near midfield by the Pack gave it life. Two plays later, State scored on a 64-yard pass play. It was too quick, and the busted coverage by the Tar Heels was a scene already played out too often this fall. No resistance on defense, again.
But UNC still led 30-28, so all it had to do was fall on the coming onside kick and run out the clock.
Easy-peasy. Not exactly.
State kicker Christopher Dunn recovered the onside kick at its own 47-yard-line. And then in a mess of a defensive series, everything that flared up on the negative for much of this season from Jay Bateman’s crew showed up, busted down the door and shouted its presence.
The Carolina defense that held the Wolfpack to two touchdowns and 260 yards for 58 minutes turned in a look that brought back clear memories of the second half at Georgia Tech, the middle quarters against Florida State, the second half against Miami, both halves versus Wake Forest, and the first half at Pittsburgh. Missed coverage, missed tackles, and horribly timed penalties did in the Heels.
Yet, in those aforementioned games, the Tar Heels were flat out beaten up during those brutal stretches. Here, they simply self-destructed.
“I don’t know,” Brown said, when asked how he processes what took place. “I just told the team we gotta finish. That’s all it is, we’ve gotta make the plays that they made down the stretch, and we gotta be more mature and we can't have penalties.
“We did everything you could possibly do wrong with two minutes left to not finish the game.”
If one were to search how not to close out a football game, the first entry would be what transpired on November 26, 2021, in the Old North State’s capital city. It was unseemly, the epitome of ugliness.
It was a meltdown that NC State fans will tell stories about for decades to come, and for UNC fans to snarl in anger and try to forget. Carolina had this game won, but it gave it away.
