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CHAPEL HILL – Defense was largely optional Saturday afternoon at Kenan Stadium, until North Carolina decided to flex its muscles for a few series, allowing its prolific offense to do its thing in the Tar Heels’ 58-55 win over No. 9 Wake Forest.

After struggling for most of the game to stop the Deacons’ offense, the UNC’s defense made plays late when it had to, all without senior linebacker Jeremiah Gemmel, who was disqualified for targeting on the last play of the first quarter.

Through their first 11 drives on offense, the Deacs scored eight times and accounted for 510 yards of total offense. Those eight scores were six touchdowns and two field goals. Five of the drives were of 75 yards or more.

The Tar Heels (5-4) cut the deficit down to seven early in the fourth quarter, and desperately needed to get stops on the defensive side of the ball if they wanted to complete the comeback. Wake took the field with 11:22 remaining leading 48-41. That’s when UNC’s defense flipped the script.

On third down, junior safety Cam Kelly intercepted the pass, his second of the day, to set up the Heels in great field position leading toa score that tied the game.

“We just played hard,” Kelly said. “We played physical, our effort was there, and communication started getting there too.”

On the next two series, Carolina (8-1) eld Wake (to two fourth-down stops, including two batted-down passes at the line of scrimmage from defensive lineman Raymond Vohasek and Myles Murphy.

“We played our best ball at the right moments at the end of the game when we needed a stop,” sophomore linebacker Cedric Gray said. “All week we were preaching to the d-line with that slow RPO, that we need to get our hands up, and bat a few balls down, and Ray executed that perfectly on that big fourth down stop.”

Those instances combined for a three-possession sequence where they allowed zero points and just 58 yards of total offense. UNC’s offense took full advantage, scoring 17 points off of those three stops, taking a 58-48 lead, which was enough to win the game.

“Our defense got some key stops when we needed them, and ultimately won us that game, so credit to those guys on defense,” junior quarterback Sam Howell said. “Seeing the defense go out there and get a stop just gives us more energy on offense… those stops there in the fourth quarter are what won us that game.”

And on a day like this, defensive domination wasn’t required, but a key stretch of stops was. And the Heels did just that.