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MIAMI GARDENS, FL – Football games that conclude with three-point margins are usually going to have numerous sequences that are crucial in the ultimate outcome.

There was certainly no shortage of them in North Carolina’s 27-24 victory at Miami on Saturday. But perhaps the series of events that loomed largest as the final second ticked off the clock occurred in the first half.

It’s hard to call it a 14-point or even a 10-point swing, given how it played out. But it is fair calling the segment decisive.

Miami drove from its own 9-yard-line to the Carolina five and faced a second-and-four. But a penalty on Des Evans moved the ball to the two and have the Canes a first down. A one-yard followed by two runs gaining nothing set up a fourth down at the one.

The Hurricanes’ play blew up right away. Kaimon Rucker pressured Tyler Van Dyke, who hurried a throw toward tight end Will Mallory, who was coverage by UNC jack Noah Taylor.

Carolina (5-1, 2-0 ACC) took over at its own 1-yard-line, and eight plays later, Omarion Hampton scored from two yards out for a 14-0 UNC lead.

That was the sequence.

“You’ve got to respond…,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said after the game at Hard Rock Stadium. “Absolutely responding when you’re ahead, responding when you’re behind. Responding to the other side of the ball when you get an energy boost with that fourth-down stop.”

Yet, Miami still had Carolina backed up to near the goal line. Several Tar Heels were lined up literally in the end zone when the first play started. The Canes may have figured they could get a quick stop and would be back in business offensively in good field position.

But UNC had different thoughts.

“We just took it right down and scored, and that’s a heart-breaker,” Brown said. “It breaks their momentum and their confidence, and sends a very strong message.”

The stop may have been bigger than the score in the sense that it infused a defense still seeking those moments in the middle of games. It had that moment right there early in the second quarter.

“We got down to that goal line, and that was nothing but passion,” junior linebacker Cedris Gray said. “The d-line got a great push, linebackers were filling holes. And then on the last play, Noah Taylor did a great job – great coaching of having him lock on that tight end, and they tried to get the throw-back pass.

“It was just awesome to see us bow up there at the goal line.”

The offense had to do its part, too. Remarkably, the 99-yard touchdown drive was the second 90-plus yard TD drive of the half for the Tar Heels, and fourth of the season.

Marching the length of the field isn’t a surprise to the Heels, Caleb Hood says. They work on it every day in practice, to Carolina’s offense isn’t fazed operating from the opposite end zone, or with the task of having to travel nearly a hundred yards to get on the scoreboard.

“Every day we have one-minute drill to go the whole field, so I feel like that’s when we’re at our best,” Hood said.

As far as sectioning games for most crucial periods, chalk that five-minute span up at the top, or certainly near it in Carolina’s victory.