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Top 5 Comebacks Of The Fedora Era

Was Saturday's comeback win over Pittsburgh the best of the Larry Fedora era at Carolina? (USA Today)


North Carolina has won 35 games in the four-plus seasons Larry Fedora has been its head football coach, and interestingly eight of this victories have come in the fourth quarter of games.

Listed in chronological order, here are the five best comeback wins of the Fedora era with all eight fourth-quarter wins noted:

Oct. 27, 2012 - UNC 43, N.C. State 35

The Tar Heels trailed by 10 points going into the 4th quarter as the offense had gone into the tank in the second half. But Sean Tapley’s 3-yard scoring pass from Bryn Renner with 10:23 left in the game got the wheels in motion. A Casey Barth 34-yard field goal tied the score at 35-35 with 1:24 left. And then, the UNC defense got a stop forcing State to punt. Surprisingly, Wolfpack coach Tom O’Brien didn’t have his punter kick the ball away from Carolina’s Gio Bernard, which was a huge mistake. Bernard took the punt at his own 26 and before long was racing down the sideline and into the end zone igniting a frenzied celebration inside Kenan Stadium with 13 seconds left, giving the Tar Heels the victory over the Pack.

Oct. 18, 2014 – UNC 48, Georgia Tech 43

The Yellow Jackets took a 43-42 lead with 3:07 left in the game after a seemingly crushing 75-yard run by DeAndre Smelter. But the Tar Heels still had a chance, and 12 plays and 75 yards later, T.J. Logan crossed the goal line on a 2-yard run with 13 seconds remaining to give the Tar Heels an amazing victory in one of the most thrilling games ever played at Kenan Stadium. UNC took an 11-point lead early in the final quarter only to blow it, but that drive redeemed the team and was integral in them later becoming bowl eligible.

Nov. 15, 2014 – UNC 40, Pittsburgh 35

The sluggish Tar Heels spotted the Panthers a 21-7 lead midway through the second quarter and found themselves trailing by 9 points late in the third quarter. They even gave up a Pitt TD (22-yard run by James Conner) to fall behind 35-34 with 3:33 left in the game. But the resilient Heels had other plans, as they embarked on a 13-play, 75-yard drive capped by a 1-yard plunge by T.J. Logan for the game’s final score with 50 seconds left giving Carolina the victory.

Oct. 3, 2015 – UNC 38, Georgia Tech 31

Carolina fell behind by a 21-0 score in Atlanta after allowing the Yellow Jackets to score touchdowns on their first three possessions while running 37 plays and consuming 20 minutes and 30 seconds of game clock. The then Heels found a spark and began chipping away at Tech, and eventually outscoring the Jackets 38-7 in a long stretch to secure the victory. It was the largest deficit a UNC football team had ever overcome in victory and was a season-changing win in a stretch of 11 consecutive victories, the most ever by a Carolina team in a single season.

Sept. 24, 2016 – UNC 37, Pittsburgh 36

In one of the worst openings to a game in the Fedora era, Carolina fell behind Pitt 12-0 and 19-7, with the offensive play discrepancy 38 snaps for Pitt and 7 for UNC midway through the second quarter. It appeared the UNC defense would never stop the Panthers, who built a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter. Even many Carolina fans didn’t believe and approximately 18,000 people left Kenan Stadium before the Tar Heels found life and erupted for the victory. They scored on an 8-play, 45-yard drive and then the game winner, a 17-play, 65-yard drive capped by Bug Howard’s 2-yard scoring pass from Mitch Trubisky. UNC had the ball for less than 19 minutes while Pitt had it for more than 41, yet the Tar Heels had 50 more yards of total offense – 471-421 – and simply would not be denied.

UNC’s other 4th Quarter Wins Under Fedora

2013 – UNC 34, @ Pittsburgh 27 – Ryan Switzer’s 61-yard punt return with 4:46 left wins it for the Tar Heels.

2014 – UNC 31, San Diego State 27 – The Heels trailed by 10 in the 4th quarter but outscored the Aztecs 17-6 in the period to notch the victory.

2014 – UNC 28, @ Virginia 27 – Mitch Trubisky, filling in for one snap because Marquise Williams’ helmet came off on the previous play, found T.J. Thorpe for a 16-yard TD pass with 4:05 left to give UNC the lead it didn’t relinquish.


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