North Carolina coach Butch Davis' decision to punt late in the fourth quarter while trailing 30-27 was met with boos from the fans.
Facing a fourth-and-5 on the Florida State 44-yard line, Davis elected to punt the ball back to the Seminoles, who took possession at their own 20-yard line with 4 minutes, 10 seconds remaining.
The Tar Heels used their timeouts to get the ball back but gave up two first downs before forcing a punt. They regained possession on their own 21-yard line with just 47 seconds remaining and no timeouts.
It will be no surprise to anyone who followed Chuck Amato's teams at N.C. State that with Amato on the sideline as an assistant, Florida State was a disorganized, undisciplined mess.
In the first half alone, the Seminoles committed nine penalties for 70 yards.
The pine tree-ringed exterior of Kenan Stadium deservedly has a reputation as one of the most scenic college football backgrounds in the nation.
ESPN's application of its "Skycam" robbed patrons of some of that scenery Thursday night. Cables were hung from four cranes positioned behind the corners of the stadium. The towering cranes removed a bit of Kenan's usual ambience.
Give North Carolina's fans some credit.
Their team was reeling after two straight ACC losses thanks to an offense that produced one touchdown in the first two conference games.
Maybe the excitement of the first Thursday night game at Kenan Stadium brought the fans out. But despite warnings that traffic for a weekday game might be bad and could make it difficult for fans to travel long distances, there weren't many empty seats.
