UNC football’s upset loss to Virginia ‘disappointing,’ but not ‘crushing,’ QB says
For the past few weeks, North Carolina coach Mack Brown has mentioned the dwindling number of unbeaten teams in college football.
Few would have thought the No. 10 Tar Heels would add to that dwindling number. Not Saturday, not against Virginia.
If it was a closer than expected game, the Heels would win. If they needed a touchdown, Drake Maye would get it. If the defense needed a big stop, they would get it. This was their year.
In truth, few thought it would be close. None of the Vegas oddsmakers did, making UNC a 23.5-point favorite over the Cavaliers.
And then Virginia won, 31-27.
When Brown talked earlier in the week about the Tar Heels eating the “poison cheese” and being complacent, many smiled. Good story, many agreed. Brown was saying the right things to have his team properly focused.
And then Virginia kicked off. UNC was called for a block-in-the-back penalty on the return. The tone was set, at least for the Tar Heels (6-1, 3-1 ACC).
“We talked about the poison cheese, and we ate it,” Brown said after the game. “Offensively we were inconsistent. We didn’t score in the red zone when we needed to. We were 4-of-13 on third downs and they were 8-of-18. We had our chance to win the game twice, late, and didn’t do it.”
A week after an emotional win over Miami at Kenan, which was rocking, the Heels played a hit-and-miss game before a smaller, far less raucous crowd. They led 24-14 in the third quarter but couldn’t hold the lead. They led 27-24 in the fourth quarter but couldn’t hold it.
“We didn’t play our brand of football and it wound up costing us,” Maye said.
With 4:50 left in the fourth, Virginia tailback Mike Hollins was seemingly barreling his way into the end zone for a clinching TD when he was hit by Armani Chatman and fumbled, the ball bounding through and out of the back of the end zone for a touchback.
Maye’s first attempt at a winning drive stalled at the Virginia 20 when he overthrew Tez Walker, who had 11 catches for 146 yards, on fourth down. The Tar Heels forced the Cavaliers to punt on their next possession and used timeouts to allow one last drive, with 1:12 to play.
“The ball was in my hand with the game on the line,” Maye said. “It just felt like we were going to find a way to win it. That’s what I pride myself on being able to do, when the game is on the line to make the play for us to come out victorious.”
Maye completed three passes as UNC got to the Virginia 48. But he then was hit as he threw by defensive end Paul Akere, linebacker James Jackson picking off the pass at the UVa 43 with 26 seconds left to create instant bedlam on the Virginia sideline.
“They played hard, they had nothing to lose,” said Maye, who was 24-of-48 passing for 347 yards. “They were the better team tonight.
“Coach Brown was preaching all day not to be overcome with success and have it bite us and I think our team did that. It happened to be one of those games and things didn’t go our way.”
Virginia (2-5, 1-2 ACC) was coming off its bye week and a victory over Williams & Mary in its last game. It had time to change up some looks to throw at the Heels, offensively and defensively — and did.
Quarterback Tony Muskett, a transfer from Monmouth, had a tidy game, hitting 20 of 30 passes for 208 yards and a touchdown. He also burned the Heels in the run/option game, getting 66 yards on 12 carries. His one big mistake: an intercepted pass in the end zone by Chatman.
Malik Washington had 12 catches for 115 yards, fighting his way to the end zone for the go-ahead score on a 14-yard pass from Muskett with 8:51 left in the fourth quarter.
Virginia had 436 yards in total offense, ran more plays than the Heels (84-77) and more importantly held the ball for a little more than 37 minutes in possession time.
“That’s a formula for losing,” Brown said.
What now for the Tar Heels? Only Florida State is unbeaten among ACC teams. There’s still a lot of football to be played before the top two spots in the ACC championship game are determined.
“That’s still in reach,” Maye said. “We’re trying to put this one behind us, learn from it and get back after it because that’s our end goal.
“This was disappointing. I wouldn’t say crushing. We’ve still got a lot of stuff to look forward to. We’ve got some big-time games coming up here at the end of the season.”
This story was originally published October 22, 2023 at 6:30 AM.
