Late stand, missed chances doom UNC football in OT loss to Virginia

As Jordan Shipp stood in front of the podium at the Kenan Football Center on Saturday afternoon, following UNC’s 17-16 overtime loss to No. 16 Virginia, the signs of battle were evident: his blue jersey dappled with grass stains, eye black nearly all gone — except a few smudges — from his face.

This wasn’t the first time this month the North Carolina wideout had faced the media after a tough ACC loss. A similar scene played out three weeks ago after UNC’s 38-10 loss to Clemson. Grass-stained jersey? Check. Smeared eye black? Check.

But the mood and message were a far cry from the team’s ACC-opening loss to Clemson weeks ago.

A lot can change in a month. What once seemed like a season slipping away under the weight of sloppy play and early blowouts has since taken a turn — an upward trajectory. Despite a four-game losing streak and no conference victories, the Tar Heels (2-5, 0-3 ACC) are now showing the improvement coach Bill Belichick long promised.

North Carolina’s mistakes haven’t vanished — the team still struggled on third down and committed too many red-zone turnovers — but, over the past two games, the progress has been visible in the statistics and the emotions left on the field.

“I feel like it’s one thing for people to say we’re getting better,” Shipp said Saturday, “but, I mean, we’re showing it. Like, that’s a top-20 team in the country, and you go out there and lose on the last play of the game. So, I mean, it’s just a tribute to all my boys.”

Compare that to Shipp’s words after the blowout loss to Clemson.

“We’re beating ourselves,” Shipp said then. “They didn’t beat us. We beat ourselves… we gotta move on and we gotta move on together.”

And move on the Tar Heels did. Through a tumultuous open date weeks ago in which myriad negative news stories surrounded the program. Through rumors of a divided locker room. Through talk of Belichick taking a buyout, which the coach later called “categorically false.” The in-season documentary, planned to show a dramatic turnaround of the Tar Heel program, was scrapped by Hulu.

After a competitive 21-18 loss to Cal in Berkeley, quarterback Gio Lopez said the bye week, in an ironic sense, “was really good for us.” Shipp agreed with his signal-caller. He said earlier this week that the news cycle brought the team “so much closer together.”

“It really feels like it’s the world against UNC,” Shipp said Thursday. “I mean, that’s what I really feel like brought us all together because we have no choice but to have each other’s back.”

Tar Heels look unified

On Saturday, that sense of unity was clear — not just on the sideline, but in the stands.

Whereas earlier home crowds had often thinned long before the final whistle — with beelines for the exit forming as early as the opening quarter, as was the case in the Clemson loss — the Kenan Stadium student section only continued to fill up as UNC battled Virginia into overtime on Saturday. Row after row jammed in close behind the end zone, with one section of rowdy young men taking off their shirts and waving them over their heads for much of the game.

On one of North Carolina’s biggest defensive stands — when the Tar Heels forced a turnover on downs in the red zone midway through the third quarter — the front row of the student section leaned over the wall, slapping it with anxious anticipation. When Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris’ throw to J’Mari Taylor came in low and hit the ground, the crowd erupted.

The fans who decided to show up Saturday got what may have been the defense’s best effort of the season. The Tar Heels sacked Morris six times — three coming from Delaware transfer Melkart Abou-Jaoude, who seemed to live in the Cavaliers’ backfield. UNC held a run game averaging more than 200 yards entering Saturday to a mere 59 and kept the Cavaliers out of the end zone in the third and fourth quarters.

“It feels good to see the things I do in practice finally showing in the game,” Abou-Jaoude said. “You know, I do it every day. You got to give credit to Steve (Belichick), the play calls, the secondary. The quarterback was back there pump-faking the ball because the coverage was so good.

So, I mean, it just feels good for everything to come together.”

Critical turnovers continue

But even the defensive performance couldn’t erase the Tar Heels’ old, familiar troubles. Late in the first quarter, with UNC driving, Lopez hit wideout Kobe Paysour on a short pass. Paysour reached for the goal line — toward the left pylon — but a Virginia defender jarred the ball loose and it tumbled out of bounds for a touchback. Later, Lopez was intercepted twice — once inside the red zone and again just as UNC was threatening to get into game-winning field goal range late in the fourth quarter.

The Tar Heels have committed three red-zone turnovers in their last two games.

“We gotta eliminate those, no doubt about it,” Belichick said of the red-zone turnovers. “It’s the number one problem.”

Lopez, the South Alabama transfer making his sixth start at North Carolina, finished 23 of 36 for a season-best 208 yards, connecting with seven different receivers. Shipp led the team with 67 receiving yards, while freshman Madrid Tucker became a surprise breakout target with eight catches.

“It’s his first ever college game,” Shipp said. “I’m just telling him, no average freshman just goes out there and does that for your first start… high praise for Madrid.”

UNC also outgained Virginia 339-259 and dominated possession in the first half, showing an offensive rhythm that had been missing for much of the year.

One play decided the outcome

With the game tied at 10 by halftime and both defenses trading stops, drama built until overtime. Virginia scored first in the extra period, and North Carolina’s Davion Gause answered with a touchdown of his own.

With everything on the line, Belichick refused to play it safe — leaving his offense on the field for a two-point try.

“Trying to win the game,” Belichick said of his decision.

Lopez rolled right, this time finding running back Benjamin Hall, who lunged for the pylon. The Cavaliers’ defense converged and stopped him inches short. It was a finish all too familiar after Nathan Leacock’s fumble at Cal — a UNC player stretching for the end zone, another chance at victory snatched away at the goal line.

Afterward, Shipp’s comments hinted at the emotional toll of the season, but also the sense that the team — if not the record just yet — was finally pulling together. Shipp said he shared tears with some of his teammates following the loss Saturday.

Not out of bitterness, but in the sadness of coming so close and caring so deeply. The team had come far since that Clemson game, yes, but still had no win to show for it. At least, not yet.

“Moving forward, man, it’s hard… you pour so much into it, and you lose a game two weeks in a row by a couple inches,” Shipp said. “That’s not the way you want to go out.”

“I wish we could go out there and play again right now,” Shipp added. “I wish we had Syracuse tomorrow. I know we’re all ready to get back out there and just show everybody how good we really are.”

This story was originally published October 26, 2025 at 5:30 AM.