UNC puts Halloween scare into No. 1 Miami. Observations from a near upset
For a split second, before he realized that his North Carolina football team’s jubilation was all for naught, that a second straight recovery of an onside kick attempt — after the first was called back by penalty — was indeed too good to be true, Tar Heels linebacker Peyton Seelmann saw defensive back Coleman Bryson with the ball in his arms and he thought what few expected the 14.5-point underdogs to think at any point of Saturday’s game:
“All right,” Seelmann said he thought, “we’re going to go win now.”
But while UNC’s 38-35 loss to Miami on Saturday at Kenan Memorial Stadium contained plenty of magic, ultimately, it wasn’t enough. Because a flag flew on that, too. Before UNC’s second recovery that didn’t count, Seelmann saw an approaching Miami special teamer raise his hands. He assumed that meant the ball was right below him, around the 10 yards it needed to cross before contact was legal. So the Tar Heels linebacker extended and laid him out. The ball, however, didn’t travel 10 yards. He was just half a second fast.
Miami recovered the next onside kick, stopping a stunning performance by the Tar Heels just short of a historic win. It totaled 407 yards of offense, pacing Miami’s 416 in the game and tying the most points scored against the Hurricanes this season. Its 35 points was tied for the most points scored against the Hurricanes this season.
Limiting the best offense in the country didn’t seem like an option. It hasn’t been for anyone this season. To complete the upset, the Tar Heels needed an out-of-body offensive performance. And they almost got it. But though the two losses over the past two weeks for UNC cannot be viewed on equal footing, the impact on its record is the same.
“We scored 35 points, and people are going to be patting the offense on the back,” quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. said. “Well, we didn't score enough points to win the game.”
The difference in a game that produced some of the best football in the Bill Belichick era in Chapel Hill was a sack-fumble forced by Miami with 5:33 left and a lead-extending touchdown with 2:37 left. UNC moves to 0-12 against the nation’s top-ranked team all-time with an effort that’s hardly deserving of that distinction, save for that one crucial turnover.
And the magic, still, almost continued. When the Tar Heels offense trotted onto the field with 2:33 left in the game down 10 points, it looked like they were already out of luck. They needed to score, fast. But UNC did, with Edwards connecting with wide receiver Trech Kekahuna to complete a 55-second drive to pull the game within three points. Then the Tar Heels recovered the ensuing onside kick, twice. But that just added to the heartbreak of a game that, in the end, didn’t break UNC’s way.
“It was a little upsetting that we didn’t get either of them,” Seelmann said. “But that’s what the refs called, and that’s what happened.”
Still, Saturday should give the Tar Heels something to build off of. Miami entered Saturday as the nation’s No. 1 scoring offense, scoring 49.0 points per game through seven unbeaten appearances. Yet the Tar Heels’ offense matched the Hurricanes every step of the way in the first half — Miami just got one more drive than UNC did. Yet when the Hurricanes kicked a field goal with 22 seconds left in the half, taking a 17-14 lead into the break, it was a win for North Carolina.
A pass breakup in the end zone by freshman defensive back Javion Butts on third and goal forced Miami into a field goal, despite completing a 40-yard pass earlier in the drive — just another example of how the Tar Heels continued to hold firm. Running back Demon June said earlier in the week that UNC knows it “let one slip” in a 31-30 overtime loss to Syracuse last weekend, but that negative energy didn’t seem to affect how the team came out Saturday.
“I feel like we got a really good team,” Seelmann said. “I feel like, you know, we’re a lot better than 4-4.”
Miami’s first drive was long and methodical, star wide receiver Malachi Toney capping it with a toe-dragging touchdown after 13 plays and 6:21 elapsed. But the Tar Heels put together their first touchdown drive in 11 plays and 84 yards between the end of the first quarter and start of the second.
Tight end Jelani Thurman caught a wide-open pass for an 8-yard score at the 11:50 mark of the second quarter, and after Miami responded with a touchdown on its next drive, UNC went 12 plays for 75 yards before another 8-yard touchdown to Thurman to tie the game at 14 with 1:56 left in the half. UNC’s 152 first-half yards through the air were its second-most passing yards in any half this season, and it only trailed Miami 228-185 total despite the extra drive.
And their first drive of the second half proved they were capable on Saturday to engage in a shootout with the country’s best offense. A 23-yard pass from Edwards to Thurman to convert a third down kept alive an eventual eight-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to open the half, the Tar Heels taking a 21-17 lead on a 16-yard catch by wide receiver Jordan Shipp with 10:51 left in the third quarter. Miami responded with a nine-play, 81-yard touchdown drive to take back the lead, 24-21, aided by a pass interference by UNC defensive back Jaiden Patterson in the end zone on a third-and-1 inside the 5-yard line.
But even a holding penalty that wiped away a touchdown couldn’t keep North Carolina out of the end zone again. The 16-play, 75-yard drive featured a fourth-down conversion — UNC’s second of the game — and was finished off by a 1-yard rushing score by June that put the Tar Heels up 28-24 with 11:46 to play.
UNC kicked the ball out of the end zone on the ensuing kickoff, and members of its special teams unit ran all the way to the students behind the end zone, leaping and waving their arms.
But someone had to get a stop eventually.
“They’re really good,” Belichick said about Miami. “They got a lot of really good players.”
The Tar Heels couldn’t on their next drive, allowing Miami to score in nine plays to take a 31-28 lead with 7:49 left. It looked like Edwards had it going, though, turning a 7-yard sack on the first play of the Tar Heels’ ensuing drive into a 22-yard screen pass to running back Jaylen McGill for a first down to extend the drive. But he didn’t see the pressure behind him two plays later.
“It wasn’t perfect on our part,” Belichick said. “Yeah, could have done a better job executing the play.”
“We’re down two scores after we turn the ball over,” Belichick said in response to a separate question. “So if we don’t turn the ball over, maybe we’re not down by two scores.”
For nearly 55 minutes of the game, the swinging arm of Edwards almost always led to something good for North Carolina. But with 5:33 left, Edwards was just half a second slow.
Miami defensive lineman Marquise Lightfoot swatted at his arm and down fell the last chance that Saturday could provide something magical for a team that needed it.
Here’s what stood out from the game.
Billy Edwards Jr. delivers signature performance in near upset
Edwards was mid-celebration over the Tar Heels taking the lead with 12:57 left in the game, but then he noticed the flag on the ground. Running back Benjamin Hall’s would-be 12-yard rushing touchdown was called back with a holding penalty. So Edwards did what — amid everything else that could be said about the UNC signal-caller — he’s always done. He pushed his hands to the ground as if to tell his team: Stay calm.
Edwards isn’t always perfect, but more often than not, he’s calm and poised. And Saturday was the signature version of that. Edwards hit Marlon Humphrey for a 10-yard pass, then hit June for an 11-yard pass before June punched the go-ahead score into the end zone. It was one of the biggest moments in a game full of them for Edwards, who passed for 341 yards and four touchdowns.
Edwards had his struggles last week. But despite his limitations that come into play at times, the quarterback has largely progressed over the course of the season to be at least a reliable leader of productive offense for UNC. His poor throw to Shamar Easter in the end zone last weekend against Syracuse took a would-be touchdown away from UNC. But also, where would the Tar Heels have been without Edwards against Miami? He looked elite in every sense of the word, taking the running lanes he had, hitting intermediate throws with accuracy. He gave North Carolina a chance, even if that’s not good enough for him.
“This isn’t the business for moral victories,” Edwards said.
Jelani Thurman keeps proving himself
Thurman had proven himself to be perhaps the Tar Heels’ best offensive weapon long ago. But as he reached high, between two defenders, for a touchdown with 1:56 left in the first half and broke out in a touchdown dance inspired by Michael Jackson’s classic Thriller, he continued to position himself as one of the best pass-catchers in the ACC.
With a Heisman hopeful pass-catcher, Toney, in the building, Thurman looked almost just as dangerous. He finished with five catches for 75 yards, catching two touchdowns. He was reliable and explosive again, and after becoming Edwards’ favorite target in the season’s first game, what’s asked of him seems to only grow each week. And he continues to deliver.
“We have trouble covering it in practice,” Belichick said. “It’s a problem (there), too. So it’s been like that all year.”
UNC’s running game moves the ball
UNC seems committed to getting every (healthy) member of the running game involved. It didn’t seem to ride the hot hand last week, handing starting running back McGill 12 carries and the second back, June, nine carries after a fairly even split the week before, too. On Saturday, June seemed to be the hot hand. He made some plays in the receiving game, then opened the second quarter with a 12-yard burst up the middle.
But later in the eventual touchdown drive for the Tar Heels, it was running back Benjamin Hall who was on the field. And UNC was right to spread the carries around — its three-back approach was working, even if running lanes were limited in the ground game, specifically.
Since McGill’s breakout 24-yard game-winning touchdown rush in the Tar Heels’ win over Duke, he’s been a featured part of UNC’s rushing attack. He earned the start for the second straight week, but against the Hurricanes, every one of North Carolina’s running backs looked effective. June made several tough catches in the receiving game, showing good burst on his runs. And Hall had several touch rushes himself as the three backs combined for 175 yards on 39 touches.
This story was originally published October 31, 2026 at 11:10 PM with the headline "UNC puts Halloween scare into No. 1 Miami. Observations from a near upset."
