It’s becoming a common theme for the North Carolina Tar Heels in bowl games.
With Wednesday’s 30-10 loss to West Virginia, UNC has now lost four-straight bowl games under Mack Brown, and are 1-4 in bowl games in his second tenure as head coach. And on Wednesday, it was another game that was tough to watch from the start.
On the very first play of the game, West Virginia hit a big pass play as quarterback Garrett Greene hit Traylon Ray for a 75-yard touchdown to get the scoring started. Ray got behind UNC’s defense which is missing a lot of players in the secondary for the quick score.
The Tar Heels missed a golden chance to score as Conner Harrell threw an interception in the end zone with UNC inside the 10-yard line. But UNC’s defense was able to give them another chance, forcing a fumble on a third-and-one two drives later.
From there, UNC answered with a scoring drive of their own as a Noah Burnette 28-yard field goal in the second quarter cut the lead to 7-3.
But another big play would doom UNC as Beanie Bishop Jr. returned a punt 78 yards to extend the Mountaineers lead to 14-3. It was another special teams mistake for the Tar Heels, committing a few on the day including muffing a punt, a personal foul, allowing a fake field goal conversion and a punt return.
While UNC was able to cut into the lead with a Harrell touchdown pass to J.J. Jones right before halftime to make it 14-10 but that was the last time UNC would score. The Mountaineers got a field goal to answer, marching down the field in just 27 seconds to extend the lead to 17-10.
They then carried that momentum into the second half, shutting out the Tar Heels while scoring on three field goals and then an 11-yard Jahiem White run.
Harrell finished the game 18 of 27 for 199 yards, a touchdown and 2 interceptions. Omarion Hampton had 62 rushing yards on 19 carries, behind a UNC offensive line that was missing a few key pieces.
The loss drops UNC to 8-5 on the season and is another disappointing result in a bowl.
Follow us @TarHeelsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.