The North Carolina Tar Heels started the game exactly the way they needed on Sunday in Miami. However, a sloppy ending to the second quarter gave the Hurricanes new wind.
UNC forced Miami to punt on their first drive and followed that up with a 74-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Drake Maye to sophomore wide receiver J.J Jones. North Carolina’s defense stayed solid on the next Miami drive, which resulted in a 53-yard field goal miss.
After both teams attempted to convert a fourth down, UNC found the end-zone again, this time from a 99-yard drive, finished off by a 2-yard touchdown run from Omarion Hampton.
After a nice shutout in the first quarter by North Carolina’s defense, Miami scored five minutes left in the second quarter, with quarterback Tyler Van Dyke getting it to wide receiver Key’Shawn Smith for a 20-yard touchdown. UNC answered with Maye throwing a Mahomes-Esque touchdown pass to Josh Downs, giving North Carolina the 21-7 lead.
Then, when it looked like the Hurricanes were nothing but a tropical storm, UNC gave them an opportunity, and they jumped on it.
Miami followed the Mahomes-Esque throw with a touchdown of their own to bring the score to 21-14. North Carolina next drive lasted just one play, with Maye throwing his second interception of the season. Miami capitalizes, getting to field goal range in just 21 seconds, making the kick, and bringing the score to 21-17 at the half.
If Miami scoring 10 points in the final two minutes of the first half wasn’t bad enough. UNC opened the half with Maye’s second interception of the game giving the Hurricanes a chance to pounce.
Thankfully, the North Carolina defense stepped up, preventing Miami from adding more points. On the next drive, UNC got into field goal range, getting three on the board and pushing their lead to 24-17.
The two teams continued to battle, with both defenses getting the job done. Once the fourth quarter hit, Miami was driving and ended up in another 4th down situation, going for it and passing the first down marker to move the chains. However, on the tail end of the run, UNC forced Miami’s leading rusher, Jaylan Knighton, to cough it up and put the ball back in Maye’s hands.
UNC then proceeded to kill the clock, having their longest drive of the season. They went 17 plays in eight minutes of action, leading to a field goal kick, putting North Carolina up 27-17 with four minutes left in the game.
Miami did find the end-zone late, with Van Dyke tossing a 16-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Colbie Young. Miami went with the onside kick with just two minutes and twenty seconds left on the clock. After an unbelievable recovery by Miami, footage showed the ball was hit in from going out of bounds by a player who was already out of bounds, giving UNC the ball.
North Carolina’s attempt at killing the clock failed as they held onto the ball for just one minute, with Miami using their final two timeouts. The pressure was on, Miami had the ball leaving it up to one last stop by UNC defense.
After Van Dyke made some solid throws to get Miami near field goal range, North Carolina’s defense stepped up again, this time with a DeAndre Boykins interception to give UNC the 27-24 win.
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