The magical season is over. The North Carolina Tar Heels ‘ate the cheese’ and lost to Virginia on Saturday night in a stunning upset in Chapel Hill.
Going into this game, the No. 10 ranked Tar Heels had high hopes at 6-0 and were hosting a 1-5 Virginia team coming off a bye week and their first win of the season the prior week. And head coach Mack Brown warned his team not to ‘eat the poisoned’ cheese and avoid the trap game.
Well, they played like a team that really wasn’t in it from the start.
After a bad opening series, the Tar Heels let the Cavaliers march right down the field for the score and a 7-0 lead. The two teams traded scores in the first half before the Tar Heels got a field goal late in the first half to take the 17-4 lead at the break. Even after getting a defensive stop and a touchdown in the second half to lead 24-14, UNC couldn’t stop the Cavaliers and eventually fell for their first loss of the year.
The Tar Heels had their chances, though.
Several mistakes led to the loss for the Tar Heels as the offense looked flat, the defense couldn’t stop the Cavaliers and the playcalling was brutal all around.
But late in the game trailing 31-27, UNC forced a fumble in the end zone to get a touchback and a chance to take the lead. Drake Maye led the Tar Heels down the field and into the red zone but turned it over on downs as a 4th and 12 pass from Maye to Devontez Walker was incomplete.
The Tar Heels got the ball back one more time with a chance for Maye to go down and win it and save the season. However, he was hit on a second down with under 30 seconds left and was picked off which sealed it for the Cavaliers.
UNC falls to 6-1 in a very disappointing loss as they get set to face Georgia Tech in Atlanta. But it’s hard not to be VERY disappointed in this performance.
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