CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina had several chances to make a game-winning play against Virginia on Saturday at Kenan Stadium.
But like most of the season, the Tar Heels were left to think about what might have been, dropping a 20-14 contest to the Cavaliers. It’s Virginia’s first win over UNC since 2009.
“I’m proud of the effort that our guys are playing with. I told them that I’m proud of them,” said UNC coach Larry Fedora. “We’ve got to find a way to get over the hump. Somebody’s got to step up in a key situation and make a play.”
Trailing in the final three minutes, the Tar Heels (1-6, 0-4 ACC) had a chance when Malik Carney forced a fumble and Cayson Collins jumped on it to give the offense a final shot at a game-winning drive.
Quarterback Brandon Harris, who started over redshirt freshman Chazz Surratt, had Anthony Ratliff-Williams open in the end zone on the final drive, but the pass sailed over the receiver’s head. On fourth down, Harris was sacked to end the threat and seal the victory for the Cavaliers (5-1, 2-0).
But it wasn’t the only big play left on the board for the Tar Heels. Senior defensive M.J. Stewart had a chance at a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter with nothing but green grass in his path, but was ruled out of bounds when he touched the ball.
“When things aren’t going your way, it’s always just the little things,” Fedora said. “M.J., if he’s six inches farther in, he’s taking that the distance and that may be the game-winning play”
“But there are a lot of those things that happened out there in a game. When things aren’t going your way, they’re magnified. Somebody’s got to make one of those plays. In a tight game like that, somebody’s got to and we didn’t do that. No fault because of their effort, but things just aren’t going our way right now.”
Michael Carter led the Tar Heels with a career-high 157 rushing yards and two touchdowns, scoring on runs of 2 and 47 yards to give UNC a 14-10 lead in the third quarter.
UNC finished with 211 yards on the ground, but Harris struggled with just 46 passing yards. The LSU grad transfer completed just seven passes and threw a trio of interceptions.
Fedora said he chose to go with Harris over Surratt, the redshirt freshman, because Harris “had a better week in practice.”
“We had some problems with protection. We had some problems getting off, getting some separation in the secondary,” Fedora said of the struggles in the passing game.
“Those were the two main things. I thought Brandon did a nice job getting the balls where they were supposed to go. I’m sure there were a couple of balls that he’d like to have back.”
Virginia racked up 405 yards of offense, taking the lead for good when Olamide Zaccheaus broke a few tackles en route to an 81-yard touchdown catch and run late in the third quarter. He finished with five catches and 100 yards.
Virginia quarterback Kurt Benkert threw a pair of touchdown passes and finished with 249 yards. Jordan Ellis racked up 136 rushing yards to lead the Cavaliers’ rushing attack.
Virginia had the ball for nearly 40 minutes to dominate time of possession, putting together two scoring drives that lasted more than five minutes, including an 11-play, 67-yard drive before the end of the first half capped with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Evan Butts.
Virginia led 10-0 at the break.
Carter got the Tar Heels going in the second half with a 56-yard run on the opening drive, capping it with a two-yard touchdown scamper to trim Virginia’s lead to 10-7. He followed with a 47-yard touchdown run to give UNC its first lead of the game with 9:52 left in the third quarter.
It was the first 100-yard rushing game for a UNC freshman since T.J. Logan in 2013 against Old Dominion.
But still, Fedora and the Tar Heels were left to think about the plays that weren’t made in another close loss with a trip to Virginia Tech next on the schedule.
“It kills me that I haven’t been able to help them get over the hump at this point,” Fedora said. “. … there is no margin of error for our team right now.”
