Marquise Williams put the team on his back Saturday

Over the last two games at Kenan Memorial Stadium, Marquise Wiliams has developed a habit. He did it against Georgia Tech on Oct. 18, and he did it again Saturday when Pittsburgh came to town, minutes before UNC’s 40-35 win.

Williams walks to his right, away from his teammates, away from his coaches, away from the action on the field. He stops at the endzone opposite the student section where, finally alone, he starts a pep talk.

“I tell myself, ‘I practice this every Wednesday,’” he said.

Every Wednesday is rehearsal. What to do when your team is trailing, when the clock has shed the majority of its precious minutes and seconds and the game rides on one possession. What to do when everything lines up exactly as it did with three minutes and 33 seconds left Saturday afternoon.

Rehearsal hadn’t gone as planned for Williams and the offense since Oct. 15. They won that week, beating the defense just three days before they would do it against the Yellow Jackets. They hadn’t won since.

Williams was fed up.

“I told myself, ‘I’m going to win this.’”

He’d taken a beating all game, being grabbed and rocked, pulled and dropped, but he was about to take on the biggest physical ?challenge yet.

“I just wanted to put the team on my back and let them know, ‘Hey, I’m in this for y’all,’” he said.

And, with 90 seconds left in the matinee, he was in a bind with them.

It was fourth-and-two on Pittsburgh’s 29-yard line and the Tar Heels trailed 34-35.

Coach Larry Fedora had a decision to make ­— try for a 44-yard go-ahead field goal or put his trust, the game and the ball in Williams’ hands.

Williams had already run for three touchdowns and thrown for one more in the game.

The field goal unit hadn’t pushed one through the uprights from farther than 23 yards all season.

“Oh, there was a lot of question in my mind,” Fedora said. “There was a lot of question in my mind. But I knew this — I wanted him to have an opportunity to keep it if we needed to.”

So the call was made. A read option, where Williams could hand it off to T.J. Logan, who was having a career day of his own, or tuck it and take it himself.

He’d been here before, in rehearsal and in showtime, but the pressure still had to get to him somewhat, right?

“No,” he said. “Heck no.”

Of course not. Pressure only results from a situation in which the outcome is unknown. Williams knows all.

“I knew they were going to stunt to T.J. Logan, and it’s going to be me, one-on-one with the linebacker,” he said.

“I always told myself, no linebacker, no safety, nobody, if we’re one-on-one, you’re not going to bring me down.”

Williams knows all. He took the snap, thrust the ball into Logan’s gut and held it there until the ruse could get no more convincing.

Then, just before Logan and his red herring were swallowed by Panthers, Williams retracted it and launched himself into the gauntlet. Six yards later, he had a first down, and the Tar Heels had hope.

Logan was rewarded for his role in the subterfuge, getting the ball three plays later, which he promptly carried in for the go-ahead score.

Fedora may have questioned himself at the end, but Williams? Never.

“If it’s a clutch moment,” he said, with a healthy dose of confidence and nary a trace of arrogance. “I’m going to succeed at it.”

sports@dailytarheel.com