Tar Heels rally for ugly football win

William & Mary spoiled a handful of potential story-lines for the Tar Heels on Saturday night.

Junior wide receiver Dwight Jones continued his recently stellar play with nine receptions for 107 yards. In cornerback Kendric Burney’s first game of the season after returning from suspension, the senior led the defense in tackles. Not to mention the T.J. Yates vs. Michael Paulus matchup that seemed fatefully bound to emerge, as it did in the early minutes.

None of that mattered when the Tar Heels were down 17-7 after three dreadfully sloppy quarters.

“We tightened up,” senior safety Deunta Williams said. “We manned up, we woke up and we started playing.”

The game reignited with two gutsy plays on the same 18-snap, 90-yard drive. Those two plays arguably led UNC to its 21-17 nail-biter win against William & Mary.

The first decision came when UNC faced a fourth-and-six on the Tribe’s 46-yard-line. Six yards was farther than UNC had moved the ball on previous drives, let alone plays.

But UNC coach Butch Davis sent his offense out to convert the fourth down because, well, he had to. And the Tar Heels did convert after a completion to sophomore wide receiver Todd Harrelson.

“It was good to get the first again, because if we hadn’t have gotten that first down, it would have been very, very tough for us to come back and win,” Jones said.

The second decision was a fourth-and-one play later in the drive where Johnny White picked up six of his career-high 164 yards. Yates found H-back Ryan Taylor in the end zone three plays later to bring UNC within a field goal of tying the game.

But it was clear a field goal wasn’t on White’s mind when the Tar Heels got their next shot on offense.

On the third play of the drive, the running back took the handoff and burst into the secondary with just one defensive back to beat. Zigzagging and directing the lone defender’s trajectory like a sheep-herder, White found safe passage into the end zone for a 67-yard score.

“Johnny White ran the ball really well and gave us the play that we needed to flip, not only the emotions, but also the score,” Davis said.

Just like that, UNC was up 21-17 with a lead the Tar Heels never relinquished.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of Saturday’s game was the showdown between Yates and Paulus, Yates’ former backup.

Paulus came into the game in relief of injured Tribe quarterback Mike Callahan and played like the quarterback UNC expected him to be — which was problematic for the Tar Heels’ defense.

Yates finished the game with 238 yards, a touchdown and an interception. But with Paulus passing for 209 passing yards and two touchdowns, the younger signal caller almost upstaged his position rival in what would have been considered a colossal upset.

“Yeah that was kinda eerie how it all panned out,” Yates said. “You know, Mike did a great job. That’s the best I’ve ever seen him play. He was definitely ready.”

It won’t show up in the standings, but UNC pulled a Houdini to escape with the win. And Yates knows just how devastating it would have been the other way around.

“It would have been pretty bad,” Yates said. “You know, we knew we had to (win). We just had to. We couldn’t have dealt with something like that.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.