Tar Heels fall to Miami Hurricanes 30-24

It’s Everett Withers’ job to coach North Carolina football games, not to write about them once they end.

But that doesn’t mean the interim head coach doesn’t have some ideas for reporters.

“Say good things about (Miami), because I think they deserved to win the game today,” Withers said following UNC’s 30-24 loss to the Hurricanes on Saturday.

It would be difficult to argue anything else.

There were two points in the fourth quarter when even Journey might have stopped believing.

The first was when North Carolina, trailing Miami by 17 points, failed to convert on 4th and 2 inside the red zone with 11:05 left in the game. Less than seven minutes later, the Tar Heels — this time trailing by just 10 — failed to convert another fourth down.
Quite frankly, a UNC win would have been nothing less than a steal.

And yet, the Tar Heels almost pulled it off.

“I don’t think there was a point throughout the game where we thought we were going to lose,” tailback Giovani Bernard said.
Down 30-17, the Tar Heels capped off a seven-play, 70 yard drive with Bryn Renner’s 20-yard completion to Reggie Wilkins. It took the Tar Heels one minute and 27 seconds, leaving UNC 45 ticks and no timeouts to do it all over again — assuming the Tar Heels could recover the onside kick.

And they did.

In about 20 seconds, UNC marched 26 yards to Miami’s 30-yard line and had 20 seconds left to work with. Then on the following play, Renner was sacked on a cornerback blitz by Sean Spence. UNC was a failed hook and ladder away from losing, and after a catch and two laterals, the game was over.

“I just can’t take those sacks,” Renner said.

But considering how the game had progressed through three quarters, the fact that UNC even had a chance to win 30 yards out was a radical idea.

The UNC offense first took the field after six minutes and two Miami touchdowns because the Tar Heels fumbled the kickoff return after Miami’s first score.

UNC went into the second quarter down 17-0 and kept that 17-point deficit into halftime.

And then the Tar Heels had three turnovers in the second half, one fumble and two on downs. All three were crippling.

“It’s hard to beat a good football team when you spot them 17 points,” Withers said. “The big plays and the turnovers are the difference in the game.”

At the center of those big plays was Miami quarterback Jacory Harris, and not surprisingly, star running back Lamar Miller.

Before the match, Miller averaged 135.4 yards per game — good for third in the nation. UNC held him to just 29 yards on 16 carries, but in the process, was blindsided by Harris.

“Our whole focus was to stop the run, stop the run, and then they threw it,” Kevin Reddick said.

Harris torched the Tar Heels for 233 yards passing and three touchdowns in the first half. It didn’t matter that he threw for just 34 yards in the second half, because Miami’s defense held the Tar Heels scoreless for the first 21 minutes after intermission.
The problem for UNC wasn’t moving the ball. The Tar Heels did that well.

Bernard finished the game with 110 yards rushing, his fifth consecutive game with more than 100, and Renner was 29-of-37 for 288 yards and two touchdowns.

“It was very disappointing,” Charles Brown said. “We’ve never been down like that all year.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com