As the North Carolina football team stood dumbfounded Saturday night in Kenan Memorial Stadium after Georgia Tech took a 43-42 lead on a 75-yard reverse play with just more than three minutes remaining, Coach Larry Fedora turned to the one guy on the sideline he knew he could count on. Marquise Williams.
“For me on the sideline, it was 3:07 left on the clock and three timeouts,” Fedora said. “They just hit us with a big play and I was like, ‘Alright.’”
It was time to play. No, time to win. And Williams knew it.
“He was like, ‘Yeah, no big deal we do it every week,’” Fedora said. “There was no panic in him.”
Williams, the backbone of the Tar Heels, who finished the evening with 390 yards and four touchdowns passing, followed up on his word. He went out. And he played.
Anchoring a drive that lasted 12 plays, 75 yards and 2:56, Williams found sophomore running back T.J. Logan for the two-yard rushing touchdown and the UNC victory with 11 seconds left.
The victory came at a pivotal moment of both UNC’s season — six games had gone by and the team was still winless in the conference — and Williams’ junior campaign.
In the past two games, against Notre Dame and Georgia Tech, the quarterback has taken his game to a new level, showcasing a stronger, faster brand of football. He’s passed for a combined 693 yards and six touchdowns, while rushing for a combined 205 yards and two touchdowns. He’s broken record after record — completions in a game, total offense in two games, total offense in a four-game stretch — and has securely cemented himself in the record books. He’s the first UNC quarterback ever to rush for 100 yards and pass for at least 300 in a single game.
