UNC's offense saves the day

If you ever want anything from Marquise Williams , be sure to have cash, because the quarterback never takes credit.

After the North Carolina football team’s 48-43 defeat of Georgia Tech Saturday , where Williams broke one school record (completions in a game) and tied another (career rushing touchdowns by a quarterback), he had no hesitation in stating what won the game for the Tar Heels. Or rather, what didn’t.

“It’s never me,” Williams said. “Mack Hollins made a competitive catch. Ryan Switzer made a double move. Those guys do it all. It’s not me. I just give them the ball, and they do the rest. And that’s what I’m here for.”

Never might be an overstatement, but Saturday night, Williams got a lot of help from his friends. But he wasn’t the one who needed it.

It was the fifth time UNC’s defense gave up 34 points or more in a game this season, the fifth time they looked to the offense to bail them out and the first time Williams and Co. were able to .

After Georgia Tech took an early 10-7 lead, there was Switzer, tracking down a 68-yard touchdown on a route Fedora said only Switzer could run .

“I had a different pep in my step,” Switzer said.

There he was again, seven minutes later, using that pep to step over a Yellow Jacket defender and into the end zone for another score to give his team a comfortable 11-point lead.

“The guy is unbelievable,” Williams said. “Ryan Switzer is just doing what he needs to do.”

But what he needs to do is increased exponentially by a defense that surrendered 376 yards rushing and three touchdowns on plays of 45 yards or more to the Yellow Jackets.

“I’ve got all kinds of concerns,” Fedora said, when asked about his defense.

So Hollins comes in to ease his coach’s mind.

After Georgia Tech had pulled within four in the fourth quarter, there was Hollins the walk-on, leaping on a defensive end to lasso in a touchdown pass in a way that, no matter how many times he does it, defies logic and physics.

“I love that Marquise truly has that kind of confidence in Mack, actually. He really does,” Fedora said.

“We talk about, ‘People have to make competitive plays.’ That was a competitive play. That was a competitive catch.”

Then, in T.J. Logan , Fedora found a competitive spirit.

“He stepped up,” Fedora said. “He really did. It wasn’t as much about, ‘Let me try to make you miss,’ as it was ‘I’m going to try and punish you when you tackle me.’ And that was nice to see that mentality out of him.”

It was with that mentality that Logan had a season-high 75 yards on 14 carries. It was with that mentality that he punished the visitors by finding pay dirt for the first time all season with 11 seconds left on the clock and one point separating his team from a victory.

For a defense that ranks 124th out of 125 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in points allowed , anything less from the offense would have spelled disaster.

For a team whose season has crept closer and closer to an irrecoverable downward spiral, anything less would have sealed an ugly fate.

“It was huge,” Fedora said. “It was huge. We needed this more than anything right now.”

sports@dailytarheel.com