Hurricanes blow past UNC football 47-20

MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. — Silence overtook the press box at Sun Life Stadium.

The North Carolina football team received the opening kick against Miami Saturday. Yet, minutes into the Tar Heels' 47-20 loss, the public address announcer’s voice couldn’t be heard.

By the time his words rang through the press box speakers, the UNC offense already stood on the sideline.

He began to name player after Miami player, reciting the plays and gains of the Hurricane offense, which orchestrated a 13-play, 84-yard touchdown drive in more than seven minutes on its first possession of the game after a UNC punt.

More times than not when the UNC offense took the field Saturday, the announcer lacked the cadence with which he called Miami’s plays.

That’s because the Tar Heels (4-5, 2-3 ACC) could never get in a rhythm offensively. And it cost them. Their offensive struggles, which resulted in just the second-fewest amount of points the team has scored all season, cost them a third straight win, crushed the sense of momentum common among the players and might, in the grand scheme of things, be the turning point of UNC’s season.

The Tar Heels must win two of their final three gamesto make it to a bowl game. Remaining on the schedule are games against a ranked Duke team, and a squad in Pittsburgh that barely lost the Blue Devils in double overtime Saturday. UNC's last game of the season is against N.C. State.

Coach Larry Fedora couldn’t find one single reason for UNC’s loss to Miami (6-3, 3-2 ACC) Saturday, it's fifth of the season. But the offense’s quiet afternoon, which threw off the shape of the game and thus the announcer, was definitely one of them.

“It’s hard to make sense of,” Fedora said. “Right now, today, I just have say they whipped us.

“Offensively, we never felt like there was a rhythm, whatsoever.”

Starting UNC quarterback Marquise Williams disagrees, though.

On UNC’s first drive of the game, Williams felt promise though the drive just lasted for six plays and 15 yards.

“To be honest, we were moving it. We moved it the first drive. We threw it to Switzer, got it out on the bubble (screen),” Williams said. “It’s just something went away. We just couldn’t find that fire to keep it going.”

Miami running back Duke Johnson made quick work of UNC’s short first drive. At the end of Miami’s seven-minute opening possession, Johnson punched in a one-yard run on 4th and 1 to give the Hurricanes a 7-0 lead at the 5:43 mark of the first quarter — a margin they’d never look back from.

Tasked to respond to Johnson’s touchdown, the UNC offense went just five plays and 19 yards on the following drive. The next time the Tar Heels got the ball, their offensive troubles translated to special teams. An errant snap sailed over senior punter Tommy Hibbard’s head and into the back of the end zone for a safety to give Miami a 9-0 lead.

Still, hope persisted.

True freshman linebacker Cayson Collins recovered a fumble from quarterback Brad Kaaya on Miami’s next drive to trim the Hurricane lead to 9-6, after the missed extra point at the start of the second quarter.

“We had momentum, but then … Miami made a play and I guess that kind of drained our energy,” Collins said.

That play Collins was referring to, which he and the defense likely all want to forget, was a 90-yard touchdown run from Johnson — the longest run from scrimmage UNC has allowed in program history.

With the run from Johnson, who finished the game with 19 carries for 177 yards, two rushing touchdowns and a 37-yard receiving touchdown, Miami extended its 9-6 lead by seven points.

The three points were the closest UNC ever came to within the Hurricanes Saturday. And the trimmed deficit was a result of a touchdown from Collins and the defense, not the offense.

The Tar Heels didn’t score an offensive touchdown until a 10-yard run from Williams with 5:11 left in the third quarter made the already out-of-reach game 44-13.

Williams also added a one-yard rushing touchdown with 3:59 remaining in the game to lift UNC to 20 points on the afternoon.

“The second half, we got some rhythm going,” sophomore wide receiver Ryan Switzer said. “If only we would’ve had that earlier.”

After the game, though he acknowledged his offense's woes, not once did Fedora explicitly blame the loss on the offense despite it having just 258 yards — the lowest total since he became UNC’s coach three years ago.

“Rough ball game, today,” he said, pausing briefly. “I’m not sure that anyone of our phases played really well.”

The brief moments of silence between each member of UNC’s team after the game was all too telling of what had just occurred. Maybe even more so than the announcer's pervading silence between UNC's several short drives.

“It just sucks,” said redshirt freshman defensive end Dajaun Drennon. “It just sucks, really.”

Drennon stopped and stared.

This silence spoke for itself. 

sports@dailytarheel.com