UNC football flees Wallace Wade after Duke loss

DURHAM — This procession was drawn-out, a prolonged march into the darkness.

Or maybe march is the wrong word. It was more of a whimper, a trickle-turned-stream of Carolina Blue pouring out of Wallace Wade Stadium. The herds scaled those steep stairways, bright lights shining overhead, and waded solemnly — slowly — into the night. 

It started with about six minutes left in the game between the No. 17 North Carolina football team and Duke. Duke led 28-27 — it would be the final score — and was marching downfield with the ball. The Blue Devils ran. They ran more. They burned clock, chewed clock, did everything you can to a clock to speed up time. Or rather, to run it out. 

At first it was only a fan or two: one light blue sweatshirt here, a toboggan there. Perhaps they left to beat traffic, or to get out of the cold. But there was still hope then, you see. No necessary sign the game would end as it did.

Or maybe there was. Maybe it was UNC speeding to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, only to watch the almost mechanical efficiency of its offense come unwound. The gears that were grinding — locked. The sparks that were burning — sputtered. 

The offense just fell apart.

“We let it happen,” running back Elijah Hood said. “That’s on us. We’ve gotta do better than that.” 

Part of that blame falls on quarterback Mitch Trubisky. Save for UNC’s game against Virginia Tech in hurricane-like conditions, Trubisky hadn’t thrown an interception all year. 

Hadn’t. Past tense.

He threw two Thursday night. The first was a deflection in the third quarter, Duke’s Deondre Singleton batting a pass to himself. Not only did the play stunt UNC’s drive — a drive that could have broken the 21-21 deadlock at the time — but it halted the team’s momentum entirely. 

“I forced the ball when I shouldn’t have,” Trubisky said. “It’s on me. I’ve got to take care of the ball.”

But the blame is far from his alone. His receivers, Austin Proehl especially, did him no favors with their drops and inability to get open. The running game, which last week produced 283 yards, barely managed 100 against the Blue Devils. No one truly excelled. No one stepped up. 

And because of it, the procession continued.

The Tar Heels finally got the ball back with 1:51 in the game and two timeouts. They were deep in their own territory, yes, trying to muster any drop of their early potency, but there was a chance. 

The masses slowed, swiveling on their heels at the realization.

“We were gonna go down and score,” Coach Larry Fedora said. “There was no doubt in my mind we were gonna go down and score.” 

They didn’t. With just over a minute left, Trubisky sank back into the pocket and unfurled a pass down the field. None of his receivers were nearby; instead, Duke’s Alonzo Saxton II took a knee and let the interception come to him. 

He caught it. The stadium roared. The procession could officially commence.

And so it did, entire rows and sections and seemingly chunks of the stands simultaneously rising and turning away, from the loss and the field and the celebration to come. As Carolina Blue poured away from Wallace Wade, navy took its place, vaulting over bushes and walls and each other to storm the field. They didn’t want to watch this jubilation — they wanted to live it.

The players and fans and security guards all coalesced at midfield to lift the trophies they had: orange Gatorade coolers, hats, leftover signs and helmets and even one another.

In the distance, the procession was ending. A loyal few remained, solitary, watching UNC limp off the field and out of sight.

And then they did all there was left to do — they did the same.

@BrendanRMarks

sports@dailytarheel.com