North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky dropped back and had all day to throw.
It was 1st-and-10 on the North Carolina 18-yard line. The clock was dwindling down, approaching one minute remaining in the game.
Duke was up 28-27, but I wasn’t worried. North Carolina had Trubisky in command, and he’d been in worse situations before.
Against Virginia in 2014 as a first-year, Trubisky popped off the bench and threw a touchdown pass to T.J. Thorpe to help UNC beat the Cavaliers, 28-27. Then, as a redshirt junior starter in 2016, he captured that same magic again — twice. Against Pittsburgh and Florida State in back-to-back weeks, Trubisky engineered game-winning drives against near-impossible odds.
I remember telling myself that night in Durham, as Trubisky’s latest last-second drive began, “This will be the last tape the NFL scouts can point to as to why this guy’s a big-time talent.”
I was certain I was about to witness another late game-winning drive. And then, the game was over. Trubisky had all day in the pocket and forced a throw off his back foot. The ball sailed and landed 15 yards away from any player in Carolina blue, right into the arms of a waiting Duke defender.
It was a horrible pass. Also, it was an oddly un-Trubisky-like play given his knack for late-game heroics.
It’s also not a throw you will see playing on Trubisky’s highlight tapes as he walks up to shake the commissioner’s hand Thursday night at the NFL Draft in Philadelphia. Trubisky is certain to be a first-round pick tonight, if not the first overall pick by the Cleveland Browns.
