Three dropped passes.
Just three dropped passes separated the No. 5 North Carolina Tar Heels (3-1, 3-1 ACC) from their largest comeback of all time. Had any one of those passes been complete on Saturday night, and a first down had been secured, then UNC might have been able to turn its 31-28 loss to the Florida State Seminoles (2-3, 1-3 ACC).
Down 31-7 at halftime, head coach Mack Brown and the Tar Heels didn’t look like a team that belonged in the upper echelons of the college football rankings. Aside from a productive run game that notched 150 yards but only a single touchdown, nothing was going right.
The defense struggled to contain FSU quarterback Jordan Travis, whose impressive performance led his team to a huge lead. Meanwhile, UNC’s star sophomore quarterback Sam Howell was cold, throwing only 91 yards on 9-15 passing.
The game was a tragedy of errors, with the Seminoles blocking two punts in the first quarter and returning an interception for a touchdown in the second.
“You'll ask me: ‘What happened?’ I don't know,” Brown said. “If I knew, I would have stopped it, but obviously we weren't ready to handle the surge that they had in the first half and then the kids settled down. I've never been prouder of a group to come back and play like they did in the second half.”
There’s good reason for Brown to be proud, too.
After hemorrhaging points in the first half, the defense was able to rebound and hold the Seminoles scoreless in the second half. The offense had room to operate, and operate it did. Howell more than tripled his passing yards from the first half, throwing 11 completions for 283 yards and three touchdowns.
Combined with junior running back Javonte Williams’ touchdown from the first half, the Tar Heels closed the deficit to just three points with under five minutes remaining in the game.
