Senior Jabari Price saw Gerard Johnson break away down the sideline. He also saw the scoreboard read 56-13 UNC. In a situation like that it may have been easy to pull up, to give Old Dominion a meaningless touchdown in an 80-20 blowout.
But he didn’t.
Price took off, sprinting down the sideline in pursuit of Johnson, determined to protect his end zone and determined to prevent the touchdown.
“Well, you know on the defense we talk about bend don’t break,” Price said, “But I just try to make sure I show 110 percent effort for my teammates and for the coaches, let them know that I’m about what I’m speaking.”
The Tar Heels were once 1-5, with bowl eligibility as distant as a sprinting Gerard Johnson running down the sideline. But like Price, they didn’t pull up, and allow that goal to get away. Instead, they rattled off victory after victory, each win bringing them closer and closer to bowl eligibility, like each step brought Price closer and closer to catching Johnson. And despite all the doubts, they caught up with that escaping bowl eligibility, earning the right to play in a bowl game for the first time in three years.
UNC has talked about the phrase ‘One Inch More,’ giving an inch more than you did before, and Price’s run exemplified that phrase.
“Everybody has an opportunity to give more in practice and in a game,” Price said, “And it’s starting to show on Saturdays.”
With the score 56-13 Jabari Price refused to give up an 85-yard touchdown run. Instead he chased down Johnson, tackling him from behind at the four-yard line. It would have been easy for Price to give that up, just like it would have been easy for the Tar Heels to give up their season as a 1-5 team. But neither gave up, they’re giving that one more inch, and because of it they’re going bowling.
By the numbers
A look at the records UNC tied or set in Saturday’s 80-20 win against ODU.
80 – Most points in a game (previous record 66 against Idaho last season) and second most in ACC history (Clemson had 82 in 1981)
11 – Most touchdowns scored in a single game
721 – Total yards for UNC, breaking the 700 yard mark for the first time since 1993 against Maryland, which was the previous school record.
469 – Marquise Williams had 469 yards of total offense, breaking the UNC record of 443 set by T.J. Yates in 2010 against Florida State.
10.6 – UNC averaged 10.6 yards per play, 68 plays for 721 yards (ACC record)
5 – Marquise Williams threw for five touchdowns, tying the school record held by Bryn Renner (Louisville, 2012), Darian Durant (Arizona State, 2002), and Kevin Anthony (Wake Forest, 1985)
35 – Points UNC scored in the second quarter, tying the school record (35 in the second quarter vs Duke in 2000).
425 – Total yards by Marquise Williams in the first half, setting a new school record
379 – Passing yards by Marquise Williams in the first half, setting a new school record
99 – TJ Logan tied the longest kick return by a UNC player, when he returned one for 99 yards and a touchdown in the third quarter
4 – Ryan Switzer now has four punt return touchdowns this season, tying the ACC record for most in a season and setting a new UNC record.
3 – Consecutive games in which Ryan Switzer has returned a punt for a touchdown, tying the NCAA record. (David Allen, Kansas, 1998)
7.8 – UNC averaged 7.8 yards per carry in the game.
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