Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 44-41 road loss to Virginia on Saturday evening.
Highlights:
Condensed Game:
- Carolina has now lost two games, both on the road, and both by three points. The Tar Heels will certainly be frustrated by missed opportunities from this game, including a chance to get the ball back with just under two minutes to go. The Heels were down three points, had a time out in their pocket, and had picked up the stop they needed to force Virginia to punt. Knowing how easily Carolina had been scoring, Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall opted for a fake punt. The Heels were in position to make the tackle, but the ball carrier reversed field and picked up the first down to ice the game.
- It really is just little things here and there that have proven to be the difference in the losses. Clean up a few of those miscues per game and the Tar Heels will be right where they want to be. Mack Brown era 2.0 has seen just eight losses, totaling 32 points. None of these are by more than seven points. One play here, one play there.
- Mental mistakes are what ultimately doomed Carolina in a three-point road loss to Virginia. The first lapse came in the second quarter with the game tied at 20. The Tar Heels forced a three-and-out, but Trey Morrison was whistled for an unsportsmanlike penalty after the third down play, extending the drive. Should Morrison have actually been whistled for the penalty? Great question. Regardless, the Cavaliers (after a Tar Heel muffed punt), eventually scored a touchdown. The game had been back-and-forth prior to this, but took on an entirely different tone after. This is the type of play that winning teams just cannot make.
- Morrison’s mental mistake by itself was not enough to lose the game, but it certainly changed the tenor of it. Another example was the end of the first half. Carolina had first-and-goal from the two-yard line with 12 seconds remaining and zero timeouts. Instead of running a play into the end zone, the play call was a swing pass into the flat for Dazz Newsome. The pass was behind Newsome and he couldn’t haul it in. By the time Carolina recovered the ball, the half had ended and there was no time to salvage three points.
- Another costly mental mistake come on a Virginia drive that ate up most of the fourth quarter (9:02) and ended with a field goal to put Virginia up 10 with 4:07 left in the game. The drive was aided by a Don Chapman unnecessary roughness penalty (which, again was a questionable call since the play hadn’t been yet whistled dead). It’s impossible to say if Carolina would have otherwise stopped Virginia on that drive, but the defense was already struggling to stop the Cavs and the Heels had just cut the lead to seven. Again, it’s extremely difficult for a winning team to overcome these types of errors.
- Carolina was not the only team with mental mistakes on Saturday night. The referees cost Carolina six points on an inadvertent whistle early in the second quarter. Sam Howell was stripped on an attempted pass that most players assumed would be ruled an incomplete pass. Howell, however, knew to keep playing until the whistle just in case, so recovered the ball and ran it in for a touchdown. A referee whistled the play dead after Howell’s recovery. Thusly the Tar Heels were given the opportunity to retry the down. Instead of coming away with a touchdown, Carolina ultimately settled for a field goal.
- Since we are pointing out mental mistakes, we need to make sure to celebrate the mental victories. Michael Carter made a brilliant play on a kickoff to give his team better field position. After Virginia tied the game at 20, the ensuing kick rolled toward the sideline but didn’t look like it would roll out of bounds on its own. Carter wisely went out of bounds and reached back into the field of play to grab the ball, which is treated the same as if the kick went out of bounds of its own accord. The Tar Heels were awarded the ball at the 35-yard line.
- Given Carolina’s dynamic running game and Virginia’s strong linebacking core, one of the questions coming into the matchup was: “Will Virginia load up the box and make this a Sam Howell game?” The answer was a resounding, “yes”. Howell threw for a career high 443 passing yards, the second time in his career he’s been over 400 (401 against NC State in 2019).
- Kudos to Howell for not just aimlessly throwing the ball around the field. For the first time in his career, he completion percentage was over 80 percent (23-for-28, 82.1 percent). To wit, at the end of the third quarter, Howell had thrown as many touchdowns as incompletions (three).
- Unfortunately, Howell did have one rather costly mistake of his own. After Carolina failed to convert at the end of the first half, Virginia scored a touchdown to start the second half and go up 14 points. On UNC’s first drive of the half, Howell held onto the ball instead of throwing it away and ultimately fumbled. Virginia recovered and eventually scored another touchdown to extend the lead to 21 points with 5:34 left in the third quarter.
- After setting a career high in receptions last week (seven), Dyami Brown added four to that total, making his new career high 11. Brown also set a new career high in receiving yards (240). His previous career high (and the only other time he’s been over 200 yards) was last year against Virginia (202). This was Brown’s second career three touchdown game. As you might guess, the other instance was that same 2019 Virginia game.
- Brown also set a career high for receptions and receiving yards combined over two games – 18 receptions and 345 yards. His previous two-game highs were 11 receptions (multiple occasions) and 255 yards (Virginia Tech and Virginia in 2019).
- Dyami wasn’t the only Brown to have an explosive game. His younger brother Khafre only had one catch, but it went for 76 yards and a touchdown. It was a simple slant pattern, but then Brown (with his elite speed) blew by the entire Cavalier secondary for the long touchdown.
- The Tar Heels, who have been rather methodical offensively this season with running backs Michael Carter and Javonte Williams, displayed their quick strike capability multiple times on Saturday evening. Four of the five touchdowns took less than two minutes off the clock.
- A troubling stat to keep an eye on: the Tar Heel defense has allowed 60-plus rushing yards to four of the six quarterbacks they’ve faced this year.
- The offensive line had issues keeping Howell clean. It felt like Cavaliers were surrounding the Tar Heel quarterback most of the game. Howell even had to come out for a play on the second drive of the game. Virginia linebacker Charles Snowden tallied four of the Cavs’ five sacks (three of which were in the first quarter).
- For the first time all season, Javonte Williams was unable to score multiple touchdowns. He did, however, score a fourth quarter touchdown and still has a streak of scoring a touchdown in every game of the 2020 campaign.
- Williams had another signature run at the end of the first quarter. With Carolina facing a third-and-one, Williams shed two tackles behind the line of scrimmage and picked up nine yards.
- Carolina fell just shy of a fourth straight game with 550 total yards (536). However, this does mean that the Heels have racked up 500 yards of total offense in four straight. If the defense can get healthy and make a few more stops, and special teams can iron out their issues, the Tar Heels will be in good shape.
- Virginia was able to convert four fourth downs in the game. Three were fourth-and-one plays that the percentages say will often be converted, with the fourth being the successful fake punt. It’s difficult to consistently stop fourth-and-short, but they are still mentally and physically taxing for the defense.
- Multiple defenders finished with double-digit tackles. Cam’Ron Kelly led the way with 12, followed by Chazz Surratt and Tomari Fox with 10 each. Jeremiah Gemmel contributed nine tackles plus an impressive interception on the first play of the fourth quarter to aid in the comeback attempt.
Mack Brown postgame press conference
Players postgame press conference
Jeremiah Gemmell
Chazz Surratt
Dyami Brown
Sam Howell
Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina football game. Next up is a road game against Duke on Saturday, November 7. Kickoff is at Noon ET on ESPN2.
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