Heels choke it away.
UPDATE #7: UNC makes a big play on 3rd and 1 to force the punt. UNC has it on their own 10 and Mike Paulus will be required to lead the Heels downfield to at least try and tie the game. How big is the missed Wooten FG in the 1st half now?
UPDATE #6: The Heels defense is tired. They cannot stop the Hokie run not matter what they do now.
UPDATE #5: Paulus screws up trying to throw a pass where he should not have giving VT the ball on their own three. Just a stupid mistake worthy of Joe Dailey.
UPDATE #4: UNC stops VT but give up the long FG. Heels trail for the first time. With Paulus in, this will be a real test to see if UNC can rally. I will say I am not really hopeful. It feels like life has been sucked out of the team.
UPDATE #3: STOP COMMITTING STUPID PENALTIES. GREAT DAY THE HEELS ARE GIVING THE GAME AWAY ON PENALTIES.
UPDATE #2: VT exploits the Little fumble for a TD. Paulus is the man since Yates is out(X-rays negative). And another penalty by UNC pushed the return back to the 10.
UPDATE: UNC got a huge breakway run from Greg Little to go up 17-3. Virginia Tech mounted a scoring drive for a TD that was helped tremendously by penalties on the Tar Heel defense. UNC stopped VT on 3rd down twice but squandered it on a penalty, the last one giving VT a first down on a hold which they turned into a score. On top of that. TJ Yates is out with an ankle injury. Mike Paulus is in and Greg Little cancels out his big run with a fumble at his own 30. Two turnovers each but a ton of penalties on the Heels.
UNC is playing great defense but continually shooting itself in the foot on offense. Three huge plays:
- Delay of game on 4th and 1 near the goal line so they settle for a FG.
- Fumble on inside their own 10 which VT recovered and got a FG.
- Holding on 4th and 6 with Nick making the 1st down catch. Heels then had to punt
We have know way of knowing what might have happened from there but you hate to see mistakes like that get made.
On the upside Brooks Foster has reappeared. John Shoop is taking advantage of all the attention being paid Nicks and Tate to get Foster the ball. Big play by Brandon Tate gives UNC a halftime lead.
All that is required now is more great defense and UNC to grind some clock with the offense.
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I’d like my afternoon back, please.
That was one of the most frustrating football games I’ve ever watched.
The Yates injury, the penalties, the Little fumble, the horrific Paulus interceptions, the good shot UNC had of winning driving right off a cliff — it just felt like a perfect storm of suck coalesced over Chapel Hill really, really quickly, intent on ruining our day.
And it did. This sucks.
And NCSU somehow beats ECU. What a crappy turn of events.
what’s worse? The fact that we had our hopes up for a Carolina football game that actually meant something? Or that we managed to piss it away (as we have done EVERY time in the past 10 years)? I’m so frustrated right now, I’m not sure which is worse…..
Why do you guys let football get you down? They almost won and it was a beautiful day in Kenan. That is a pretty good day, isn’t it?
But seriously. Butch might be a good recruiter but I can’t say much for the coaching job he did today, nor can I say much for our new kicker. Carolina outplayed Tech and let a combination of stupid plays and poor officiating and an injury take it away from them. It kind of reminded me of that Georgetown-UNC basketball game a couple of years ago, but this was more of an implosion than that was.
Let’s face it. Carolina finished in the top ten twice in the 1990′s and who cares, really? Nobody. We never had any chance to win the phony championship this year and we still don’t. So don’t let it get you down too much. It’s not like basketball, where they have a real championship that any of 16 good teams can win. It’s just a vote and nothing more.
I don’t think the coaching was the problem. The offensive game plan was excellent for most of the game. UNC made good use of Brooks Foster who was ignored by the VT defense in favor of watching Tate and Nicks. The penalties and turnovers are the cost of doing business when you play VT and UNC did not do a great job of keeping those items in check. Losing the QB is a big deal, especially when the backup has one career pass at UNC. That would be the case for a lot of teams out there.