That was a crap football game.
It was a crap football game, played in the rain, at a miserable stadium in a miserable town among miserable people subjected to an endless barrage of the same two cuts off whatever miserable Jock Jams CD the Maryland AV Club dug out of a bargain bin. It was a crap football game in which UNC, with a chance to accept clear control over the Coastal Division instead, for the third time this season, not show up for the second half and give it away. It was a crap football game that was painfu to watch and I am all the worse for being subjected to it.
The blame can't be laid on the defense, although the 27 first downs and 9 of 18 third down conversions didn't help matters, as Da'Rel Scott and Davin Meggett had stretches where they ran at will. No, the defense held the surging Terps to a field goal in the closing minutes after being on the field for a whopping forty-plus minutes of play. And more importantly, early in the fourth they recovered a Josh Portis fumble on the Maryland 33, giving the offense the short field they needed to put the game away.
The offense failed to score there; they in fact failed to move the ball at all. Just like on the previous possession, where after a gimmick pass from Bobby Rome put the Heels on the Maryland 17, they gained no further yardage only to have Casey Barth shank what would turn out to be a crucial field goal off the left upright. In fact, that drive was UNC's only offensive push of any consequence in the second half; on the others they managed 1, 19, 0, 21 and -2 yards. Hakeem Nicks only had three catches; the offense only one third down conversion. It was one big bag of hurt, and now the Heels have cast themselves back into the rugby scrum of failure with the rest of Coastal Division.
On the bright side, the Boardwalk Fries were good.
