What did I say yesterday?
Their only hope is for the Heels to come in unfocused and unprepared.
Fat chance of that happening. Carolina players have spent the week answering questions about 41-10, the most lopsided game of last season. A game where the defense was blown off the field, at home, and they damn well remember it. This is State's bowl game, but it's UNC's redemption game, and the Heels aren't leaving Carter-Finley with a loss.
Well that was wrong. Unfocused barely begins to describe this team. Johnny White caps off a 73 yard drive by fumbling on the one yard line. The defense allows a Wolfpack drive to advance to the end zone almost entirely on two pass interference calls and an unnecessary roughness whistle. Ad that's not much of an exaggeration – once the Heels had State at 2nd and 26 from the Wolfpack 40, the offense moved the ball fifteen yards while the refs took it 45. Scratch those two disasters and it's a fourteen point swing in the first half, and UNC wins going away.
Instead, the Carolina defense gave up 335 yards, their fourth-worst performance of the season. The offense had its biggest game since they played Duke in 2004, when Darian Durant was under center, but only managed 27 points. They were constantly doing stupid things, from the early fumble to a late 12-yard run from Jheranie Boyd. Those twelve yards were backwards, by the way, taking the Heels from the State 19 to the edge of field goal range; Casey Barth missed the ensuing game-winning kick.
UNC has now lost to a Wolfpack team with the same or worse ACC performance three years running. There's no excuse for this game; the Virginia loss makes more sense. What a way to end a season; let's hope they'll at least remember the feeling for the bowl game.