University of North Carolina Athletics
Droschak: Tar Heels Let One Slip Away
November 12, 2005 | Football
Nov. 12, 2005
CHAPEL HILL - How exactly did this one get away?
Maybe a better question is: How long will it take the North Carolina Tar Heels to wipe away the bitter taste of a game they appeared to have in the bag, only to allow two long scoring plays in the fourth quarter of a 33-30 overtime loss to Maryland?
"Probably into the middle of the night," said defensive lineman Kyndraus Guy.
Possibly longer.
The loss Saturday drops the Tar Heels to 4-5, requiring season-ending wins over Duke and highly-ranked Virginia Tech to become bowl eligible. Is it impossible? Certainly not for this team, which seems to play better when facing adversity than prosperity.
"In some ways, yes, we feel like we gave this one away," said Jawarski Pollock, who became the school's all-time career receiving leader, but was guilty of a key fourth-quarter fumble after a 28-yard catch that could have helped salt the game away.
But there were enough mistakes to go around.
"This hurts a lot, but it can only hurt for so long," Pollock said. "Come Monday we've got to let this game go and start preparing to win two games. The locker room is very quiet, but there are some guys in there telling each other to keep our heads up."
The Tar Heels had struggled with execution on defense and poor special teams play most of the day, but managed to hang around and got the key play it needed when Kareen Taylor took back an interception 25 yards to give UNC a 27-17 lead with 9:01 left.
However, Taylor held the ball out as he ran into the end zone and was flagged for an unsportsmanlike penalty call, which gave the Terrapins better field position than normal.
Then the first bomb struck.
On a third-and-15 play, Kentwan Balmer had his arms around Maryland's Sam Hollenbach, but the QB slipped out of the tackle and connected on a 67-yard scoring play.
The Terrapins then took just 11 seconds to go 80 yards when they got the ball back on another long pass play that stunned the Tar Heels and the home crowd.
Give Matt Baker credit for bringing his club back on a drive from his own 17 to tie it with nine seconds left on a short Connor Barth field goal. But he under threw a wide open Jesse Holley in the end zone in overtime to throw a damper on his 335-yard passing day.
"I would rather throw for 100 yards and win," said a somber Baker.
"That play was open," Holley said. "If their kid doesn't make a dive and deflection this whole interview is different."
But Barth missed the potential tying field goal in OT, sending the Terrapins into a wild celebration as the Tar Heels walked off dejected and wondering just what went so wrong.
"People can't question about us not playing hard, not fighting," Holley said. "That's evident. But it comes down to making plays. Who can make the plays?
"This is the ACC, so it's a bowl game every week," Holley responded when asked about UNC's postseason changes being shattered. "Teams get knocked off week-in and week-out. Hey, they had a lot on the line and we had a lot on the line. They came up with the plays they needed to win the game. Hats off to those guys. Now it's time to go to work. It is what it is. It's put up or shut up time now."
There was no finger pointing among UNC defensive players over the two long scoring passes that broke UNC's spirit and cost them the game.
"Most of the 500 yards we gave up were on big plays," said defensive lineman Chase Page. "We got good pressure sometimes and sometimes we didn't get any and we gave their quarterback too long and left our DBs out on an island. I don't know how many times we had them on third down and we couldn't get off the field."
After three straight stellar defensive first halves following a wipeout at Louisville on Oct. 8, the UNC defense looked vulnerable against a Maryland offense that had two weeks to prepare.
North Carolina came in with 53 tackles for loss on the season, but didn't register one in the opening 30 minutes and allowed Lance Ball, the 5-foot-9, 225-pound bowling ball of a running back for the Terrapins, to rumble for more than 100 yards in less than two quarters.
For more than an hour, things didn't look so good.
However, the Tar Heels - outgained 254-to-153 in the first half, actually led 13-10 at the break because of two missed field goals by Maryland and a key 37-yard interception return by the 275-pound Guy to set up a UNC touchdown.
And give John Bunting and offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill credit for giving their club a lift heading into the locker room. The two lulled the Terrapins to sleep with seconds to go in the half as it appeared the Tar Heels were content to run out the clock. But Baker hit Mike Mason with a 44-yard pass after a play-fake, which allowed Barth to nail a 41-yard field goal as time expired.
It appeared maybe luck was on the side of the Tar Heels in this one, considering Barth's first field goal, a season-long 45-yarder, squarely hit the crossbar and bounced through the uprights. For Barth, who had struggled before last week's three fields goal, it was a much needed reinforcement that his leg was back in gear.
But a high snap threw off Barth's steps on his overtime kick that lined wide right and left the Tar Heels and the rest of Kenan Stadium wondering just how this one got away.
David Droschak is the former sports editor for the North Carolina bureaus of the Associated Press, the largest news-gathering organization in the world. In 2003, Droschak was named the North Carolina Sportswriter of the Year. He currently works in public relations at Robbins & Associates International, based in Cary.
