Extra Points: One-Two Punch

By Lee Pace

Carolina and Syracuse had exchanged punches and counter-punches, zigs and zags, highs and lows, heroics and bumbles for more than three and a half hours Saturday in the Carrier Dome. The midpoint of the 2018 season for both teams was nigh, the Orange trying build on a 4-2 mark that included tough losses to Clemson and Pitt and the Tar Heels still stinging after a three-point dagger from Virginia Tech the week before.

Carolina seems in control early—more than 12 minutes of possession in the first quarter, more than double offensive output over the Orange and a quick-strike touchdown by evolving superstar Dazz Newsome. That was a new play installed this week that features a nifty slight-of-hand with Newsome getting a toss from QB Nathan Elliott at the mesh point of an apparent handoff to Michael Carter and zipping around the left side.

No, check that—the Orange has the upper hand, outscoring the Tar Heels 20-0 over the second quarter and its first possession of the second half. Senior receiver Jamal Custis at 6-foot-5 is just too dad-blamed huge and skies over shorter Tar Heel cornerbacks during a monster game of seven catches for 162 yards, and the Syracuse defense is playing the Tar Heel run game adroitly and forcing Carolina into a steady diet of swing and screen passes.

Wrong again. Here comes Newsome a second time, 55 yards on that jet sweep toss to set up a touchdown by Antonio Williams midway through the third quarter. Then soon after, Newsome takes a punt 75 yards to the end zone with spot-on blocking by Allen Artis at the front end and Javonte Williams near the end, among others. Carolina benefits from the cannon of a leg on Orange punter Sterling Hofrichter that sends the ball so high and far it outkicks the Syracuse coverage. You don't give a chaparral bird a head start.

"Dazz is unreal, they call him 'The Machine—nineteen The Machine,'" Elliott says. "He's so fast. I know if we get the ball to 19 in space, he's going to make something happen."

"He's been a true weapon two weeks in a row," coach Larry Fedora added. "Both games they've punted the ball along the ground because he's a threat to take it the distance."

But the Tar Heels can't salt the victory away with a brilliantly conceived third-and-4 call with 2:25 to play and Syracuse out of timeouts—ex-high school QB Anthony Ratliff-Williams throwing from the Wildcat formation to a scott-free Carl Tucker, both the throwing and the catching leaving a hair to be desired and the ball falling to the ground. Syracuse now has a last-ditch possession, which it turns into a game-tying touchdown with quarterback Tommy DeVito connecting with Nykeim Johnson for 42 yards.

So here we are on the cusp of overtime, and the Tar Heels are gathered at midfield around senior defensive end Tyler Powell and Williams, the junior transfer from Ohio State. Powell has his say first, fire in his eyes and dollops of saliva flying from his mouth, then Williams takes over, holding his thumb and forefinger close together and spinning around the circle to make eye contact with as many teammates as he can. So close is the mantra he's communicating, exhorting his teammates to dig deep for something they couldn't quite find one week before against Virginia Tech.

"Don't let us go out like last week!" Williams screams. "Don't let us go into the locker room like we felt last week!"

Alas, lightning strikes again—same team, different stadium, same whisker of margin.

Syracuse notches two touchdowns in overtime versus one touchdown and a field goal for the Tar Heels and escapes with a 40-37 victory. The first touchdown is well-covered by Carolina cornerback Greg Ross, but Custis is simply too tall and nimble in the corner of the end zone. And the second is a deftly executed play-action pass by the Orange that leaves Ravian Pierce alone in the back of the end zone—precisely the same concept that has just worked for Carolina with Beau Corrales untouched for the Tar Heels' overtime touchdown.

The angst afterward in the Tar Heel camp following the Virginia Tech loss was a 12 on a scale of one to 10. This Saturday it's a 16. Two weeks, two potential wins, two sets of costly mistakes late in the game, two three-point defeats. A late-game fumble last week, a key dropped pass this week. An excellent run of second-half defense last week, ditto this week, with the Tar Heels over eight consecutive second-half stands forcing six punts, recovering a fumble and stoning the Orange on downs. But at the final curtain, there's a Hokie or an Orange with the ball in the end zone.

"Our team played extremely hard and gave all the effort they possibly could and just didn't get it done today," Fedora said. "We've got to find a way to finish in those situations. I have to do a better job to put them in position to make those plays."

"We've gotta come back and make plays, it came down to making plays," safety Myles Dorn said. "They did and we didn't make them. The sun is going to rise tomorrow. We have the game next week. Now we have to learn to make the plays we didn't make today."

I wondered how this pair of miniscule losses in succession ranked over the course of Tar Heel football history, if ever before Carolina had lost two straight by as narrow a combined margin. It turns out that since World War II, only one time have two defeats been so narrowly snared from the jaws of victory. The 1985 Tar Heels ended the year with two-point losses to Virginia and Duke.

Beyond that, five other times the Heels have dropped consecutive games by this same six-point combined total—to Duke and Wake Forest by three points each in 1961; to Clemson and Virginia by three each late in 1987; by five to Navy and one to Wake Forest early in 1989; by three each to Miami (Ohio) and Stanford to start the 1998 season; and by four to N.C. State and two to Georgia Tech late in 2007.

"It's pretty heartbreaking," Elliott said. "I thought we had multiple opportunities we could have sealed the game, but we didn't do that. We've got to be better in those situations."

An hour after Williams had so passionately exhorted his teammates to close and finish and pound a nail in the proverbial sporting coffin, he slumped against a wall outside the Tar Heel dressing room. He breathed a deep sigh.

"We are just so close, man," he said. "It does hurt every time. I think we're going to figure it out. We're going to figure it out. We're so close … so … close."

Though Williams just joined the Carolina program last January after transferring from Ohio State, his maturity, poise and work ethic have propelled him to the top of the team leadership rung. He was resolute when probed about his pre-overtime oratory.

"They have given everything they've got," he said. "That's all you can ask of your teammates. We're close. That's all you can say. We're close. We're right there. There's just that little hump, we just have to get over that little hump. I said at the beginning of the season against Cal, it's scary the things that can happen here at Carolina. That has not left me one bit."

Carolina graduate Lee Pace (1979) has written "Extra Points" since 1990 and reported from the sidelines for the Tar Heel radio network since 2004. Reach him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him @LeePaceTweet.

Players Mentioned

Allen Artis

Michael Carter

Beau Corrales

Myles Dorn

Nathan Elliott

Dazz Newsome

Tyler Powell

Anthony Ratliff-Williams

Greg Ross

Carl Tucker

Antonio Williams

Javonte Williams

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