Extra Points: Moments

By Lee Pace

Mack Brown calls them "moments that matter." All snaps in a football game are created equal—ergo the "one play at a time" mantra emanating from prehistoric times and coaching legends like Knute Rockne—but some are more equal than others. The first possession of the game. Going in at halftime and coming out. Hitting a big strike after the defense strips a run or snares a pass. Turning a three-point lead into 10 after a big momentum shift. Nursing a lead with a clock-crunching drive in the fourth quarter and delivering the lethal strike (and not fumbling it away to the other guys).

"I get frustrated our team doesn't quite understand that yet," Brown says. "They've bought into everything we've asked. They're really trying. There's no quit in these guys. I'm so proud of that. But …"

He sighs and shakes his head.

"I am so used to winning close games. I've taken so much pride in that. That's the challenge for this football team and our staff. As coaches we have to figure out ways to win these close games. And our players have got to step up and make a play when the game's on the line."

Learning to win close games in a program under new leadership is nothing new. Brown had the same hurdle to leap in his first tenure running the Carolina program in the late 1980s, to wit losing in 1988 to Louisville by four, Maryland by three, Virginia by three and Duke by six, then in year two in '89 it was Kentucky by seven, Navy by five, Wake Forest by one, Georgia Tech by three and South Carolina by seven.

The bright spot is that the Tar Heels aren't suffering those blowout losses they've come to know and loathe over three decades—by 45 to N.C. State in Brown's first year, for example, by 49 to Florida State under Carl Torbush in 2000, by 53 to Louisville under John Bunting 2005, by 31 to State under Butch Davis in 2008, and by 52 to Virginia Tech under Larry Fedora in 2017.

Now the Tar Heels are forging new ground playing close contests. They've played 10 games in 2019 with nine of them decided by one touchdown or fewer and two going to overtime. The latest installment was a 34-27 loss Thursday night to Pittsburgh on a frigid night at Heinz Field before a national television audience. The Tar Heels are 4-6 and haunted by "what-ifs."

"I've never seen so many close games," Brown said. "It's unbelievable."

Carolina rallied from a 24-10 deficit by outscoring the Panthers 17-3 in the fourth quarter. But the Tar Heel defense couldn't convert on a third-and-15 snap in overtime, and the offense couldn't give QB Sam Howell a millisecond more time to throw on the ensuing possession, with Howell's fourth-down pass to a wide-open Dazz Newsome in the end zone relegated into a wounded duck by a Panther tipping the ball from behind.

"It's absolutely crazy," offensive tackle Charlie Heck said. "I've never experienced anything like this before. I'm so proud of this team. I think a lot would have folded it in and said we just can't catch a break. But every day, we come back and fight to get a win."

"We just don't believe in giving up," added tailback Antonio Williams, who rushed for 107 yards, including one dart of 59. "We don't have that in us. It's not instilled in Carolina, it's not a part of Carolina, it will never be part of Carolina. As long as I'm here and as long as this place exists, I don't think we'll ever give up."

Carolina's depth on defense and particularly its problems in an injury-riddled secondary were exposed by the Panthers in the first half Thursday as they moved the ball on all five possessions, two resulting in touchdowns, one a field goal, one a missed field goal and once being stopped on downs in the red zone. One particularly painful stretch featured Pitt scoring a touchdown, the Tar Heel offense punting it back and Panther QB Kenny Pickett hitting a 74-yard touchdown pass on the ensuing first down. That gave Pitt a 17-7 lead.

"We didn't do anything right on defense in the first half," Brown said. "We weren't stopping the run, we weren't stopping their passes, and they got two deep balls on us. We're not covering very well. We had to go zone and try to cover them, and they hit some creases in the run game. The quarterback run hurt us again some tonight. If you're going to go zone, you've got to stop the pass, and we still let them get behind us. We didn't contain, we didn't tackle. I'm really disappointed."

Meanwhile, the Tar Heel offense almost made enough plays to win. Williams had his most productive game of the season. Newsome enjoyed a monster game with 11 catches for 174 yards and a touchdown. Beau Corrales continues to have a breakout season with another spot-on catch in the end zone. And the blocking front had a credible performance against a very aggressive and stout pass rush. The glaring deficiency was Howell overthrowing open receivers deep down the field in the second half.

"We did have good protection at times, and they couldn't cover us when we did," Brown said. "We missed three or four deep shots for touchdowns and that was really good protection on those. We actually ran the ball better at times than I thought we would and we protected better."

"We knew we'd have to hit our shots down the field, and I missed on a couple of them," Howell added.

The problems on defense will work themselves out given time. That's a given. Brown and his staff have a juggernaut signing class set to commit. The scout team secondary squaring off against the Tar Heel offense every day in practice includes a pair of highly-regarded transfers from ACC foes—Kyler McMichael from Clemson and Bryce Watts from Virginia Tech. Injured "Rude Boys" Patrice Rene, Trey Morrison, Bryson Richardson and Cam Kelly will return in 2020. And defensive backs who are being indoctrinated by fire this fall like Storm Duck, DeAndre Hollins and Don Chapman will be significantly more settled.

But for the moment, it's tough sledding. And the gauntlet's been thrown smack in the Tar Heels' faces: Beat Mercer in Kenan Stadium on Senior Day, then travel to Raleigh and end a three-year losing streak to N.C. State. That would be six wins and a bowl bid.

"These are must-win games," says Williams, a North Carolina native now in his second year in Chapel Hill after transferring from Ohio State. "We have to lock in these last two games. This is big. When I came back, my goal was to help leave this place in a better spot, and we have an opportunity to put ourselves in a bowl game. That would be something we didn't do last year. If we did that on my way out, that would be leaving it better than when I got here."

"I'm so excited thinking of watching this team next year," added Heck, another senior. "I think we're really going to have a great team next year. This feels like a completely different program. There's an excitement around this team, but we've got to finish these games. We could have a bunch of wins right now. But now we're in a situation of fighting for a bowl game."

No question for this Carolina football team—120 moments to make count.

Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace (UNC '79) is in his 30th year writing "Extra Points" and 16th reporting from the sidelines for the Tar Heel Sports Network. Follow him @LeePaceTweet and email him at leepace7@gmail.com.

Players Mentioned

Beau Corrales

Charlie Heck

Ladaeson DeAndre Hollins

Sam Howell

Kyler McMichael

Trey Morrison

Dazz Newsome

Patrice Rene

Bryson Richardson

Bryce Watts

Antonio Williams

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University of North Carolina Athletics