Tar Heels come up short against Duke

DURHAM — North Carolina fell short of execution Saturday night.

The Tar Heels’ 33-30 loss to Duke resulted from less-than-completed drives and sub-par play in every area, giving the Blue Devils (6-2, 3-1 ACC) their first win against UNC (5-3, 2-2) since 2003.

“There was not one thing that I could pinpoint in the first half or in the third quarter that I felt like we were doing well,” coach Larry Fedora said.

UNC’s Casey Barth scored a field goal in each of the first three quarters to save the offense from total unproductive play.

Meanwhile, Duke scored a touchdown, extra point and field goal in each quarter of the first half and in the fourth, and it also matched the Tar Heels’ lone field goal in the third quarter.

The Blue Devils made it a night for the record books as wide receiver Conner Vernon notched 124 yards onto his all-time receiving statistics, moving him to second all-time in the ACC, and kicker Ross Martin moved to second in school history for most points scored by a freshman in a single game.

But those were not the only ways the Duke offense challenged the Tar Heels.

The Blue Devils ran the ball on 53 plays for 234 rushing yards. And while Fedora was displeased with his team’s lack of finishing ability, the consistent running game was part of what shocked him coming from the other team.

“I’d say of those (53 plays), they challenged us on 50,” he said. “I was surprised by a lot of things tonight and that was definitely one.”

The North Carolina offense was able to convert on each of the two fourth downs it attempted, and it scored to give the team its only lead of the game after Giovani Bernard snagged a twice-fumbled ball off a pass from Bryn Renner, but none of that resonated more than the score.

“Honestly, that much doesn’t even matter,” Bernard said. “We lost the game and that was just something out of the whole game. We didn’t come out here and execute, and we lost the (Victory Bell).”

The two North Carolina touchdowns came back-to-back in the fourth quarter.

Sean Tapley caught a five-yard pass from Renner as the Tar Heel offense executed on a 75-yard drive, and after a quick Duke possession, UNC got the ball back.

In only eleven seconds, North Carolina scored again on a 91-yard drive that brought the tally to 21 fourth-quarter points.

But that drive was not what reflected the entirety of the game.

“We just executed a little better in the fourth quarter,” Fedora said. “(The rest of the game) there were times when we were running well, but then we’d get down in the red zone and bog down and kick a field goal. We’ve got to learn how to finish.”

The match was the first the Tar Heels have lost to Duke in Wallace Wade stadium since 1988, and the victory taunted Duke with the chance to see post-season play for the first time since 1994, but Fedora did not feel that there was a difference in game-time approach between the teams.

“I thought we were fine,” he said. “I didn’t sense that there was any type of attitude let down, I thought our guys approached the game the right way. We just did not execute in any way.”

But Renner, who went down after the third play of the game, felt a difference.

“They had more intensity than us, and intensity is a hard thing to beat,” he said. “If they’re more intense than us than they’re going to execute better than us.”

Duke’s numbers reflected their ability to execute. The Blue Devils had 28 first downs to UNC’s 22, 234 rushing yards to 177, 276 passing yards to 237 and had possession for 33:39 to UNC’s 26:21 time of control.

“They outplayed us, they out executed us in every phase of the game and they won the game and they were the better team tonight,” Fedora said. “It looked like to me they did whatever they wanted —offensively, defensively and on special teams.

“We did a poor job of executing and I did a poor job of coaching tonight.”