Despite 50-43 loss, UNC plays better brand of football

SOUTH BEND, IND. — Notre Dame Stadium grew eerily quiet as more than 80,000 fans stood in shock trying to make sense of what had just happened.

The game, which The Irish would eventually win 50-43 on their home turf, had just started. It wasn’t even seven minutes in, and yet somehow the struggling, unranked North Carolina football team had marched into South Bend, Ind., and grabbed a commanding 14-0 lead over the nation’s No. 6 team on national television.

And at that moment, thanks to the legs of freshman running back Elijah Hood and the quick hands of redshirt junior linebacker Jeff Schoettmer on an interception, the underdogs were the ones emphatically celebrating on the big kids’ playground.

For all of the nation to see, Coach Larry Fedora and the Tar Heels allowed themselves to believe that they just might be able to pull off this upset.

“I just left a team whose guts are ripped out of ’em right now,” Fedora said after the loss. “They came here believing they were going to win a football game, and they came up short.”

The Irish eventually found a rhythm, going on a 21-point run and amassing 223 yards to UNC’s 15 after trailing 14-0.

Once again, penalties and mental lapses plagued the Tar Heels as UNC racked up nine penalties for 94 yards. Senior bandit Norkeithus Otis was called for roughing the snapper late in the third, and with an interception in the fourth, redshirt junior quarterback Marquise Williams put the finshing touches on Notre Dame’s come-from-behind win.

“We’ve never been told there was a one-second rule,” Otis said of his penalty on the center. “Once his head comes up, you can make contact.”

But still, the UNC team that showed up Saturday looked vastly different from the one that gave up a record-high 70 points to East Carolina three weeks ago. Or the one that let Clemson true freshman quarterback Deshaun Watson toss six touchdowns in his first career start two weeks ago.

On the offensive side, Fedora made a statement by playing Williams the entire game, instead of alternating him with Mitch Trubisky. And it proved to be the right choice, as Williams racked up 303 passing yards, 132 rushing yards and three touchdowns for a historic night.

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“Tempo,” sophomore wide receiver Mack Hollins said of what changed this game. “You can see that when we’re going fast ... their whole defense is coming off the sideline.”

Now, the Tar Heels are at a crossroads, much like they were after a four-point loss to No. 10 Miami in 2013, which propelled them to turn their season around. The group won six of its final seven games after the Miami heartbreaker, including a 39-17 bowl victory over Cincinnati.

Williams thinks this encouraging effort could be the spark.

“Guys playing their hearts out, you can’t ask for any better football team than what we did today,” Williams said.

“There is still going to be people that don’t believe in us. That’s when we say we’ve got to believe in ourselves and people in the room. That’s what we like, our back against the wall and nobody trusting us but Coach Fedora.”

sports@dailytarheel.com