NC State stuns UNC on Senior Day

What do you say after a loss of this magnitude? Are there even words to describe the emotion of such a defeat, or is it better to let some things go unsaid?

On Saturday in Kenan Stadium, after his North Carolina football team had been handed one of its worst losses of the season — a 35-7 beat down from N.C. State — coach Larry Fedora struggled to find the words.

“Stunning is a good word. It was very disappointing, very disappointing. I was very surprised, actually,” he mustered. “But it was what it was.”

The UNC team that showed up to Durham Nov. 20 to halt Duke’s chances of a date in the ACC Championship was nowhere to be found.

The same squad that put up 45 points just over a week ago, couldn’t touch the scoreboard with a 10-foot pole until the minutes burned off the clock in the fourth quarter Saturday.

“They outplayed us. There’s nothing much you can say about it,” a dejected Fedora told the media. “I wish I had more answers for you, actually. I would probably feel better about myself if I did, but I don’t have a whole lot to say.”

Why would he?

The Wolfpack found the scoreboard fast and often Saturday, starting with a 17-yard touchdown run from quarterback Jacoby Brissett four minutes into the first quarter. Brissett finished with 167 rushing yards and a touchdown, breaking a school record from 1976 for rushing yards by a quarterback in a single game.

Brissett averaged 11.9 yards per carry and tacked on 66 passing yards and three passing touchdowns to play a hand in four of the Wolfpack’s five touchdowns on the afternoon.

N.C. State struck again with 9:52 in the second quarter on a pass from Brissett to David Grinnage and then again with 4:44 in the same quarter on a four-yard run from Shadrach Thornton. The fourth and fifth touchdowns both came from Tyler Purvis runs, three and two yards respectively.

“It was just stunning,” senior defensive tackle Ethan Farmer said. “I looked up at the scoreboard at one point and I looked at rushing yards. You know, I thought we were doing fine, but then once I looked back again, they ended up rushing for 300 something. It was a big turnaround for us, and we weren’t ready to play at all.”

The offense — typically the side of the ball UNC can consistently can count on to pull its weight — didn’t show up either.

Before he went down with an injury in the third quarter, redshirt junior quarterback Marquise Williams, who leads the team in both passing and rushing, had 97 yards passing and a mere 11 rushing. He was sacked three times, too, and the offense’s cause wasn’t helped when sophomore wide receiver Ryan Switzer was pummeled on a punt return, also in the second half, and sent out of the game.

UNC didn’t find the scoreboard until fewer than two minutes remained in the fourth — a 13-yard pass from redshirt freshman Mitch Trubisky to Quinshad Davis for the junior wide receiver’s 21st career receiving touchdown. Davis is now tied with Hakeem Nicks for a school record. But at least for now, Davis doesn’t care about that. What he'll be left trying to swallow is the loss — the fact that UNC's seven points were the fewest scored by the Tar Heels since Larry Fedora arrived in 2012. 

“Like I tell everybody, I’ll take a win before any record,” Davis said. “It kinda sucks.”

Now UNC is left with one final game in its season, a bowl game. And if the seniors are to go out in the manner that the Tar Heels have planned, it’ll take much more effort than they brought Saturday.

Still, after the demoralizing loss, Landon Turner found a reason to believe.

“We’re not going to shut down our season because we lost to State,” he said. “We’re going to reflect on it, learn from it and we’re going to get better.”

Because, after Saturday, that’s the only option.