Blunders Plague UNC, Ignite Ga. Tech Win

Darian Durant was down on the ground, rolling around in agony.

But it wasn't the Tar Heel quarterback who was suffering pain; it was his team, which had just shot itself in the foot again.

And those images appearing before the team's eyes were highlights of its previous blunders in a mistake-plagued season.

The one that elicited Durant's show of despair was a fumble by tight end Bobby Blizzard on the 2-yard line early in the third quarter of UNC's 21-13 loss to Georgia Tech at Kenan Stadium.

Blizzard coughed the ball up after rumbling 59 yards on a pass from Durant over the middle, with the Tar Heels trailing just 14-13. The Yellow Jackets (4-1, 1-1 in the ACC) recovered in the end zone for a touchback.

"When I saw (Blizzard) break free, I just knew that he was going to get in there," Durant said. "It was just unbelievable. I mean, out of all the things that could have happened in that situation, he could have gotten tackled at the 1 or anything. That's what I thought happened. When I saw the referee throw his little white bag out there I knew what happened, and it was just an unbelievable feeling."

To twist the dagger even deeper into UNC's breast, the Tech proceeded to go on an exhausting 18-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, that absorbed eight minutes and two seconds.

"How do you describe or put any worth on what that play was, causing the fumble down on the 1-yard-line, the ball going in the end zone and us getting it," Tech coach Chan Gailey said. "To cap it with (our touchdown drive), you can't underestimate how big that was. That is probably the turning point, if you had to say there was one."

The Yellow Jackets were going to settle for a 40-yard field goal, but again North Carolina (1-3, 0-1) came up with an untimely mental gaffe. Derrick Johnson was called for roughing the kicker, giving Tech's drive new life.

"I was trying to make something happen when I shouldn't have," Johnson said. "I got blocked off a little bit, I should have just went ahead and not tried to force the issue."

Prior to that momentum-altering series of events, the game was a tightly contested, back-and-forth affair.

The Tar Heels struck first with a 39-yard Dan Orner field goal at the 11:02 mark in the first quarter, after Michael Waddell intercepted an A.J. Suggs pass and brought it back to the Tech 22.

Later in the quarter, Gailey substituted redshirt freshman Damarius Bilbo for the ineffective Suggs, and the move paid off.

Bilbo acted like a running back, taking snaps from the shotgun, gaining 20 yards on four keeper plays during his first drive, which culminated in a 10-yard touchdown pass to Kerry Watkins. Waddell and safety DeFonte Coleman each missed a tackle, allowing Watkins to score.

But it got much worse for Waddell.

After a 19-yard Durant-to-Zach Hilton touchdown connection and another Orner field goal, Suggs rotated back in for the Yellow Jackets.

On third and two at the UNC 27, Suggs faked a handoff to freeze Waddell, then threw over the corner's head to a wide-open Will Glover in the end zone.

Frustrated with his performance, North Carolina coach John Bunting benched Waddell for the entire second half.

"Michael's not playing well right now," Bunting said. "I love that kid, and he'll be starting again next week, but he's got to pay attention more to the details of playing the game of football. Right now, if things like that occur, I've got to make a move."

It was a move made by Stewart that robbed the Tar Heels of another golden opportunity late in the third quarter.

Two plays after a 58-yard John Lafferty punt pinned the Yellow Jackets on their own 5-yard line, Suggs threw across the middle toward Watkins on third and ten. Watkins got drilled by safety Dexter Reid and dropped the ball, apparently forcing Tech to punt from the back of its end zone.

But Stewart was flagged for roughing the passer, giving the Yellow Jackets an automatic first down and seemingly deflating North Carolina for good.

Such penalties and UNC's failure to make tackles on third down translated to a nearly 15-minute time-of-possession edge for Tech. The Yellow Jackets converted 11 of 17 third downs and were only forced to punt twice, both in the fourth quarter.

The defensive ineptitude and bushel of mistakes disgusted Bunting.

"There's no doubt this is the worst loss we've had," he said. "I think we're a better football team than them. But we didn't play that way."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.