"How many turnovers did we have?" Nine. "Is that a record?"
When the answer to the second query came -- yes, North Carolina tied the ACC record set by Wake Forest in its Nov. 17, 1956, game against Duke -- both center Jason Brown and quarterback Darian Durant shook their heads in disgust.
"It's a bad way to get in the record books," Durant said.
And a bad way to start the season. Despite amassing 447 yards of total offense, including 353 via the passing game, and despite a late charge led by backup quarterback C.J. Stephens, the Tar Heels couldn't overcome their slew of turnovers in a 27-21 loss to Miami (Ohio) before 38,000 at a rain-soaked Kenan Stadium on Saturday.
Cal Murray rushed for 101 yards and scored a backbreaking third-quarter touchdown for the RedHawks (1-0), who beat the Tar Heels 13-10 in the teams' last meeting, the first game of the 1998 season.
While that game will be remembered for Ronald Curry's debut, Saturday's matchup will go down as another Tar Heel fans won't soon forget.
"I've been around a lot of football in my lifetime as a player and a coach ... but I don't think I've ever, ever seen anything quite like that," Bunting said. "It's amazing the game was so close and we had a chance to win at the end."
The Tar Heels moved the ball up and down the field throughout the game, but the turnovers -- three Durant interceptions, three bad center-quarterback exchanges, two running-back fumbles and one kickoff fumble -- proved insurmountable.
After tying the score at 7 in the first quarter, UNC turned the ball over on its next five possessions. Durant's second fumble of the game (and first recovered by the RedHawks) led to a 3-yard TD pass from Ben Roethlisberger to wideout Michael Larkin. Miami botched the kick and led 13-7.
Durant fumbled two more times in the first half, both while taking the snap under center. "It was just a miscommunication," Durant said. "(Brown) thought it was one thing, and I said another, and it was just like that."
Said Brown, who started his first game at center, "There was a bad connection."
While UNC's offense struggled to connect, the supposedly weak defense came up with stop after stop, forcing four fumbles of its own and recovering two.
Known for its creative aerial attack, Miami rushed for only 38 yards in the first half. But the RedHawks came out after the break with a plan to ram the ball through the Tar Heels' defense.
"That was obviously a key to the game, us being able to run the ball," said Miami coach Terry Hoepner.
Murray and Luke Clemens combined for 128 second-half rushing yards, countering through the young UNC front seven. Compounding the problem was a third-quarter injury to starting defensive tackle Eric Davis, who had to leave the game. Tests later revealed a torn anterior cruciate ligament in Davis' left knee that will keep him out for the season.
But the game might have been decided in three possessions toward the end of the third quarter. After a John Lafferty punt to the 16-yard line, Miami drove 83 yards to the UNC 1.
On three straight downs, Roethlisberger tried to sneak and failed. On fourth-and-goal, Clemens swept left and was stopped, but an incidental facemask was called on the Tar Heels. On a second fourth-and-goal, UNC safety Dexter Reid, who made a career-high 21 tackles Saturday, stopped Clemens short.
"It shows you what the mentality is on this football team," Bunting said. "We're just not going to quit."
"It's not fun," said defensive end Will Chapman of having to go right back on the field after the goal-line stand. "As a veteran I know how it feels. For some of the younger guys, it may have been harder."
Durant cut into the lead when he found tight end Bobby Blizzard for a 9-yard TD with 11:03 to go in the fourth quarter, but Miami moved right back down the field and scored to go up 27-14.
Stephens got his chance late in the game, but considering that the Tar Heels trailed by 13 with 1:39 to go, it seemed like a good bet that UNC would bow out as the soaked crowd filtered out of the stands.
But Stephens keyed a six-play, 79-yard drive that ended with Sam Aiken's 37-yard touchdown. All of a sudden, the score was 27-21, and there were still 39 seconds left on the clock.
On Topher Roberts' ensuing onside kick, Michael Waddell recovered. Thirty-eight seconds remained, but UNC had no timeouts left.
"All the way through that second half, I thought we'd win that football game," Bunting said.
Following an 8-yard completion, a clock-stopping spike and a third-down incompletion, Stephens lofted his fourth-down pass near the end zone, where Miami's Alphonso Hodge was called for pass interference with six seconds left.
After all of that, the game clock ticked down to 0:00 on the next play, when a back-pedaling Stephens threw for Zach Hilton in the left corner of the end zone. Nobody was there but a Miami defensive back, who batted the ball down to seal the RedHawks' win.
"It's a very frustrating position, and hopefully we won't be in that position very often this year," Stephens said.
"And I don't think we will."
The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.
