Tar Heels troubled by turnovers against Tigers

CLEMSON, S.C. — Put it this way: If each turnover was a foot of earth, North Carolina had enough to dig a grave on Saturday.

Those six hiccups equate to half of the combined turnovers in the seven games UNC had played prior to its 59-38 loss to No. 7 Clemson.

“It’s very disappointing,” interim head coach Everett Withers said. “Obviously I haven’t done a good job of stressing (ball security) in practice. I have to go back and try to stress it even more.”

And what’s probably worse is that those six turnovers led to 24 Clemson points.

It all started when quarterback Bryn Renner threw an interception in the team’s first possession that was returned 17 yards and set up Clemson just 38 yards from the goal line.

Then late in the second quarter Renner was picked off again, this time for a 20-yard touchdown return. And two minutes before halftime, wide receiver Erik Highsmith fumbled a ball after bringing in a pass from Renner.

Though the Tar Heels had a significant number of turnovers in the first half, things didn’t start snowballing until the third quarter.

“After the first turnover it was like, ‘OK that’s it, it’s not going to happen again,” wide receiver Jheranie Boyd said. “After the second one it was like, ‘Oh Lord, we can’t turn the ball over anymore.’ And then it just kept happening. It was a dagger to our hearts.”

It was a dagger in their lungs, too — or at least in the lungs of the defense, which couldn’t get off the field.

At one stretch in the third quarter— during a 12:08 span of Clemson scoring — UNC’s offense ran seven plays while the Tigers’ scored five touchdowns. The Tar Heel defense was on the field for about nine of those 12 minutes, and of those touchdowns, two resulted from turnovers.

All told, the Tar Heels finished with three thrown interceptions and four fumbles, although they recovered one of them.

“It’s just a matter of not being too focused, thinking about other things and thinking about reads and something like that,” UNC running back Giovani Bernard said. “First thing is always, you’ve got to hold onto the ball. That’s a part of the game … and we didn’t do it.”

Saturday wasn’t the first time UNC struggled to maintain ball security this season. In a 24-22 win against Rutgers earlier this season, UNC had five turnovers.

But then again, Rutgers isn’t ranked seventh nationally.

“We just can’t turn the ball over,” Renner said. “They’re a heck of a team. If you give them any opportunities, they’ll take advantage of it and that’s what good teams do.”

Clemson certainly made good on its opportunities, and then created others. One of Renner’s interceptions could be more accurately described as a takeaway than a turnover.

The play was a short pass to Bernard in the left flat that Clemson defensive end Kourtnei Brown deflected, then caught and ran back for a touchdown. After the game both Brown and Renner agreed it was a great play.

“Turnovers kill you,” Withers said. “They take momentum from you, they take energy away from you, they take emotion out of you. It kills you.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.