The North Carolina football team (4-5, 3-3 ACC) fell 38-31 to the Virginia (6-3, 4-2 ACC) Saturday night in a battle for first place in the ACC Coastal Division.
What happened?
Though it would be neck-and-neck up until the final seconds of the game, both teams were slow to start.
During the Tar Heels’ opening drive, first-year quarterback Sam Howell was sacked, and the team struggled to find a rhythm from that moment. UNC and UVA went back and forth until Howell completed a slant pass to wide receiver Dyami Brown for 57 yards, placing UNC on the 23-yard-line. The five-play, 61-yard drive ended with a 37-yard field goal by Noah Ruggles.
However, the Cavaliers’ next drive, which lasted 13 plays and 70 yards, ended with a touchdown.
During its first drive of the second quarter, UVA pushed its lead up another three points to make the score 10-3. However, UNC answered and tied the game two minutes later. Howell found Brown near the UVA bench with a defender on the wide receiver’s back. Brown caught the ball and ran it to the end zone, quickly tying the South’s oldest rivalry game at 10.
Brown continued to dominate as he pushed UNC into the lead with a little over two minutes left before half. He hauled in a 34-yard touchdown to give the Tar Heels a 17-10 lead.
The Cavaliers answered less than two minutes later with a six-yard touchdown pass. At halftime, the teams were tied 17-17.
Virginia came into the second half red-hot. Quarterback Bryce Perkins scored from 65 yards out, giving the Cavaliers a 24-17 lead within the first 35 seconds of the third quarter.