BY BRIANA GORMAN

bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668

CHAPEL HILL -- In the days leading up to Thursday night's nationally televised matchup with Florida State, the North Carolina players talked about how a win over the Seminoles could be a turning point in their season.

The Tar Heels entered the game 0-2 in ACC play and had scored just 10 points in those contests, but they were coming off a bye and boasted the top defense in the conference.

Instead, the Tar Heels allowed the Seminoles to rally from an 18-point, third quarter deficit and put up 438 yards of offense to escape Chapel Hill with a 30-27 victory late Thursday night. The loss dropped UNC to 4-3 overall, 0-3 ACC.

"It's just a bad feeling," UNC freshman linebacker Kevin Reddick said. "I guess we got too happy when we were up 24-6. We've just got to hold our composure and stay humble."

It was the most points (30) and yards (438) the Tar Heels have given up this season, but most of it didn't come until the second half.

After holding the Seminoles to just two field goals in the first half, quarterback Christian Ponder picked apart the Tar Heels' secondary in the final two quarters. He completed his final 16 passes to finish the game 33-of-40 for 395 yards and tossed all three of FSU's touchdowns.

"Obviously, it's a little bit of a wakeup call for the defense," UNC coach Butch Davis said. "Reputations and stats and rankings and all that stuff is kind of somewhat insignificant -- you've got to play. You've got to go out and play fundamentally well and tackle well."

The play that hurt the Tar Heels the most was a 98-yard touchdown pass from Ponder to Rod Owens (9 catches, 199 yards) that cut UNC's lead to 24-20 in the third quarter. On first-and-11, Ponder found Owens at the 34, who then avoided being tripped up by defensive back Charles Brown at midfield and ran untouched the rest of the way into the end zone.

"There's no doubt where [the game] turned," FSU coach Bobby Bowden said. "That's a killer."

UNC senior defensive end E.J. Wilson said the Seminoles didn't make any major offensive adjustments in the second half, they just started finding gaps in the secondary because they couldn't run the ball. FSU was held to 43 yards on the ground but ran the ball just 25 times compared to 40 passing plays.

"They might have made a few adjustments [in the second half], but it was still basically the same offense," Wilson said.

Despite the second-half collapse by the Tar Heels, the first half arguably was the best they've played all season. UNC scored on its opening drive for just the second time this year, and its rushing attack was finding some success against the worst defense in the ACC.

Tailback Shaun Draughn finished the game with a season-best 126 yards on 23 carries, and three UNC receivers combined for another 109 yards on the ground.

The defense also held FSU to 100 yards of offense in the first half and 0-of-5 on third-down conversion attempts.

"I thought we got off to a great start," Davis said. "You couldn't have asked our kids to have played any better for the first 30 minutes, basically."

The Tar Heels, however, don't have much time to linger on their loss, as they travel to No. 15 Virginia Tech for their second consecutive Thursday night game.

And even though the loss to FSU was another blow to UNC's bowl chances, the players said their season isn't over just yet.

"I hate losing," junior cornerback Kendric Burney said. "Everybody hates losing. But I will never let anybody on this team quit, and I definitely am looking ready to next week."