UNC defense gets it done as Tar Heels hold on to beat Miami 27-24 in Coastal showdown
North Carolina probably could not have won a game a month ago like it did Saturday against Miami, when its offense turned the ball over twice and managed just two field goals in the second half. The Tar Heels’ 27-24 victory shows how much they’ve improved defensively.
Carolina (5-1, 2-0 ACC) worked its way out of tough positions all game, including a goal-line stand and two turnovers. The final takeaway was a DeAndre Boykins interception with eight seconds left that sealed the Heels’ third straight road win of the season and makes them the lone unbeaten team in ACC Coastal Division play.
“We just kept going and just kept fighting hard,” said UNC linebacker Cedric Gray, who helped facilitate their final stop by tackling a receiver in bounds to keep the clock running. “That’s one thing I can say about this defense, we might not be perfect, but we fight. We fight every game, and I’m really very, very proud of that.”
UNC coach Mack Brown is too, especially since Carolina failed to run out the clock when it had the ball with 2:16 left in the game. The Heels got the ball back when an onside kick recovery by Miami was overturned on replay. But they couldn’t produce the first down that likely would have ended the game.
The Canes (2-3, 0-1) took over the ball with 1:14 left and advanced to their own 43 with 35 seconds left. That’s when Gray made a crucial stop by keeping Jaleel Skinner in-bounds on a tackle to keep the clock running.
By the time quarterback Tyler Van Dyke took the next snap, only 12 seconds remained, and his errant throw to Colbie Young was picked off by Boykins to seal the game.
“They were a little bit rushed,” Boykins said. “The quarterback, wide receivers didn’t know where or what routes they were actually running. That’s what I felt like, but I just sat in my window, sat and played the coverage that the coach called and came out with a pick.”
The defense was peppered through the start of the season with questions about what was wrong. They held Virginia Tech to a season-low 10 points, including a second-half shutout. Now Brown said he sees a unit that is executing better, even though they still showed flaws.
Miami reached UNC territory on 10 of its 11 drives, but only scored on four of them. Carolina had various players come through in key moments, such as when cornerback Tony Grimes came on a blitz, hitting Van Dyke into linebacker Noah Taylor for a 5-yard loss.
The play led to Miami kicker Andres Borregales attempting a 53-yard field goal that was wide left.
“I just feel like that the guys are playing with so much more confidence,” Brown said. “And they actually think they can go out and win the game now, where early, we had to outscore everybody.”
Last week, with 28 seconds left in the first half against Virginia Tech, quarterback Drake Maye led the Heels into field-goal range and took momentum into the locker room. Against Miami, they faced a similar scenario again with 28 seconds left.
This time, Maye threw an interception on their first play. The Canes converted a field goal to end the half and went from a team down two touchdowns to floating with confidence, down just 21-17.
Maye’s first two plays of the second half were a sack on first down, and his second interception in as many passes on second down. Miami then took possession, poised to take its first lead of the game.
Carolina’s defense did not allow any points this time. The Canes moved to the UNC 49 and faced a fourth-and-3. Boykins blitzed untouched and dropped Van Dyke for a 7-yard loss.
“We didn’t score a touchdown in the second half, that’s unacceptable,” Maye said. “It goes to show our defense, they made some big plays.”
With a short field, the Heels took the ensuing drive down to the Miami 7. But their chance to score a touchdown was also thwarted by a sack. Maye took a 10-yard loss that made it too long for the Tar Heels to go for it.
Noah Burnette’s 38-yard field goal put UNC ahead 24-17. But it was also the second time in the game Carolina did not get a touchdown on a trip to the red zone. It entered the game 17-for-19 scoring touchdowns inside its opponents’ 20.
The previous two times they didn’t score red-zone touchdowns were because they let time expire at the end of their win over Florida A&M, and last week when Maye got the breath knocked out of him trying to dive for a touchdown against Virginia Tech. On the latter occasion, Maye’s absence forced backup quarterback Jacolby Criswell to take the third-down snap, and he threw an incomplete pass, forcing the Heels to settle for a field goal.
In the first quarter, Carolina came up short after reaching the Miami 7. It could have taken a 10-0 lead with a field goal, but Maye and receiver Josh Downs miscommunicated on fourth down, leading to an incomplete pass.
The Heels’ offense had its lowest scoring output of the season, but was still impressive at times. Their first two touchdowns came on drives of 95 and 99 yards. Their first drive of the fourth quarter was an 18-play, 81-yarder that consumed 8:21 minutes.
“One-play touchdowns, they’re great, but also you send the defense back out there, they’re not getting the rest,” Maye said. “...That (18-play drive) was a huge part of the game.”
So was the Heels’ goal-line stand in the first quarter after the Canes reached the UNC 2 with a first-and-goal. Carolina stuffed three straight runs, giving up just 1 yard. On fourth-and-goal, Van Dyke was pressured by Kaimon Rucker into throwing an incomplete pass intended for tight end Will Mallory.
“We all know that we’re a talented bunch, it’s really just about executing and playing to our fullest potential,” Gray said. “And we do that, a team’s gonna have a hard time scoring on us. And that’s kind of what happened we got down to that goal line. That was really just nothing but passion.”
The Heels’ first goal-line stand of the season was complete. The Heels’ defense has come a long way the past two weeks from the team that gave up 40 points in the fourth quarter against Appalachian State.
“This game was really big for us,” Boykins said. “Because we know how we can play and we just wanted to feed off the energy from last week — the second half shutout. We just wanted to keep that going.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2022 at 7:55 PM with the headline "UNC defense gets it done as Tar Heels hold on to beat Miami 27-24 in Coastal showdown."