No. 16 Virginia Cavaliers Escape With a Win Over the UNC Tar Heels

Let’s cut to the chase. Overtime. Virginia gets the ball first and does what they couldn’t do for most of the second half: they score. J’Mari Taylor, channeling his inner bulldozer, punched it in from the one-yard line. 17-10, Cavaliers.

Then, it was UNC’s turn. Quarterback Gio Lopez, who had moments of both brilliance and “what was that?”, orchestrated a response. A slick little bubble screen to Davion Gause got the Tar Heels on the board. Touchdown. The Kenan Stadium crowd, after a mostly silent and tense second half, exploded.

Then came the decision that will be debated in Chapel Hill for weeks. Instead of kicking the extra point and heading to a second overtime, UNC went for the win. Two points. Glory or gut-punch. Lopez found Running Back Benjamin Hall, who lunged for the goal line.

For a split second, it looked like he was in. But the replay official, in what must have been a frame-by-frame analysis that could detect a single blade of grass bending the wrong way, ruled him short. Ball game. Virginia escapes. UNC is left to pick up the pieces of a fourth straight loss. You could feel the collective gasp from the home crowd; it was a soul-crushing way to lose.

How Did We Even Get Here?

The game was a comedy of errors and moments of defensive grit. UNC’s offense actually showed a pulse, racking up 353 yards. But they couldn’t get out of their own way. On just the second drive, Kobe Paysour fumbled the ball while stretching for the pylon, resulting in a touchback. It was a seven-point swing that set the tone for the entire afternoon. Instead of UNC going up 7-0, Virginia took the ensuing possession and kicked a field goal. Ouch.

The second half was a defensive slugfest where both offenses looked like they were trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube in the dark. Punts were traded like Pokémon cards. Interceptions were thrown. The UNC defense, to its credit, played its heart out, sacking Virginia QB Chandler Morris six times and holding a potent offense scoreless for the entire second half. Melkart Abou-Jaoude looked like a man possessed, racking up three sacks himself.

But the offense just couldn’t capitalize. A scoreless second half is a recipe for disaster, and it came back to haunt them in the most painful way possible. Virginia didn’t exactly light the world on fire, but their defense made just enough plays, and their offense did just enough in overtime to get the win and remain unbeaten in the ACC. For UNC, it’s back to the drawing board ahead of a Halloween trip to Syracuse, wondering how a game they could have won slipped through their fingers by the slimmest of margins.