Holliday: Drake, Downs and defense lift Heels to Coastal title

By Bob Holliday, WRAL Sports contributor

Drake Maye and Josh Downs were great once again. But North Carolina doesn’t win in Winston-Salem without some huge plays by its much maligned defense.

Defensive coordinator Gene Chizik saw what Louisville and NC State did to slow down the Wake Forest scoring machine and incorporated the use of more pressure against the Deacons. In recent weeks, Chizik has only called blitzes periodically, and usually sending just one extra rusher at the quarterback, at most two.

On Saturday night, UNC blitzed much more frequently and sent more blitzers per play at Sam Hartman. The strategy paid off early in the game and late in the game, though the Deacons piled up yards and points in the second and third quarters.

North Carolina’s defense performs quite differently than Louisville and NC State. Both the Cardinals and the Wolfpack consistently stop the run. Louisville struggles defending the pass, but counters by applying massive pressure on the quarterback. U of L leads the league in sacks, getting more than four per game in ACC play. UNC meanwhile, is last in sacks.

But, in conference games, and this may come as a surprise to many, Carolina ranks fifth in scoring defense, allowing just 24 points per game; NC State is just a notch better in that stat at 22.6, though the Wolfpack allows far fewer yards, 367 vs. 428. The Tar Heels rank last in the league in total defense.

And yet each week Chizik’s unit comes up with turnovers and outright stops that win games. The Heels stuck to the script at Wake Forest.

It was a classic start. UNC allowed Justin Ellison to rumble 20 yards on the game’s very first play. That was so Carolina – giving up what I’m betting was the best run by a Wake Forest player in three weeks to start the game. But by the time the Deacons reached midfield the drive ran out of steam. Wake faced a fourth and ten and decided to punt.

On the next possession, Power Echols blitzed as Sam Hartman tried to pass on third and three. Incomplete pass. Wake punted again.

If Wake scores on those first two drives, it’s an entirely different game. Instead, UNC’s offense takes control with leads of 14-0 and 21-7. Carolina needed this safety net, because of course Wake really got things rolling in the last 18 minutes of the first half.

Hartman threw touchdowns to Taylor Morin and Donavon Greene. He also assisted in Christian Turner’s one yard touchdown run, shoving the back into the end zone-evoking memories of 1970 when then Wake Forest quarterback Larry Russell pushed running back Larry Hopkins into the end zone, giving the Deacons a 14-13 win against UNC in a game that decided the ACC Championship.

The 2022 ACC Championship won’t be decided until UNC meets Clemson in Charlotte next month. But the Tar Heels showed Saturday night they just may have what it takes to compete with the Tigers.

Wake Forest, remember, took the Tigers to two overtimes before falling 51-45. Certainly, Clemson couldn’t match UNC’s first half offense at Truist Field.

UNC amassed 310 yards and 27 points as Maye threw three touchdown passes to Downs. Maye completed 19 of 26 first half passes; four of the incompletions were drops by the receivers.

Carolina converted 5 of 7 third down plays in the first half, but suffered a rare fourth down failure to start the second half. Maye had the Heels moving. On third and seven he somehow managed to escape the rush and throw 26 yards downfield to J.J. Jones. He did this while running to his left! A pass to Komari Morales set up a second and two at the Wake 27. But then inexplicably, Maye threw three straight incomplete passes. One was defended, one was dropped, and one was blitzed by Wake linebacker Ryan Smenda.

And so, instead of taking a two-touchdown lead as appeared imminent, UNC fell behind as the energized Deacs drove 73 yards in 9 plays to go up 28-27.

A strange oddity of this game: UNC stopped WF on third down 9 of 12 times; but the Deacons converted 4-6 on fourth down.

So back to the Wake Forest scoring drive, Ellison picked up a fourth and one at the Wake 36 on the Deacs’ fourth scoring drive. This paved the way for Hartman’s touchdown pass to A.T. Perry.

UNC by this time was missing deep threat Antoine Green, who was the victim of targeting by Wake’s A.J. Williams; and also Downs, who headed back to the locker room to great treatment for cramps.

So Drake Maye, trailing 28-27 because of a missed PAT, and missing his two best receivers, had to improvise-with his tight ends and running back. The freshman threw 21 yards to John Copenhaver and 24 yards to Bryson Nesbit. Then Maye swung the ball to Elijah Green, who roared to the Wake six. Maye navigated the final five yards himself. However, the two point conversion failed, so UNC’s lead was a precarious 33-28.

It lasted all of 56 seconds. Hartman caught UNC in a blitz, which meant the Tar Heels had no safety help on Donavon Greene. He took Hartman’s throw on the run for a 60 yard touchdown.

And yet, Wake’s two point conversion attempt failed. Storm Duck broke up the pass. That was the first of several game changing plays by UNC’s defense.

Scoring abruptly halted in the fourth quarter, shocking considering how these teams have played one another. I mean the Deacs and the Heels had been trading touchdowns for 11 quarters. Remember that 58-55 game last year?

But now UNC – with Downs back in the lineup – drove to the red zone and faced second and goal at the Wake one yard line. Nada. For the second time the Tar Heels failed to convert a fourth down – remember they had hit on 10 for 13 in previous games? Anyway Maye’s pass on fourth was batted by Wake’s Isaiah Wingfield.

The Deacons took their turn with the ball, driving from their own one all the way to the UNC 10. But on fourth and three, Kaimon Rucker stopped Hartman. No points Wake Forest.

Next possession UNC could not move and punted. Wake took custody of the football at its own 23, just 77 yards from clinching victory. 5:47 remained.

Two bad UNC penalties pushed the Deacons across midfield. Quinton Cooley rushed two yards to the UNC 41. Wake was still moving the ball on the ground – Cooley had broken runs of 12 and 16 yards on the previous possession. And yet, Hartman decided to go with the passing part of the run-pass option. Alas, he did not see Cam’Ron Kelly hurrying back to provide defensive help. Kelly picked off Hartman’s pass in stride and ran it back 23 yards to the Wake Forest 48.

That opportunistic defense again.

With the sudden change situation, Maye immediately passed to Downs, who quickly sped 43 yards to the Wake Forest five. With Maye’s Heisman Trophy candidacy looking more real every Saturday, a touchdown there might qualify as Maye’s Heisman moment.

But Downs didn’t reach the end zone and the quarterback was sacked on the next play. Desperate for at least a field goal after twice turning the ball over on downs, Maye protected his team by throwing the ball away on second down and third down.

And on fourth down, Noah Burnette, with the wind at his back, put the ball through the uprights. 36-34.

Wake still had time and only needed a field goal of its own to win. But events conspired against the home team.

Duck broke up a pass on first down. Hartman on second down threw long to Perry, but the play was called back for holding. The holding resulted from the fierce pass rush UNC’s defense was putting on Hartman.

Facing 2nd and 20, the Deacs gained 8 yards on a check down to Greene, but the pressure continued. Hartman missed his targets on third down and fourth down.

Oh, and if by chance Hartman had passed for a completion on that fourth down, it would have been called back. Wake was holding once again.

Chizik’s game plan worked when it mattered most.

With the Coastal Championship trophy in hand, Mack Brown will do his best to go get the focus squarely on the game ahead and not the ACC Championship Game vs. Clemson in Charlotte.

Georgia Tech visits Saturday and while the Yellow Jackets just got drubbed by Miami at home and have lost three of their last four, one need only look at 2-7 Boston College upsetting NC State to remember that anything can happen in this ACC.

Carolina then hosts NC State on Thanksgiving Friday. Some of NC State’s lofty preseason goals are gone; the stunning loss to BC ended hope of a rare 10 win regular season. But the Wolfpack will no doubt play its best road game of the season in Chapel Hill – with a defense that can stop the run and make UNC one-dimensional and an offense that can exploit UNC’s defensive weaknesses if freshman M.J. Morris is on his game.

On Saturday, Nov. 26, the Tar Heels can begin looking ahead to Clemson, not before. Carolina’s realistic post season goal should be a trip to the Orange Bowl. Clemson’s blowout loss at Notre Dame will keep the ACC Champion out of the four team College Football Playoffs for the second straight season-barring a complete meltdown from about nine or ten more highly ranked teams.

But the Orange Bowl bid is attainable and it goes to the ACC’s highest ranked team in the CFP standings. An 11-1 UNC team that beats Clemson in Charlotte would be the ACC’s highest ranked team. A 10-2 Tar Heel squad might have to dominate Clemson to get the Orange Bowl bid, and of course that’s now what the Heels typically do. Assuming Clemson finishes 11-1, a close win by a 10-2 UNC team might not push the Heels past the Tigers in the rankings.

North Carolina has not won the ACC Championship in 42 years. Ironically, the last time the Tar Heels won the league, they wrapped up the title at Clemson 24-19, in a game I called with the late Woody Durham way back in 1980. All-American Lawrence Taylor stopped Tiger quarterback Homer Jordan short of the goal line to preserve the victory.

UNC had a chance to win the ACC again in 2015, also against Clemson. The Tar Heels, then coached by Larry Fedora and Gene Chizik, came up short 45-37 in the championship game at Bank of America Stadium.

Now the Heels have another opportunity but once again Clemson stands in the way.

The Tar Heels finished an historic 6-0 on the road this season. Will Charlotte be a road game? Given Clemson’s fan support it could be.

Certainly Carolina has a chance, but to win the ACC in 2022, the Tar Heels will need the very best of Drake and Downs, plus more defense than we have seen at any time this year.