Holliday: Heels should be wary after Miami's stunning loss

By Bob Holliday, WRAL Sports contributor

Miami Coach Mario Cristobal says bluntly: “We should have taken a knee."

Instead Tyler Van Dyke handed off to Donald Chaney who fumbled. Georgia Tech recovered at its own 26. Improbably the Yellow Jackets drove 74 yards in 24 seconds to hand the Hurricanes an unimaginable defeat.

Miami’s gaffe called to mind the “Miracle at the Meadowlands” when New York Giants quarterback Joe Pisarcik fumbled in the closing seconds and Philadelphia’s Herman Edwards scooped up the football and raced home with the winning score.

The late Jim Clack of Rocky Mount played center on that Giants team. He once told me there was dissension in the NYG huddle when offensive coordinator Bob Gibson called for a handoff. “Don’t you give me that ball,” running back Larry Csonka said. “You fall on that football, Joe.” According to Clack, Pisarcik responded “Well I’ve gotta call the play.” And so when Clack snapped the ball to Pisarcik, he tried to hand off to Csonka. And the rest is history.

Miami at least still had a chance to win with a defensive stop. To that point Tech quarterback Haynes King had completed just 10-21 passes for only 77 yards. But King connected with Malik Rutherford for 30 yards to the Miami 44. Then he threw long to Christian Leary for the winning six pointer.

Cristobal said on the first GT completion Miami’s defender “mistimed his jump.” On the second pass “the quarterback broke contain and they were able to slip a receiver behind our secondary.”

Heels near perfect vs. Syracuse

North Carolina rolled up 644 yards against a Syracuse defense that had been one of the ACC’s best. This game also was framed by a once in a lifetime play.

Midway through the first quarter with UNC leading just 3-0, the Orange blocked a Ben Kiernan punt at the Tar Heel 25 yard line. Kiernan picked up the football and made a beeline for the first down marker. He could have saved himself by stepping out of bounds at the 40. But Kiernan needed to reach the 42 for a first down and did, in spite of a brutal hit by the Cuse’s Anwar Sparrow. Kiernan’s face mask was mangled on the play, though targeting was not called.

Syracuse Coach Dino Babers did not believe Kiernan made the line to gain and challenged the officials’ spot of the football. Babers said after the game he had a “great angle on the play.” Alas the call stood.

Given a second chance, the UNC offense finished the drive. Maye completed his first pass to the newly eligible Tez Walker; he also connected with Bryson Nesbit, Nate McCollum, and Omarion Hampton out of the backfield. Maye capped the drive with a quarterback sneak, one of four touchdowns he accounted for in the game. Officially, that drive covered 94 yards in 17 plays.

UNC never needed to punt again. That was a good thing because Kiernan wouldn’t have been able to do his part.

Clearly UNC benefitted from the open date. Offensive plays looked crisp, starting with play up front. Hampton and British Brooks found some big holes to run through as the Tar Heels rushed for 202 yards.

The offensive line faced a tall order in pass protection given the Orange’s potent blitz schemes. But Maye was sacked just twice.

And when upright, the quarterback was lethal, completing 33-49 for 442 yards, the third 400 yard game in Maye’s career.

Maye spread the ball around, finding nine different receivers in the first quarter alone. He ultimately connected with eleven different pass catchers.

There were three touchdown passes and all were special. Maye hit Bryson Nesbit in the back of the end zone, leading him perfectly from 23 yards out. His touchdown pass to John Kopenhaver was something of a fling. Maye started running to his left, but abruptly stopped and make a basketball style push pass to the receiver in the end zone. And the 77 yard catch and run by Kobe Paysour featured a great play by the receiver. Maye’s pass was a little behind. Paysour tipped it to himself and took off.

UNC led 27-0 by halftime. Maye completed 23 passes in that time. Syracuse only ran 22 first half plays.

Carolina’s defense also enjoyed a banner afternoon. Mack Brown said post game defenders won battles, stayed in their gaps and made sure tackles. I agree.

The Tar Heels had a special focus on Garrett Shrader, one of the ACC’s most dangerous running quarterbacks. Shrader gained just 28 yards on 10 carries. 18 of those yards came on one play.

Syracuse averted a shutout when Umari Hatcher on 3rd & 15, outwrestled UNC’s Tayon Holloway for the football – a 34-yard play. The Orange caught a spark and quickly moved the other 44 yards in six plays. But that was it.

Because of the efficiency of UNC’s offense, Shrader and company spent long chunks of time on the sidelines. UNC won time of possession 37:16 to 22:44. Syracuse gained just 221 yards of total offense, about half of its season norm.

Radio analyst Deems May Saturday reflected on his days playing for Mack Brown. In the 1-10 years, May noted, Brown was compassionate. But when the Tar Heels started winning (7-4) in May’s senior season, practices became harder. Brown wanted to prevent complacency.

Here in 2023 May’s son, also named Deems, practices on the Tar Heel scout squad, whose job it will be this week to run Miami’s offense and defense. The elder May asked his son after the Tuesday practice before the Syracuse game how practice went. “He killed us,” the redshirt freshman responded. My guess is that in spite of the light hearted nature of Brown’s Monday press conference, UNC’s coaches will be even more demanding this week.

Everyone is raving about how good UNC was last Saturday. Meanwhile Miami will come to Chapel Hill determined to spring an upset after the last minute meltdown against Georgia Tech where Cristobal says simply “we did not play to our standards.”

The Canes’ standards are high. They easily beat a Texas A&M team that almost won at Alabama. Miami ranks first, or second in scoring, total offense, rushing and passing. The Canes ACC defensive stats are equally elite, especially with the return of safety Kam Kitchens.

Kitchens, who was badly injured in the Texas A&M game, is lightning quick. All American quick. But Miami puts 6’5 James Williams at the other safety. Williams intercepted a pass against Georgia Tech and Maye must be wary of the Canes’ safeties on deep balls. Miami has six interceptions on the season.

Miami did not play well on either side of the ball against Georgia Tech. My sense is the players lost focus a bit. After all, they were 4-0 and favored, greeted by an enthusiastic crowd. The team looked really amped up about their special uniforms for the game—all black with gaudy neon green and orange trim.

Also it rained most of the night. And perhaps because the ball was wet star quarterback Tyler Van Dyke did not play his best game, throwing three interceptions, and those led to points for GT’s struggling offense, which gained just 176 yards in the first 59 minutes.

Miami did not score in the game until the final play of the first half, when Andres Borregalas kicked a 30-yard field goal.

The Canes’ playmakers, wide receivers Xavier Restrepo and Jacoby George, plus running backs Chaney (103 yards) and Henry Parrish helped Van Dyke move the chains in the second half. Ultimately Miami took a 20-17 lead.

But all night long Miami was plagued by penalties. The Canes committed 6 for 80 yards, three of which handed first downs to Georgia Tech.

Cristobal summed it up this way: “We didn’t get it done. Now we’ve got to go on the road against an excellent football team.” Historically, this is exactly the kind of situation where Miami plays its best.

The Canes won’t be distracted by all the glitz at Hard Rock Stadium when as they take the field in Chapel Hill.

UNC should expect to see great execution from a team with very talented players.