By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — What most figured would be an easy night for No. 10 North Carolina turned into a frustrating evening of survival.

For most of the season, these Tar Heels looked like a team that could weather a bad day, but longtime UNC football fans were reminded again that it’s never that easy with this program.

Just when it looked like a huge break — a fumble that turned a play that could have given the Cavaliers an 11-point lead into a touchback — might flip the momentum, the Tar Heels fell short.

Carolina (6–1, 3–1 ACC) squandered its last chances with a fourth-and-12 incompletion and a Drake Maye interception with 1:12 left as Virginia (2–5, 1–2) held on for a stunning 31–27 victory Saturday night at Kenan Stadium.

“The crowd wasn’t as good as last week,” UNC coach Mack Brown said. “Absolutely no hype. Everybody said we’re gonna kill ’em. There are so many boxes that you can check. We did everything we could do until tonight, I thought, to get to where it needed to be. Somehow, we missed the message.”

It was UNC’s fourth consecutive loss as a top-10 team.

“I knew we were in trouble,” Brown said. “We weren’t stopping them; that’s why we went for the fourth-and-five. Drake usually makes it. Tonight was one of those nights.”

Maye made some big plays, but his accuracy issues and dropped passes contributed to UNC’s skittish offense. The UNC defense had its big moments but struggled most of the night, and that wasn’t helped by Virginia repeatedly getting excellent field position.

“We hung in there and had a chance to win at the end even with as many mistakes we made and as much as they kept the ball,” Brown said. “If you don’t get the ball away from them, you’re not gonna win the game. We dropped more passes than I’ve ever seen us drop since I’ve been here, and we were inconsistent.

“Again, on critical plays, they made the plays and we didn’t,” Brown said. “I am disappointed tonight that we didn’t play about like we did last year against him. Our guys played hard but we just didn’t make plays. Now, we have to go back to work and go to Georgia Tech next week.”

For the second consecutive game, the trio of Maye (347 yards passing), running back Omarion Hampton (112 rushing yards) and wide receiver Tez Walker (146 reception yards and one touchdown) put up good numbers, but they weren’t enough to add up to a victory.

“I felt all week that we had really good energy and prepared well,” said Maye, who was 24 of 48 with two touchdowns and one interception. “Coach Brown was preaching all day not to be overcome with success and it ended up having it bite us. It happened to be one of those games where things didn’t go our way.”

It was Maye’s first game this season when he didn’t complete more than half his passes. After completing more than 70% in the first five games, he only connected on 51.5% against Miami before the 50% rate against the Cavaliers.

“I think it’s disappointing,” Maye said. “I wouldn’t say crushing. I think we gave a lot of things to look forward to and some big-time games coming up near the end of the season. This is going to feed us as we try to make something special here. Obviously, you hate to see that at the same time. We still have a lot of things in reach. I have to do my job and get these guys ready. I have to get the offense ready and get back after Georgia Tech.”

Halftime adjustments flipped a halftime deficit against Miami into a comfortable win. Virginia wasn’t going to allow any comfort and kept plugging away against the Tar Heels.

“Virginia had a plan,” UNC’s Kaimon Rucker said. “They stuck to the split outside zone plays and they were very successful off of them. Virginia came to play and we didn’t.”

It didn’t help that offensive linemen Spencer Roland and Willie Lampkin got hurt.

Hampton continued his relentless running that makes him one of the best running backs in the country at gaining yards after contact. The ACC’s leading rusher ran for more than 100 yards in consecutive games for the first time. But he got only five second-half carries.

Virginia only had to drive 51 yards and 46 yards to score on two of its first three drives with the help of fourth-down conversions to take leads of 7–0 and 14–7 on tailback Mike Hollins’ touchdown runs of 11 and 3 yards.

In between those Cavaliers scores, Maye connected on a 25-yard touchdown pass to Tez Walker on a slant out of the slot, an impressive effort on both ends, for Maye’s 500th career completion.

Carolina tied it in the first minute of the second quarter when Maye connected with Bryson Nesbit down the left sideline. The junior tight end ran the last 39 yards past a few Cavaliers defenders on a 62-yard scoring play, his longest career reception.

UNC cornerback Armani Chapman foiled Virginia’s bid for another short scoring drive when he stepped in front of Cavs wide receiver Malachi Fields for an interception in the end zone. Chapman’s second interception of the season ended a drive that started at the Carolina 49.

Noah Burnette gave UNC a 17–14 lead with a 43-yard field goal as the first half ended. The ball just cleared the crossbar as he became the first Tar Heels kicker to make his first 10 attempts since Connor Barth in 2016.

After UNC stopped Virginia on a fourth-and-2 at the UNC 41 on the initial second-half drive, the Tar Heels drove 60 yards for a 3-yard Maye touchdown run, his fifth of the season and 12th of his career.

Virginia tied it with a 74-yard drive for Hollins’ third scoring run, this one from a yard out, and a 45-yard Will Bettridge field goal after a 16-yard punt from UNC’s Tom Maginness.

UNC retook the lead on a 27-yard Burnette field goal with 12:08 left, but took a four-point edge on a 14-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tony Muskett to Malik Washington just over three minutes later.

Carolina got a huge beak when Chapman stripped Hollins of the ball as he was headed to the end zone, and the ball rolled out of the end zone for a touchback. But UNC’s drive ended when Maye couldn’t connect with Walker on a fourth-and-12 at the Virginia 20.

UNC’s last shot ended when Maye was hurried by Paul Akere and James Jackson snagged the interception with 26 seconds left.

NOTES — Carolina visits Georgia Tech at 8 p.m. Saturday (ACC Network). The Yellow Jackets (3–4, 2–2) lost at home Saturday to Boston College 38–23. … UNC linebacker Sabastian Cheeks (lower body) and place-kicker Liam Boyd (lower body) missed the game. … UNC leads the all-time series 66–58–4, including 33-15-3 at home. … Carolina has scored 32 times in 37 drives in the red zone this season. The Tar Heels have scored 21 TDs and have made 11 field goals when advancing into the red zone. … For the first time since 2021, the Tar Heels had a 100-yard receiver and a 100-yard rusher in back-to-back games.

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Virginia 31, No. 10 UNC 27

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ACC standings

Team	ACC	All
X — No. 5 Florida State	8–0	12–0
X — No. 9 Louisville	7–1	10–2
N.C. State	6–2	9–3
Georgia Tech	5–3	6–6
Virginia Tech	5–3	6–6
Clemson	4–4	8–4
North Carolina	4–4	8–4
Duke	4–4	7–5
Miami	3–5	7–5
Boston College	3–5	6–6
Syracuse	2–6	6–6
Pittsburgh	2–6	3–9
Virginia	2–6	3–9
Wake Forest	1–7	4–8

Friday’s result
Miami 45, Boston College 20
Saturday’s games
Kentucky 38, No. 9 Louisville 31
Duke 30, Pittsburgh 19
Syracuse 35, Wake Forest 31
No. 1 Georgia 31, Georgia Tech 23
Virginia Tech 55, Virginia 17
Clemson 16, South Carolina 7
No. 5 Florida State 24, Florida 15
N.C. State 39, North Carolina 20
Next Saturday’s ACC championship game in Charlotte
No. 9 Louisville vs. No. 5 Florida State, 8 p.m., ABC

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UNC schedule

Month/ date	Opponent/event	2023 record	UNC record in series
April
20	Spring game, 3 p.m.	—	—
August
29 (Thurs.)	at Minnesota	6–7	1–0
September
7	Charlotte	3–9	0–0
14	N.C. Central	9–3	0–0
21	James Madison	11–2	3–0
28	at Duke	8–5	65–40–4
October
5	Pittsburgh	3–9	12–5
12	Georgia Tech	7–6	22–33–3
26	at Virginia	3–9	66–58–4
November
2	at Florida State	13–1	3–17–1
16	Wake Forest	4–8	72–36–2
23	at Boston College	7–6	6–2
30	N.C. State	9–4	68–39–6

Photo via @UNCFootball