By Doc Kennedy

I’ve written this column (or a version of it) for over a decade. Sometimes, it writes itself, sometimes there’s a search to put things in the right slots, and sometimes there’s a wait until the clock hits zero to have it come together.

And sometimes there is a Saturday night.

The 110th meeting between Duke and North Carolina was certainly one that has likely never been seen before in the history of the rivalry. UNC dominated the game early but was nursing a small lead on the scoreboard until the first play of the fourth quarter, when the Tar Heels went up 12 at 26–14 on an Omarion Hampton touchdown run. Then the game went to plaid.

After amassing less than 150 yards and two touchdowns through three quarters, Duke exploded for almost 200 yards and three scores in the fourth quarter alone. The last two minutes of the final period saw a touchdown for each team and a game-tying field goal. Then, in the overtimes, the two teams swapped field goals and touchdowns, with the difference being Carolina’s successful two-point conversion in the second overtime and the Heels escaped with a 47–45 win.

Heart rates and stress levels soared as Carolina scored on eight of its 10 possessions in regulation, punted only once, and had just one turnover, and yet had to kick a 43-yard field goal as time expired just to force overtime. Late in the game, it looked like UNC was headed to its fifth loss of its last seven defeats in which the Heels had a double-digit, second-half lead. In the end, however, Mack Brown walked away with his 13th straight win in this series, dating back to his first tenure in Chapel Hill.

With that in mind, here is the “did that really just happen” edition of the Good, Bad, and Ugly Report:

Good

Drake Maye

In what was likely to be his last game in Kenan Stadium, Maye threw for 342 yards, a touchdown in the second overtime, and what would turn out to be the winning two-point conversion, plus he ran for two more scores. Moreover, Maye was a magician on a number of occasions, including the two-point winner to John Copenhaver as he escaped pressure to complete the pass.

Omarion Hampton

Hampton continued to make his case as the ACC’s best running back, notching 216 yards of total offense. Hampton rushed for 169 yards and a score, plus caught 8 passes for 47 yards.

Tez Walker

Walker had a fantastic night as UNC’s deep threat, hauling in seven receptions for 162 yards.

Noah Burnette

Again, after losing the starting job in the offseason, Burnette has made the most of his second chance and tied a school record with six field goals, including the game-tying 43-yarder as time expired in regulation. Burnette is 20 of 21 on field goals and is perfect on extra points for the season.

Bad

Red-zone chances

What happens when the ACC’s best red zone offense meets the ACC’s best red zone defense? Duke got the better of that matchup by holding the Tar Heels to five field goals on nine trips inside the 15-yard line, including the potential game-winner in the first overtime. While the Blue Devils didn’t stop Carolina on any of those trips, trading three points for seven adds up (especially five times), and if UNC converts on just one of those, maybe the game doesn’t go to overtime.

Questionable coaching decisions

One of the luxuries as a fan is to question the coaching decisions that occur over the course of the game. On offense, in a three-possession run during the aforementioned red-zone touchdown drought, Hampton, arguably the conference’s best back, only touched the ball four times in 14 plays and never after first down. On the fourth-and-7 play from the 30 during Duke’s final possession in regulation, with the game on the line, UNC brought pressure and left the Blue Devils receivers facing only man coverage with no safety help. Grayson Loftis, Duke’s third-team QB, easily found Jordan Moore for the go-ahead score. Offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey faced criticism after the Virginia game when Hampton disappeared from the game plan, and defensive coordinator Gene Chizik’s “bend but don’t break” philosophy has broken three times in the last four games.

Ugly

Special teams

With the exception of Burnette’s field-goal kicking, UNC’s special teams have been a dumpster fire for most of the season, giving up three crucial plays that led to two of Duke’s touchdowns. First, Doc Chapman muffed a fair catch at the 1-yard line rather than letting the ball bounce into the end zone. On the next play, Maye threw an interception and gave Duke a short field on which they scored a touchdown and took their first lead (and for why Maye was throwing from the 1-yard line rather than Hampton bulling the ball out of the end zone, see above). Next, UNC was entirely unprepared for a fake punt on fourth-and-8, earning the Devils a first down but fortunately didn’t hurt the Tar Heels. And with Carolina reeling from the first of three fourth quarter scores, Duke launched an onside kick, again for which UNC was completely unprepared. And while Tom Maginnes only punted once for 38 yards, it hardly flipped the field. It seems that every week, there is a special-teams breakdown that hurt the Heels.

Fourth-quarter defense

UNC has given up 74 points in the fourth quarter and overtime in its last four conference games, costing the Heels games against Virginia and Georgia Tech, and nearly costing them the Duke and Miami games. Carolina doesn’t even look like the same team down the stretch and has only offered token resistance for much of those four games. With three guaranteed remaining games on the schedule, a solution needs to be found for that, and quickly.

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There’s an old adage about preferring to win ugly than lose pretty. But I’m not sure you can describe a night where your offense scores 10 times in 12 possessions against one of the league’s better defenses, your QB throws for more than 300 yards and scores three times, and your workhorse back has more than 200 yards of total offense as ugly. What is clear is that there is still work to do as Carolina finishes its season on the road against two teams that would appear to have shaken their mid-season funks. Clemson kept things rolling after their win over Notre Dame with a shellacking of Georgia Tech, while N.C. State has won three in a row and will travel to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech before hosting the Tar Heels in the season finale. UNC still has an outside shot at going to Charlotte for the ACC championship game if they get some help. But more important is the shot at a 10-win regular season and two quality wins to end the year. Work to do indeed.

Doc Kennedy is an alum and longtime UNC fan, and a former high school and college basketball coach who wrote this report for years on Tar Heel Blog.

Photo via @UNCFootball