By Bob Sutton

Whatever momentum North Carolina’s football team built across the past month was blown away in one day.

Boston College confused and controlled the Tar Heels in a 41–21 romp Saturday afternoon at Chestnut Hill, Mass.

It didn’t seem that close on a cold and damp New England day that probably just added to the Tar Heels’ misery.

“Awful,” North Carolina coach Mack Brown told Tar Heel Sports Network. “Our guys are disappointed. We are disappointed.”

Gone is a three-game winning streak.

North Carolina produced 212 yards of total offense and fell into whole that kept getting deeper.

The Tar Heels (6–5 overall, 3–4 ACC) will try to regroup before next Saturday’s regular-season finale against visiting N.C. State (5–6, 2–5).

Boston College (6–5, 3–4) reached bowl eligibility on a day when its offense and defense looked worthy.

The Tar Heels were stagnant offensively. Jacolby Criswell was picked off twice in the first half and three times total. He completed 16 of 30 throws for 176 yards.

“Too many sacks,” Brown said. “Jacolby didn’t have time to throw. So it was very, very frustrating and N.C. State will be really good on defense so we got to go home and figure that out.”

North Carolina produced only 77 yards of total offense in the first half, a startling number that was dented by four sacks. Even more pronounced were the number of snaps taken, with Boston College’s 44 plays compared to North Carolina’s 24.

Even running back Omarion Hampton wasn’t a factor. He had 30 of his 53 rushing yards in the second half, finishing with just 11 carries.

“When we got the ball, we couldn’t do anything with it,” Brown said.

It might have been worse if not for North Carolina’s third-quarter goal-line stand while facing a 27-7 deficit.

Trailing 17-0, North Carolina got a boost when it needed it with Chris Culliver’s 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

But the Eagles weren’t finished in the half, going up 24-7 with 40 seconds left on James’ 18-yard pass to Reed Harris.

The Tar Heels were behind 41–7 before their second and third touchdowns came on Davion Gause runs of 2 and 10 yards in the final 2:09. Those were the freshman’s first career touchdowns.

By then, it was far too late.

“You can’t put it all on the quarterback,” Brown said. “There’s a lot of other people who make mistakes, too.”

Early in the game, the Tar Heels received a boost from a former member of the team. Kamari Morales, who’s finishing his career with Boston College, couldn’t hang on for a third-down reception, halting the drive before Liam Connor’s 49-yard field goal for the first points of the game.

NOTES: The Tar Heels finished 3-2 in road games. … North Carolina’s five-game winning streak in the series ended. … It was the second 20-point setback of the season. The other came 70-50 to visiting James Madison in September.

BC 41, UNC 21

Month/ date	Opponent	Time/ score	TV/ record
August
29	at Minnesota	W, 19–17	1–0
September
7	vs. Charlotte	W, 38–20	2–0
14	vs. N.C. Central	W, 45–10	3–0
21	vs. James Madison	L, 70–50	3–1
28	at Duke	L, 21–20	3–2, 0–1 ACC
October
5	vs. No. 18 Pittsburgh	L, 34–24	3–3, 0–2
12	vs. Georgia Tech	L, 41–34	3–4, 0–3
26	at Virginia	W, 41–14	4–4, 1–3
November
2	at Florida State	W, 35–11	5–4, 2–3
16	vs. Wake Forest	W, 31–24	6–4, 3–3
23	at Boston College	L, 41–21	6–5, 3–4
30	vs. N.C. State	3:30	ACCN