Fumbles doom UNC in heartbreaking loss at Cal

R.L. Bynum

By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina showed progress and was competitive against a power conference team for the first time this season, but two big fumbles meant yet another loss.

California held on for a 21–18 victory over Carolina on Friday night at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., after wide receiver Nathan Leacock fumbled just before he was about to score the go-ahead touchdown with 3:48 left.

Instead, the Tar Heels (2–4, 0–2 ACC), who had lost only two fumbles this season before Friday, have lost three games in a row.

“The team competed hard, and just turned the ball over a couple times, and those are obviously tough to overcome,” UNC coach Bill Belichick told the Tar Heel Sports Network. “There’s a lot of other things we could have done better. Didn’t go our way today.”

Leacock had caught a 13-yard pass from quarterback Gio Lopez, who started for UNC and went the whole way. But Cal’s Brent Austin punched the ball out of Leacock’s hands just before he broke the plane of the goal line, and it was instead a touchback.

“We did enough things to win, but we did too many things to lose, so we have to eliminate the losing,” Belichick said. “I thought we played competitively on all three phases of the game, and we just need to do a few things better than we did.”

A big positive was the outstanding day for UNC wide receiver Kobe Paysour, who had six catches for a career-high 101 yards, including a 37-yard gain, to go over 1,000 yards for his career. Carolina running back Benjamin Hall, a Michigan transfer, had 14 carries for a career-high 68 yards and a touchdown, including an 18-yard run.

Lopez had his moments and did well at times with play action, taking the snap under center and finding his rhythm at times, but ended up 18 of 34 for 174 yards and a 95.9 passer rating.

Carolina got a big defensive game from defensive back Will Hardy (seven tackles, including three solos), with Kamari House, Jaiden Patterson and Kaleb Cost contributing five tackles each. But the unit, which stuck to man coverage for most of the game, gave up too many big plays on third-and-longs.

UNC fumbled on the first play of the game, after another completed pass, to lead to a touchdown for Cal (5–2, 2–1) just 72 seconds into the game. Shanard Clower lost the ball after making the catch, leading to a three-yard touchdown run from Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele.

The Tar Heels had decent field position for their next two drives at the UNC 34 and the Cal 42, but went 3-and-out both times.

UNC finally got its initial first down with most of the offensive linemen positioned far away from the center, with Lopez connecting on a 37-yard pass to Paysour. Three plays later, Hall ran through the left side of the line for an 18-yard touchdown run to tie it.

Cal quickly responded, going 75 yards in 12 plays for a 7-yard TD pass from Sagapolutele to Jacob DeJesus late in the first quarter, and UNC got a 41-yard Rece Verhoff field goal with 6:14 left in the first half.

The teams traded short touchdown runs in the second half, with Kendrick Raphael scoring on a two-yard play for Cal with 9:22 left in the third quarter and Davion Gause earning a TD on a four-yard run with 12:14 remaining in the game.

NOTES — The Tar Heels return home next weekend to face No. 18 Virginia at noon Saturday (ACC Network). The Cavaliers (5–1, 3–0) host 3–3 Washington State at 6:30 Saturday night (The CW). … UNC had double-digit points at halftime (10) for the first time against a power-conference team. …Carolina fell to 2–4 in California, with its fourth consecutive loss in the state. … UNC fell to 0–3 against Cal, including two losses in Berkeley. … After the Tar Heels’ fifth consecutive loss on a Friday, they are 2–9 all-time. They play at Syracuse on the last Friday of this month. … Cal outgained Carolina in total yards 294–287. … UNC was 5 of 14 on third-down conversions and converted twice on fourth down.

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Cal 21, UNC 18

TeamACCAll
No. 16 Virginia7–110–2
No. 12 Miami6–210–2
No. 25 SMU6–28–4
No. 24 Georgia Tech6–29–3
Pittsburgh6–28–4
Duke6–27–5
Louisville4–48–4
Wake Forest4–48–4
California4–47–5
Clemson4–47–5
N.C. State4–47–5
Stanford3–54–8
Florida State2–65–7
North Carolina2–64–8
Virginia Tech2–63–9
Syracuse1–73–9
Boston College1–72–10

Friday’s result
No. 4 Georgia 16, No. 24 Georgia Tech 9
Saturday’s results
N.C. State 42, North Carolina 19
No. 12 Miami 38, Pittsburgh 7
Louisville 41, Kentucky 0
Clemson 28, South Carolina 14
Boston College 34, Syracuse 12
Duke 49, Wake Forest 32
Florida 40, Florida State 21
No. 16 Virginia 27, Virginia Tech 7
California 38, No. 25 SMU 35
No. 9 Notre Dame 49, Stanford 20
Saturday’s ACC championship game
No. 16 Virginia vs. Duke in Charlotte, 8 p.m., ABC

TeamACCAll
No. 16 Virginia7–110–2
No. 12 Miami6–210–2
No. 25 SMU6–28–4
No. 24 Georgia Tech6–29–3
Pittsburgh6–28–4
Duke6–27–5
Louisville4–48–4
Wake Forest4–48–4
California4–47–5
Clemson4–47–5
N.C. State4–47–5
Stanford3–54–8
Florida State2–65–7
North Carolina2–64–8
Virginia Tech2–63–9
Syracuse1–73–9
Boston College1–72–10

Friday’s result
No. 4 Georgia 16, No. 24 Georgia Tech 9
Saturday’s results
N.C. State 42, North Carolina 19
No. 12 Miami 38, Pittsburgh 7
Louisville 41, Kentucky 0
Clemson 28, South Carolina 14
Boston College 34, Syracuse 12
Duke 49, Wake Forest 32
Florida 40, Florida State 21
No. 16 Virginia 27, Virginia Tech 7
California 38, No. 25 SMU 35
No. 9 Notre Dame 49, Stanford 20
Saturday’s ACC championship game
No. 16 Virginia vs. Duke in Charlotte, 8 p.m., ABC

UNC schedule

Month/
date		Score/
time		Opponent
August
29TBAvs.TCU in Dublin, Ireland
September
12TBAvs. ETSU
19TBAat Clemson
October
3TBAvs. Notre Dame
10TBAat Pittsburgh
17TBAat Duke
24TBAvs. Syracuse
31TBAvs. Miami
November
7TBAat UConn
14TBAvs. Louisville
21TBAat Virginia
28TBAvs. N.C. State
December
5noon,
ABC		ACC championship
game in Charlotte

Photo via @UNCFootball

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Published by R.L. Bynum

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