By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — Carolina traded offensive punches with the nation’s top-ranked team, only to be undone by the game’s only turnover.
Miami’s strip-sack of Billy Edwards Jr. with 5½ minutes left led to the game-clinching score as the No. 1 Hurricanes survived with a 38–35 victory Saturday night at Kenan Stadium.
One week after a heartbreaking loss to Syracuse, UNC (4–4, 2–3 ACC) can only wonder what could have been after it gave Miami (8–0, 6–0) all it could handle in its most impressive effort of the season.
“A lot of toughness, a lot of mental toughness, a lot of competitiveness, and just disappointing to come up short here two weeks in a row,” UNC coach Bill Belichick said.
UNC kept fighting as Edwards hit Trech Kekahuna with a 15-yard touchdown pass with 1:38 left to pull within three, but couldn’t get three onside-kick attempts to work.
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Edwards (28 of 34, 341 yards and a career-high four touchdowns) had one of the most efficient games of his career, consistently making the big passes and distributing them to nine receivers, with huge games from running back Jaylen McGill (career-highs of six catches for 69 yards) and tight end Jelani Thurman (five catches, 70 yards, two touchdowns).
“We did some good things, but we didn’t do enough to win,” said Edwards, who set season-highs in completions
(28), completion percentage (82%) and yards (341). “So going to get back in here, watch the tape, try and build on it, and go get ready to play a good UConn team next week.”
Carolina was 8-of-11 on third down and 2-of-2 on fourth down, repeatedly coming through with big plays.
But Miami was as advertised on offense, with quarterback Darian Mensah (22 of 29, 274 yards, three TDs) impressive against more pressure than he probably expected from UNC. Star wide receiver Malachi Toney was was mostly held in check (7 catches, 75 yards; his second-lowest total this season) and running back Mark Fletcher ran for 43 yards and two touchdowns.
Belichick pointed to the way the Tar Heels teach their quarterback to read coverages rather than lock onto a favorite target to explain why Edwards distributed the ball to so many receivers. The idea, he said, is for Edwards to find whoever the defense leaves open on a given snap.
“We don’t throw the ball to one receiver,” Belichick said. “Sometimes on a screen pass we do, but we don’t just say, ‘Oh, we’re going to throw it to this guy.’ We run the pattern based on the coverage.”
Belichick said the decision-making process is the same on every play, even if the answer changes from snap to snap.
“We throw the ball to the guy that has the most opportunity to catch it based on the coverage and the read that he gets, and there are different reads on different plays,” Belichick said. “That’s what he’s supposed to do. That’s what he did do. That’s what he should do.”
Belichick was more reserved when asked to single out Edwards for his performance, offering only that the quarterback “has been doing a solid job for us.”
Miami took the opening kickoff 74 yards in 13 plays for a two-yard Mensah-to-Toney touchdown pass, with Toney dragging his toes in bounds, their fourth connection of the drive.
UNC sandwiched a pair of Thurman touchdown receptions around a 31-yard touchdown reception by Miami’s Fletcher, who caught a short pass and dashed down the sideline to make it 14–14 with two minutes left in the first half.
Edwards’ first connection with Thurman, ending an 84-yard, 11-play drive, came on a run-pass option play for eight yards with 11:50 left in the first half after Edwards faked a handoff to Benjamin Hall. That followed completions to Boomer Helton for 10 and 9 yards and to Shipp for 15 yards.
Thurman’s second TD came on a 12-play, 75-yard drive: an eight-yard pass on a third-and-goal. Edwards threaded it between two defenders, prompting a “Thriller” celebration from Thurman.
“He’s big. He’s fast. He’s a big target. It’s hard to overthrow him,” Belichick said of Thurman. “He’s got a great radius, and he’s good after the catch.”
A 40-yard reception by Cooper Barkate pushed Miami to the UNC 9, but the Hurricanes settled for a 25-yard Jake Weinberg field goal with 22 seconds left and a 17–14 halftime lead.
Carolina scored on 75-yard drives (eight plays and 16 plays) on its first two second-half drives, with Miami scoring in between.
Edwards connected with Thurman on 23- and 21-yard passes before finding Jordan Shipp on a 16-yard touchdown pass on the first drive.
The distribution to nine receivers reflected an offense that kept finding options beyond its most frequent targets, with receivers and running backs staying involved throughout the night.
“We have a ton of playmakers, so just trying to keep everybody engaged in the game,” Edwards said. “You never know when guys are going to have to make plays.”
One play after a questionable pass-interference call against Jaiden Patterson in the end zone, Fletcher stormed in on a two-yard scoring run for Miami. Lip-reading TV viewers could see Belichick react by yelling, “Oh, F that.”
On the second UNC scoring drive after halftime, a holding penalty against left guard Andrew Threatt wiped out a 12-yard Hall touchdown run. But a Demon June reception got Carolina a half-yard from the goal line, and he ran it in from there on the next play to take a 28–24 edge with 11:46 left.
Miami took a 31–28 lead less than four minutes later when Fletcher ran in from two yards on a fourth-and-one for his third touchdown.
McGill’s 22-yard reception jump-started what looked like a promising drive before Marquise Lightfoot hit Edwards on a strip-sack, and Justin Scott recovered the fumble for the Canes at the UNC 37.
Edwards said he had tried to work back to a checkdown after Miami squeezed his initial options. The play left Carolina needing a defensive stop to keep the deficit at three.
“It wasn’t perfect on our part,” Belichick said. “We could have done a better job executing the play.”
The game-changing play was Elija Lofton’s catch on a second-and-eight. It looked like he would be tripped up on a short gain, but he broke multiple tackles to go 12 yards for a first down. The dagger was Toney’s nine-yard TD reception with 2:33 left.
Edwards led UNC to the Kekahuna score on a five-play, 75-yard drive in 55 seconds, trimming the deficit to three.
Coleman Bryson recovered two onside attempts, but the first was nullified by an offside penalty and the second wiped away because Peyton Seelmann made contact with a Miami player too early. Miami recovered the third onside kick try before it could go 10 yards and ran the clock out.
“I just kind of just assumed the ball was right there,” Seelmann, who had a sack for the second consecutive game, said of the second attempt. “So, I just went out to hit him, and it was a little too early.”
Carolina was left with another narrow loss and four regular-season games remaining. Its offense had shown how much it could accomplish against the nation’s top-ranked team, but Edwards measured the night by the opportunity that slipped away.
The four touchdown passes and 35 points offered little consolation to a quarterback who had put UNC within reach of its biggest victory of the season.
“People are going to be patting the offense on the back,” Edwards said. “Well, we didn’t score enough points to win the game.”
Notes
— UNC goes on the road Saturday to play UConn (4–4) in its final nonconference game at noon (CBS Sports Network). The Huskies lost 35–26 at Air Force on Saturday after winning their previous two games.
— Carolina’s 341 passing yards were a season best, and the most allowed by Miami’s defense all season.
— The Tar Heels’ 14 first-half points tied the most allowed by Miami in an opening half this season.
— It was the first time in Belichick’s coaching career, in the NFL and at UNC, that his team scored 35 points and lost.
— Edwards’ 152 first-half passing yards were the second-most by UNC in a half this season (156 yards against ETSU in first half were the most).
— June is the first Tar Heel with a rushing touchdown in four-straight games since Omarion Hampton in 2023 (at Georgia Tech, vs. Campbell, vs. Duke in 2 OT, at Clemson).
— Linebacker Derek McDonald led the Tar Heels with 11 tackles, his sixth game this season with 10-or-more tackles.
— Defensive back Kaleb Cost and running back Benjamin Hall returned to action after missing games with injuries.
— Defensive back Kenton Dopson III led the Tar Heels with six solo tackles
— Fletcher set a Miami program record with his 36th touchdown pass, breaking a tie with Edgerrin James and Stephen McGuire.
— Miami snapped a five-game losing streak against UNC and cut its deficit in the all-time series to 14–12, including 7–4 at home.
No. 1 Miami 38, UNC 35
| Team | ACC | All |
|---|---|---|
| No. 1 Miami | 6–0 | 8–0 |
| No. 14 Wake Forest | 5–1 | 7–1 |
| No. 19 SMU | 4–2 | 6–2 |
| Louisville | 4–2 | 5–3 |
| Duke | 3–2 | 6–2 |
| Virginia Tech | 3–2 | 6–2 |
| Clemson | 3–2 | 5–3 |
| Pittsburgh | 3–3 | 6–3 |
| Boston College | 2–3 | 4–4 |
| North Carolina | 2–3 | 4–4 |
| N.C. State | 2–3 | 4–4 |
| Syracuse | 2–4 | 4–4 |
| Stanford | 2–4 | 4–5 |
| Virginia | 2–4 | 4–5 |
| California | 2–4 | 3–6 |
| Florida State | 1–4 | 3–5 |
| Georgia Tech | 1–4 | 2–6 |
Saturday’s results
No. 1 Miami 38, North Carolina 35
Duke 47, Boston College 2
N.C. State 31, California 10
Syracuse 30, No. 19 SMU 27
Louisville 52, Stanford 24
No. 14 Wake Forest 51, Virginia 7
Clemson 36, Florida State 24
Pittsburgh 34, Georgia Tech 11
Friday’s game
Virginia Tech at No. 19 SMU, 7 p.m., ESPN
Saturday’s games
North Carolina at UConn, noon, CBSSN
Clemson at Syracuse, noon, ESPN2
Florida State at Boston College, noon, ACCN
Duke at N.C. State, 12:30, The CW
Merrimack at No. 14 Wake Forest, 3:30, ACCN
No. 1 Miami at No. 5 Notre Dame, 7:30, NBC
Louisville at Georgia Tech, 7:30, ACCN
| Month/ date | Score/ time | Opponent (current ranking) | Record/TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| August | |||
| 29 | W, 15–10 | vs.TCU in Dublin | 1–0 |
| September | |||
| 12 | W, 35–3 | vs. ETSU | 2–0 |
| 19 | L, 28–20 | at Clemson | 2–1, 0–1 ACC |
| October | |||
| 3 | L, 37–26 | vs. No. 5 Notre Dame | 2–2 |
| 10 | W, 21–18 | at Pittsburgh | 3–2, 1–1 |
| 17 | W, 24–20 | at Duke | 4–2, 2–1 |
| 24 | L, 31–30, OT | vs. Syracuse | 4–3, 2–2 |
| 31 | L, 38–35 | vs. No. 1 Miami | 4–4, 2–3 |
| November | |||
| 7 | Noon | at UConn | CBSSN |
| 14 | TBA | vs. Louisville | TBA |
| 21 | TBA | at Virginia | TBA |
| 28 | TBA | vs. N.C. State | TBA |
Photos by Smith Hardy
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