North Carolina Gets Derailed by Appalachian State
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Another week, and another up-and-down performance for the North Carolina Tar Heels that came down to a heart-pounding final drive that did not go their way.
With five seconds left, Appalachian State Mountaineers senior linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither blocked a 56-yard field goal attempt by Carolina sophomore kicker Noah Ruggles to seal the deal on a 34-31 victory over their in-state rivals.
The Tar Heels (2-2, ACC 1-0) didn’t deserve to win this game, and the Mountaineers (3-0) were the better team today.
“We’re trying to figure out who we are,” said Tar Heel head coach Mack Brown. “And I said, ‘You guys, it seems like when bad things happen you do this (dropped head). And you get down, and that doesn’t work in life, and that doesn’t work in football. It’s something you can’t do. The harder things get, the more animated you got to be, and the more you have to pull together instead of split apart.’ There are some scars there that we gotta overcome, and they get themselves together. And they get back in the game, and they get behind, and they get back in the game.
“It’s disappointing because they really tried to do everything we asked them to do. …They’re really, really good kids who want to win and we gotta get them playing all the time. Instead of playing like this (up and down) and that’s our job as coaches. Even in the two games we won, we jump out 17-3 with Miami, then we go down, and we get back up, and we get back down. Those are things we just got to do. We had the ball 89 snaps (82). If we don’t have the three turnovers, we win the game easily.”
North Carolina has a date with the No. 1 Clemson Tigers (4-0) next Saturday, Sept. 28 in Kenan Stadium. Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown is content with his team splitting the first four games. Is the inconsistent play a part of Carolina’s ride to long-term success, or a malfunction that can lead to disastrous free fall.
“We gotta start off faster,” said Carolina sophomore running back Javonte Williams who led the Tar Heels in rushing with 96 yards, “and anybody can be beaten any day and just come out ready to go because I feel like we came out like a roller coaster. We were up-and-down; and I feel like as a team, we just gotta stay level-headed and keep going up the whole game.”
North Carolina had 469 yards over total offense compared to the Mountaineers’ 385 yards. They also outscored their opponent in the fourth quarter for the fourth consecutive game.
“It would look like playing consistently well instead of having great plays and bad plays,” Brown said when asked about his goal for his team’s identity. We gotta just get to a point where we are who we are – it doesn’t matter who we play. We play the same way every play. We don’t have mental mistakes, and we are in great shape obviously, so that’s not an issue for us, but now we gotta get over this hump of being inconsistent and start playing consistently good with confidence.”
(Feature image courtesy of Landon Bost)