North Carolina nearly pulled off a comeback for the ages Saturday night, falling six yards short of victory in its 30-24 loss to LSU at the Georgia Dome at the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff.
While the pregame talk was dominated by talk of the 13 players UNC held out of the game due to the ongoing NCAA and school investigations into the program, the postgame talk is now dominated by the "woulda-coulda" variety more familiar to sports fans who just witnessed a heart-stopping football game.
Down 30-10 with 11 minutes to play, UNC saw on-and-off quarterback T.J. Yates suddenly turn into Joe Montana. Yates ended up throwing for three touchdowns, zero interceptions and 412 yards in the game, with 221 of them going to Jheranie Boyd.
Boyd's 97-yard touchdown catch sparked the comeback, and then UNC scored again on a 14-yard pass with 2:32 to go to cut the margin to 30-24.
The Tar Heels then converted an onside kick, but seemed to have lost when LSU held them on downs on that series. But then UNC's defense caused a fumble, allowing Yates one last chance to march the Tar Heels down the field.
He got them to the 10, then tried to throw three straight times to senior tight end Zack Pianalto.
Pianalto caught the first for a four-yard gain. Then he got his hands on the last two in the end zone -- and dropped them both. In both cases, the coverage was tight, and on the final play, some UNC folks were screaming for interference, but Pianalto's postgame explanation was simple and stark.
"I dropped the first one," he said, "and then I dropped the next one."
Had Pianalto scored, a successful extra point would have given UNC a 31-30 win. Instead, the Tar Heels had a superb second half (outscoring LSU 14-0) and still fell short, although for awhile, anyway, they gave their fans a lot to think about besides an NCAA investigation.
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9 years ago
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20 comments:
GO GAMECOCKS! Too bad we didn't get to beat NC State in the opener. SEC RULES!
GARNET & BLACK!
Let's see who goes farther this season tarh0Le$!
gamecocks?? you gotta be kidding. Considering they have "played" football in Columbia for 100 years and never won anything, only a dummy would think this year will be any different. the other usc and the other Carolina is just the slapping B of the SEC.I agree the SEC rules, but usc only drools.
I've been very critical of Mr. Davis.
But, that was an effort for the ages. I'm very proud of the way the team played and came back from the dead to almost win this one.
I'm still no fan of the head coach, but even I'll have to admit he and his players put together a heroic effort tonight. Good job.
Most so called great high profile pampered spoiled recruits were hyped products of their local redundant media mice anyway who jump on bandwagons and have their own personal favs and agendas.
You can get the job done just as good with unsung backups.
Rule #1 -- Dont buy or be very wary of all the hype.
Davis needs to be canned anyway.
Davis doesn't need to be canned unless he is involved in the mess and so far there isn't anything to suggest that.
Davis is a very good coach and an a good recruiter. It falls on the kids to go to class. Every university deals with the same stuff.
I'm a UNC fan and I don't have my head in the sand far enough to think things haven't happened in the past that no one knew about.
It happens at other schools too. Just go online and see how many schools have added "Twitter" policies to keep the NCAA from poking around.
A side note...academic impropriety isn't covered by the NCAA, that's a school matter.
Yates has tunnel vision in these situations. For the team to successful in the red zone, Yates must look beyond Pianalto.
I guess you have to say "SEC rules" since the Gamecocks won't ever win anything.
Do Alabama and FL let USC fans come look at their trophies and tell them they couldn't have done it without the Gamecocks? How lame...do something for yourself and stop talking about your big brothers FL and Alabama.
Could Scott Fowler put any more sugar on a loss? 0-1 with GT up next, so 0-2.
To Fowler's credit, as a UNC grad he has still been highly critical of the off-field situation. As a UNC grad myself, I have been very disappointed by the situation. But I also think it is magnified by the fact that the University is dealing with it in an extremely serious matter. I am sure that in many situations, most schools would just play through it, knowing it is all going on, get the wins and then not worry about it when they get vacated two years later. Keep in mind that at many schools, the players don't have to cheat because the professors are in on the game to pass them so they stay eligible. That does not by any means justify cheating at Carolina but it helps to explain it because Carolina is at its core a truly academic institution with simply a strong athletic program.
UNC-CH: The most corrupt athletics department in the nation. Congratulations!
Do you think the UNC players comprehend the final score of the LSU game or do they need their special tutor to explain it to them?
To the poster above: Wow, posting the same joke on two different stories, you must think it's the most hilarious thing ever.
LSU won't win a single game in the SEC.
they are terrible
UNC-CH was lucky to play such a cupcake and poorly coached team
Hmmmmm. . . . .Let's see. This is the Panthers/NFL page. What is Scott Fowler's college football dribble doing taking up space here?
Excellant game by Coach Davis and the players. When I heard about the suspensions, as an LSU fan, I thought 'oh, now it will be easy.'
The fourth quarter design of the drives and play selection was amazing. Coach Davis is a good recruiter and a good coach. I hope the players get only a two game suspension. It will be interesting to watch the team with depth.
Congrats on a great game.
Yeah I guess LSU is no Western Carolina, Presbyterian, Elon or even Southern Miss for that matter. I am sure that they will get killed by Vandy next week so the Heels won't feel that great about coming back from 20 points down in the 4th quarter to almost beat them with their reserves, freshmen and walk-ons. Let's just wait and see.
Comeback that worked-ECU 51-Tulsa 49
WALK-ONS !!
PAY TO PLAY !!
School can save mega millions.
Cut the abuse of the system and the freebies OUT !!
Save the integrity of the the university and system since abuse and corruption affects ALL schools in America. Its all relative.
Anyone with half a brain knows this is the only real true answer to solving the ever growing corruption in college sports today that keeps getting worse and worse.
One good thing about walk-ons is they qualified honestly to be admitted into the university with no behind the scenes hanky panky and played the game.
The problem is out of hand and has been for decades and keeps getting worse. There are 1000s of excellent players who could play and are just as good or better than these highly touted spoiled pampered brats pumped by media know nothings.
Bring back integrity !! No more free lunches. Pay to play. Its a privlege NOT a right and it must be earned in the classroom and behavior in society !!
Fire the cheating coaches and administrators. Clean up the system. Time to take out the mountains of trash that stinks to high heaven.
Carolina must have good depth .
Bring back John Bunting who recruited this senier class.
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