With the game tied with 1:32 to play, UConn left guard Dan Ryan was called for holding UNC defensive end Robert Quinn in the end zone for a safety, and the Tar Heels’ defense held off the Huskies in the final minute and a half to escape Rentschler Field with a 12-10 win.
“We were very fortunate to win this game,” Davis said. “But to make some of that fortunate happen, a lot of things had to happen. Our kids had to keep competing and playing hard and they spilled their guts out there every single snap.”
It was a defensive struggle for most of the game as neither team could get much going on offense. Both teams had two turnovers apiece and the Huskies finished with just 196 of offense. The Tar Heels recorded 268 yards of offense, but 155 of those yards came on their final two drives, which resulted in a Casey Barth field goal and a 2-yard touchdown pass from T.J. Yates touchdown to Zack Pianalto.
“It’s kind of hard to get in a rhythm and get things going when your offense sputters like that,” said Yates, who was sacked six times. “We tried almost everything we had, threw everything we had at them, just sometimes you’ve got to go back to the basics, trust your conditioning, trust that you worked harder than the other team in the offseason and that we were going to prevail.”
The Huskies led 10-0 at the start of the fourth thanks to a field goal right before halftime and a touchdown run at the end of the third. But after stalling for much of the game, the Tar Heels offense seemed to find some life on its final two drives. After UConn’s touchdown run, UNC got the ball back on its own 17, and Yates directed the march down field with five passes totaling 67 yards. But UNC couldn’t get any closer than the 4-yard line and settled for a 22-yard field goal.
“We kept on our same game plan even in the fourth quarter,” Yates said. “We tried different things and went back to our original game plan, just kind of pound it down the field in those last two drives. It was really effective.”
UNC forced a Huskie punt on the ensuing possession and got the ball back on their own 24. Again Yates, helped by running back Ryan Houston, directed the drive. Houston had 32 rushing yards on the possession, and Yates accounted for 55 passing yards, including a 2-yard reception to Pianalto to tie the score at 10-10 with 2:33 remaining.
But as the junior tight end was celebrating his second career touchdown he came down hard on his right foot and had to be carted off the field. He said he had a sub talar dislocation and didn’t know how long he would be out.
Pianalto broke his left leg on the first touchdown reception of his career last season against Georgia Tech.
“Honestly, I don’t even really know what happened,” said Pianalto, who finished as UNC’s top receiver with seven catches for 87 yards. “I can’t wait to see the footage. I scored and just kind of started jogging back. And it seemed to either give out or I stepped on somebody’s foot – I don’t know what happened.”
With the score tied and the clock winding down, it appeared the game would be headed to overtime, until UNC’s defense stepped up once again. UConn faced a 3-and-22 from its own 8 and gave the ball to tailback Jordan Todman out of the end zone, but flags flew at the end of his 16-yard run. Ryan had pulled Quinn down in the end zone for a hold and the play resulted in a safety to put UNC up 12-10 with 1:32 remaining.
“I knew I beat him around the corner, and it felt like I got pulled down,” Quinn said. “But I just kept going. I’m just trying to make plays and then I saw the flags.”
But the drama wasn’t over as the Huskies recovered the ensuing onside kick and began to move down the field until UNC’s defense made a couple key plays – including a sack – forcing the Huskies turned the ball over on downs.
“Clearly our defense played very, very well today,” Davis said. “They took the field after turnovers and handled the sudden change situations. …They kept giving us chances in hopes that our offense would gets some momentum and a little bit of traction.”
NOTES – North Carolina quarterback T.J. Yates became just the fifth player in UNC history to throw for 4,000 yards. …Coach Butch Davis improves to 3-1 against Big East teams.
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