CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — One stop. That's what North Carolina needed when Virginia took possession with 2:51 left in the game. And that's what it thought it had. But on a fourth-and-3, Virginia ran a risky fake punt that it converted when Keytaon Thompson rushed off the right side for five yards.
The first down secured the Cavaliers 44-41 victory on a night when the Tar Heels defense seemingly couldn't get a stop. Virginia moved to 2-4, 2-4 ACC while Carolina (4-2, 4-2) dropped its second road game.
A familiar theme for Carolina, besides Cavaliers scoring drives, was its own self-sabotaging plays. A bad snap. A sack here. A penalty there. And that was before it ever turned the ball over, but that happened too.
Consider, the Tar Heels drove 69 yards in just 62 seconds with no timeouts just before the half. A pass interference penalty gave them the ball at the UVA 2 with 12 seconds left. But their final play of the half was Sam Howell throwing backwards to Dazz Newsome. When Newsome didn't make the catch, it was considered a live ball. Although UNC did recover, there wasn't enough time to line up and run another play.
The half ended with the Heels down a touchdown, but the Cavaliers quickly made the deficit 21 points after their first two possessions in the third quarter. They opened by marching 75 yards — lasting nearly five minutes — and never faced a third down. Wayne Taulapapa capped off the 11-play drive with a 2-yard scoring run.
UVA got gifted the ball at the UNC 30 to set up another score when it took over after a Howell fumble. In what has been an issue all season, Howell held the ball too long, even after evading one defender, and was stripped. When Virginia recovered it took just five plays to convert it into a touchdown pass and a 41-20 lead.
Carolina faced a larger deficit this season when it fell behind 31-7 at Florida State. But UNC coach Mack Brown had halftime to make adjustments and get his team re-focused. Facing a 21-point deficit late in the third quarter seemed insurmountable.
The Heels, like at Florida State, mounted a rally. They closed out the third quarter matching the Cavaliers 11-play, 75 yard drive that ended with a Dyami Brown touchdown catch.
And the defense, which had trouble stopping Virginia all game, came up with a turnover. Linebacker Jeremiah Gemmel stepped in front of a Brennan Armstrong pass to the sideline on the first play of the fourth quarter.
The Heels took advantage of that takeaway on another touchdown reception by Brown. The junior receiver finished with 11 catches for 240 yards and three touchdowns. The last time a Carolina receiver had more than 200 yards receiving was Brown's 202-yard performance against the Cavaliers last season. His catch made the score 41-34 and the Heels sideline had newfound enthusiasm.
After a Virginia field goal made the score 44-34 that capped a nearly nine-minute drive, Brown made more big plays to keep the Heels in the game. He caught a 47-yard pass — despite UVA defender being called for pass interference — to set up another touchdown. When Javonte Williams scored from three yards out, Carolina pulled within 44-41 to set up the game's final dramatics.
