Big Game Brings Big Emotion for Carolina in Loss to Virginia

The Tar Heels hadn't played a meaningful November game in a long time.

CHAPEL HILL — To feel so deeply is both a blessing and a curse.

If this didn’t matter, it wouldn’t hurt; the words wouldn’t have been short and the silence wouldn’t have blanketed the room in between them on Saturday night in the Kenan Football Center.

This one hit the Tar Heels harder than they’ve been hit in several years, and for the first time in a long time, a November loss left a sting that will resonate for days.

Moments after posting one of the best performances in North Carolina history with six catches for 202 yards and three touchdowns, Dyami Brown fought back his emotions.

“It hurts … we went out there and fought hard,” he said. “We knew what we had to play for; emotions are high right now. That’s it.”

Just like every game for Carolina this season save for one, it came down to the final drive.

Twice, in the final minutes, the Tar Heels had promising opportunities to score, and each time, a fourth-down pass fell to the ground. With the final incompletion, so too did Carolina’s hopes of winning the Coastal Division as Virginia held on for a 38-31 victory on a wild night at Kenan Stadium.

On each of those drives, the Tar Heels thought they’d do what they’ve done all season long, make a play and have an opportunity to win in overtime.

Never a doubt in Brown’s mind, nor his coach Mack Brown, who said he planned to kick the extra point and ride that momentum into the extra period.

But it wasn’t to be, and the sold-out crowd fell silent to end what was Carolina’s biggest home game since the Tar Heels made a magical run to the Coastal Division title in 2015.

Jason Strowbridge summed up the hurt.

“Just knowing we could have been first in the Coastal, then beating them — we haven’t beaten them in a few years — all the work the guys put in, it sucks to not come out on top,” he said.

There were chances, though, just as there have been in every one of Carolina’s losses.

The Tar Heels were riding high with a 17-10 lead with 2:06 left in the first half, only to have Virginia drive 78 yards to score with 13 seconds left in the half.

Brown has made a point of mentioning the need for Carolina to own the final five minutes of the first half this season, but he’s seen his team outscored 45-17.

And If that wasn’t bad enough for Carolina, Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins broke a 65-yard touchdown run 35 seconds into the third quarter.

“That’s definitely big,” senior safety Myles Dorn said. “That eight minutes … it’s big. It’s what makes or breaks a team; that’s a 14 — point turnaround. If we limit just one of those, we have a chance to win the game before the last drive.”

It was that eight minute stretch that ultimately proved to be the back-breaker — and perhaps season-breaker — for the Tar Heels, as Virginia ran off five straight touchdown drives.

Barring a miracle, Carolina won’t be the Coastal champion this season, but Saturday night was the first time since that 2015 run that a November game in Kenan could elicit the feelings from the Tar Heels and their fans.

Dorn, usually talkative, wasn’t his usual self when he stepped to the podum.

“We knew what we were playing for tonight, and we had opportunities to win and we just couldn’t make plays when we needed them and that’s what hurts the most,” he said.

In a strange way, experiencing this disappointment is a privilege for Carolina.

“Previous seasons, we weren’t even in this position, so we’re all thankful to be here,” Strowbridge said. “We know all the work we put in, this is just a little bump in the road; we’ve got to keep going, keep moving on and keep moving forward.”