Georgia Tech’s defense was in position to stop several North Carolina drives short of the goal line Saturday night.
When it came time to make those plays, especially on third and fourth down, the Yellow Jackets fell short.
“We had chances to get off the field defensively,” coach Paul Johnson said. “We had chances to make plays.”
Johnson rattled off a few critical conversions by the Tar Heels: a third-down pass to tight end Jack Tabb when a Tech defender was close enough to make a deflection, a fourth-and-6 play early in the fourth quarter. With the Tar Heels leading 35-31 and the ball at the Tech 36, North Carolina coach Larry Fedora elected to go for a first down.
Marquise Williams, who set UNC records for completions in a game (38) and a half (23 after halftime), threw a pass deep to wideout Mack Hollins. Hollins went up for the ball against Tech cornerback D.J. White — and came down with a touchdown and a 42-31 lead.
The offense did its part for Tech, putting up 43 points, punting only twice and converting on more than 60 percent of its third downs. And despite Hollins’ catch, the Jackets came back to take a 43-42 lead.
But on UNC’s last possession, starting with 3:07 left and ending with T.J. Logan’s 2-yard run with 11 seconds remaining, Tech couldn’t get a stop, continuing a theme. North Carolina was 10-of-15 on third-down conversions, including all three on its final drive to win 48-43.
“They were 10-of-15 on third down, which really doesn’t tell the story because they were 2-of-2 on fourth down,” Johnson said. “So basically, they were 12-for-15. You’re not going to win many games (like that).”
That’s one reason Johnson called for an onside kick after cutting the lead to 35-31 early in the fourth quarter. It was a down-the-middle kick that Tech nearly recovered.
“You can’t miss your turn, and we missed a couple of turns,” Johnson said.
Defensive back Demond Smith said the Jackets’ struggles were a matter of execution.
“We had the game plan to stop everything that they run,” Smith said. “We’ve just got to go out there and execute it, and we just didn’t bring it today.”
North Carolina passed for 390 yards and ran for 189, including 103 in the second half. Johnson expected the Tar Heels to amass passing yards, just as North Carolina expected Tech to gain yards on the ground. But he didn’t like what he saw from the run defense. Logan ran for 75 yards, and Williams ran for 73.
“They’ve struggled to run the ball, and they run for 200 yards,” Johnson said. “I told our guys at halftime that if they run for 200 yards, we’re not going to win the game.”
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