UNC Football: Wild finish leads to confusion for Tar Heels
By Zack Pearson
It was a strange ending to Friday’s matchup for the UNC Football program with Wake Forest as the refs just ran off the field despite one second appearing to be on the clock
For the first 30 minutes of Friday’s matchup between North Carolina and Wake Forest, it looked like the Demon Deacons were going to cruise to a victory. They held a 21-0 lead over the Tar Heels at halftime and did so in dominant fashion.
UNC not only didn’t score in the first half but they didn’t get across the 50 and struggled to get anything going offensively. But that changed about midway through the third quarter.
After UNC got a field goal to make the lead 21-3, they would score the next 15 points to pull to within three of Wake. The Demon Deacons marched down the field and kicked a field goal late to make the lead six as UNC still had one more drive.
That drive stalled at the Wake 42 as time ran out on a Michael Carter run, giving the Demon Deacons the win. But wait, did the time actually run out before Carter was able to get out of bounds? The refs exited the field pretty quickly as staff and players ran onto it to celebrate the big Wake win moving them to 3-0.
However, looking back it appeared as if Carter got out of bounds with at least a second left. At the very least, the ref blew the whistle for a first down (which stops the clock until the ball is reset) with a second left. Here is the play:
Here's the supercut of the wild finish to UNC @ Wake - QB caught a batted pass, massive hit at the line to gain, big rush, and a total failure at clock management pic.twitter.com/pWwafWow2W
— CFB Gif'er (@CFBgifer) September 14, 2019
The ref signaled to run the clock, ruling Carter was down on forward progress after he picked up the first down. The clock stops on a first down but it kept running here, making things even more confusing as fans and media members took to Twitter to discuss what the heck was going on:
He CLEARLY stepped out with 1 second left. UNC got the short end of the stick.
— Desmond Howard (@DesmondHoward) September 14, 2019
That was one spectacularly epic clock management debacle.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) September 14, 2019
So, if the referees do not stop the clock it does NOT matter if you stepped out of bounds or even when you stepped out of bounds. UNC should have had one more second, period. #CollegeFootball #UNCvsWF
— Scott Green (@WSGreenJr) September 14, 2019
It should be 1 second left in the game @TarHeelFootball #UNC
— Guy Mills Jr. (@ernie282849) September 14, 2019
UNC just got screwed... should be 1 second.
— Boomer (@ESPNHockey23) September 14, 2019
If I'm a #UNC fan, I'm not upset at refs about the 1 second b/c #8 had plenty of time to get out of bounds, I'm more upset that they didn't look to see if Howell got 1st down on scramble because clock would have stopped to move chains
— Jason Horowitz (@HorowitzJason) September 14, 2019
Those were just a few tweets of the many we saw.
Of course, this isn’t why the Tar Heels lost the game. Them laying an egg in the first half and struggling is what cost them the game. The big problem here is why wasn’t there a review? The refs just took off without an explanation at all.
Head coach Mack Brown did speak on it in the postgame, offering his thoughts on it:
Mack Brown said an official told him there was a second left before WF fans and players stormed the field.
— Jack Leland (@lelandjackw) September 14, 2019
It’s unlikely UNC would have been able to get a snap off even if the ref resets the clock back to one but with a full moon on Friday the 13th, stranger things have happened before.
UNC will now prepare to host Appalachian State next Saturday with the chance to go 3-1 before hosting No. 1 Clemson.
Next. UNC's comeback falls short at Wake. dark
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