UNC Football: Onside Kick Return Touchdown Nearly Costs the Tar Heels

A play at the end of the North Carolina at Appalachian State football game showed both how great the 2022 UNC football team can be and how much they still need to grow.

The Setup

With 31 seconds left in the UNC football program’s game at Appalachian State on Saturday, the Mountaineers scored a touchdown to pull within one point of the Tar Heels at 56-55. Given Drake Maye’s electric performance, App State head coach Shawn Clark decided to go for two and the win, rather than the conventional wisdom of “playing for the tie at home”.

Despite a well-designed play, App wasn’t quite able to connect on their two-point attempt, with Chase Brice’s pass sailing just over the head of his intended receiver.

Now trailing by a point and needing to kick off, the Mountaineers obviously elected for an onside kick.

The ensuing play was emblematic of both North Carolina’s potential and its great need for maturation as the season unfolds.

The Good

Taken out of context, this was a beautifully designed and executed onside kick return for the Tar Heels. It was wonderfully blocked, providing an opening the size of an empty five-lane interstate in which Bryson Nesbit could field the kick.

And catch it, Nesbit did. He showed off his wonderful hands and athleticism, immediately transitioning into a runner and sprinting past every other player on the field to provide Carolina with their final score of the day. Following Noah Burnette’s point after, the Tar Heels led 63-55 with 28 seconds left on the clock and no timeouts for App State.

Thanks to a great play and individual effort from Nesbit, it appeared that North Carolina was in  a position to pull out the road victory.

As Jim Weber said on Twitter, “North Carolina’s special teams coach needs an NFL head coaching job immediately,” because it was such a wonderfully conceived-of plan. So get Larry Porter to the NFL ASAP.

The Bad

Unfortunately, every play in a football game occurs in the context of said game and should not be extracted from it.

As we now know, 28 seconds was more than enough on this day for the Mountaineers to get in position to try and tie the game. They returned Jonathan Kim’s kickoff to the UNC 48 and had 19 seconds in which to get to the end zone yet again. Two plays and 10 seconds later, that’s exactly what they did.

Thankfully, once again, App State wasn’t able to convert their two-point attempt, with Noah Taylor and Kaimon Rucker combining to stop Brice’s rushing attempt just shy of the goal line.

Herein lies the glaring issue:

Appalachian State should have never been in this position to tie the game because Bryson Nesbit should have never run back the onside kick.

The Takeaway

In reality, the Tar Heels should have already been on the bus on the way back to Chapel Hill.

Wait. What are you talking about Schade? Nesbit had a no-brainer touchdown. That was perfect. More points equal a better chance of winning.

Only in this case, that’s not true.

Earlier in the game, sure, you run back an onside kick because points are at a premium. At this juncture in the game, though, you don’t need points, you need possession and you need to take time off the clock.

You want to maintain control of the game and the ball. Nesbit’s touchdown gave that control and the ball back to the home team.

Hear me out: Bryson Nesbit should have simply grabbed the ball and either fallen on it, kneeled down, or run out of bounds.

If he does that, Carolina comes out in victory formation, Drake Maye takes a knee, and App State never touches the ball again. Ball game. There’s nothing they can do.

Instead, the Mountaineers got the ball back in a one-possession game and were ultimately one yard shy of sending the game to overtime.

It’s all about time and score.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, Carolina has great talent and ability. What’s missing is experience. The only way to gain that experience is by playing more games and learning how to fight through games like Saturdays.

Here’s the great news: Despite the mental error, the Tar Heels left Boone as winners. They learned from Saturday, they’ll watch the tape, and they’ll move on to next week at Georgia State.

The bottom line?

The 2022 North Carolina Tar Heels are 2-0, and that’s what ultimately matters.

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