The UNC football program couldn't get the job done in Winston-Salem, as offensive struggles led to a loss to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, a game in which North Carolina really could've used to help its bowl-game eligibility. Now, the Tar Heels will need to win each of their final two regular season games to be eligible, and that doesn't even guarantee they'll land an additional contest.
For those of you who painfully watched on Saturday night, there are likely a handful of decisions that had you scratching your head. No, we're not talking about Freddie Kitchens' play-calling (which has had us all baffled all year long), we're talking about decisions made by the head honcho himself, Bill Belichick.
The head coach of the Tar Heels was pressed about some of these notable decisions: three of which were brutal choices that didn't bode well for his team. Let's start in the second quarter and progress our way through the game.
In the second quarter, Wake Forest was driving. On first down in the red zone, the Demon Deacons were called for an illegal shift, a penalty that provided Belichick with two options:
Accept the penalty, pushing Wake Forest back five yards while replaying the down, or decline the penalty and face second down and about 8 from the 12-yard line.
Belichick chose the latter, a decision that proved costly. On the following play, Demond Claiborne found a hole, cruising to the end zone for a score. Of course, you can't say that Wake Forest wouldn't have found the end zone regardless of Belichick's decision, but it stands out even more given that the Tar Heels gave Wake Forest a break, one they capitalized on immediately.
“Second and eight or first and 15, it’s about the same,” Belichick said. “It’s about the same, whichever one you do. I don’t think there’s a huge advantage one way or the other. So we took the down, but it’s the end of the half, I thought we’d make a stop to give a little more time to get the ball back, which we didn’t do.”
Moving on...
Near the end of the third quarter, Gio Lopez took a sack on third down, a play that should've sent the game into the final quarter of action. However, Belichick, instead of letting the quarter come to an end, burned a timeout to stop the clock.
The result? A blocked field goal attempt.
Belichick's logic for this one is quite... interesting.
“I thought the wind was definitely a little bit of a factor,” Belichick added. “So kicking it with the wind. I thought I had the timeout with about eight seconds. They didn’t give it to us until five, so that could have helped us on the kickoff, too. Although I don’t know if Rece (Verhoff) really needed that, but it was trying to get that field goal with the wind at the end of the third quarter, and trying to get the kickoff behind it, which we didn’t get.”
Then, let's fast-forward to the end of the game. Trailing by 9, North Carolina faced a fourth and goal situation from the two-yard line. If the Tar Heels took no action, the Demon Deacons could've ran the clock out.
However, here comes Belichick banging another timeout.
The result- a fourth and goal score for Wake Forest to extend the lead.
Why, just why, did Belichick stop the clock, forcing Wake Forest to either go for it on fourth down or kick a field goal?
“Just trying to keep the game alive. I didn’t know what they were going to do. Block a field goal, make a stop. I mean, we keep competing.”
The explanations Belichick provided don't truly justify the means, but they definitely add salt to the wound.
Not only did the UNC football program get outplayed offensively by a large margin, they were out-coached as well. This is unacceptable for a guy of Belichick's stature: someone who has coached in plenty of big games throughout his legendary career.
On this given Saturday, some of Belichick's questionable decisions didn't pan out, ultimately hurting his team's chances to stay in the game, as these puzzling moves came back to haunt the Tar Heels in the end.