How does one go from absolutely dominating the first half of a game to completely collapsing?
I don't know, but you can ask Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels for an answer.
Saturday afternoon showed why UNC hasn't beaten Clemson since 2010 and why they haven't secured a victory at Memorial Stadium since 2001.
New year. Same Tar Heels.
North Carolina came out firing, taking an early lead while simply dominating the game. The opening-drive touchdown felt good, but we all knew not to get too excited, knowing that the game was far from over.
Then, all of a sudden, UNC took a 14-3 lead, and we all thought... NO ONE MOVE!
Up 17-6 with 8:36 left in the first half, there was no doubt that the Tar Heels were the better team at least up to that point. Then, all of a sudden, the ghosts of Clemson nightmares past came back to haunt UNC, as the game quickly changed momentum.
North Carolina had multiple opportunities to stomp on Clemson's throat but simply let them hang around. When you do that, you're asking the opposing team to fight their way back in the game, exactly what Dabo Swinney and his team did.
Even with a 17-9 lead at the half, it felt like the momentum had shifted in Clemson's favor.
North Carolina's offense was simply non-existent in the third quarter, but somehow, someway, UNC still held a two-point lead. Then, the fourth quarter came around, and there was some life again!
That life would quickly be halted by mother nature.
North Carolina drove down the field and reached the red zone when lightning struck, sending the game into a weather delay that lasted more than two hours. With an extended time to game plan, Bill Belichick and his staff must have taken a nap, relying on a conservative approach that resulted in a field goal.
Sure, UNC added points to the board, but we all knew how this one would turn out.
Clemson needed just four plays to drive down the field and take their first lead of the game! If you didn't expect that, then you haven't followed the UNC football program closely enough (well, maybe that's a good thing for your mental health).
The Tigers gave the Tar Heels plenty of time to work with, needing just a field goal to retake the lead. However, on fourth and one with two minutes remaining, instead of relying on the run game and trying to push for the one yard, UNC called a play-action pass, one that Billy Edwards lollipped over the head of Jelani Thurman down the field that resulted in a turnover on downs.
Then, Clemson added another score, which was the final dagger in this one.
Saturday afternoon is a simple embarrassment for Bill Belichick and UNC football. It's actually laughable to see how UNC went from controlling essentially every aspect of the game to looking incompetent, as we saw a season ago, putting us all back in reality that this program is still a mess.
Honestly, this latest choke job by the Tar Heels is probably for the best. Imagine ESPN's College GameDay rolling into Chapel Hill ahead of the absolute smacking that Notre Dame is going to give them in two weeks?
We might've dodged a bullet there, to be completely fair.
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