So Close Yet So Far

The Tarheels gave their best effort of the year in the 27-23 loss to the Miami Hurricanes last night. Deep down I knew that when Bryn Renner threw that interception at the UNC 10 yard line that killed at least a Field Goal attempt and then the 'Heels were forced to punt down to the 10 yard line, that Miami was going to drive the field and score the TD that would win the game. The Tarheel defense played a solid game and came up with 4 interceptions, 2 by Freshman Dominique Green, but in the second half, Miami virtually gave up on the passing game and ran up the middle the entire second half. That was what the Hurricanes did on the last drive of the game. UNC was powerless to stop it. The Tarheels missed out on several scoring opportunities, had too many breakdowns on Special Teams, and had penalties at the worse possible times. A blocked Field Goal by Miami gave them 7 cheap points. I have never heard of a college team getting down to their third string snapper as the Tarheels have due to injuries. According to Larry Fedora, that led to the blocked field goal. Bryn Renner had his best game of the season- 28 for 36, 297 yards, a TD, but he will be most remembered for the ill advised pass that was picked off by Miami. Marquise Williams got in for a couple of series and his first pass attempt was picked off in the end zone by Miami in the first half. I had to question the timing of Williams being inserted into the lineup at that point and time. Renner was leading a solid drive into Miami territory and I am guessing that Williams was inserted into the lineup to catch Miami off guard by throwing the ball rather than running the ball. Williams later atoned for his mistake by throwing a 71 yard TD pass to Tight End Eric Ebron (mostly yards after the catch by Ebron). There were a reported 37 professional scouts and 5 General managers at that game and they got to see Ebron have the greatest game by a Tight End in Tarheel football history. Ebron had 8 catches for 199 yards and the 1 TD and he made acrobatic catches, he blocked, and he did it all. I would be willing to bet that he will be going pro after this season.