UNC football's growing frustration boils over

Growing frustration over yet another failed defensive performance boiled over in some rare and glaring ways Saturday for the North Carolina Tar Heels.

UNC (3-1) suffered its first loss of the 2022 season before a sellout home crowd of 50,500 as Notre Dame (2-2) racked up 576 yards of total offense — 289 passing and 287 rushing — in a 45-32 romp. It marked a third straight game the Tar Heels have been run roughshod by an opposing offense, but this time they lacked the offensive support to pull out a win.

The downfall for North Carolina, which also prompted an unusual outburst from head coach Mack Brown, began at the start of the third quarter. Trailing just 24-14 at halftime, the Tar Heels allowed Notre Dame to march the second-half kickoff 75 yards in six plays for a touchdown and a 31-14 lead. UNC quarterback Drake Maye fumbled on the next play from scrimmage to hand the ball right back to the Irish offense.

Notre Dame's offense again moved into scoring position at the Tar Heel 3-yard line where it eventually faced a fourth-and-goal. A pass by quarterback Drew Pyne was knocked down in the end zone by UNC linebacker Cedric Gray, causing a roar of approval from the Kenan Stadium crowd. But those cheers quickly turned to boos when Gray was called for pass interference.

After seeing the replay on the stadium's video board, Brown charged onto the field to question the call and was immediately flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for the first time in his Hall of Fame career.

"I think that's the first,'' Brown said afterward. "We really want to win. And we want to have a fair chance to win. We want to compete as hard as we can and we want to make each other accountable. If I feel like something has been taken away from the kids on a play, it's my responsibility to stand up for them, and that's simply what I'm doing. If somebody throws a flag at me because I'm questioning a call, good for them.''

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Notre Dame took advantage of the second chance to score a touchdown and move ahead 38-14.

"That's a 14-point swing against a team that's going to keep the ball and not let your offense on the field,'' Brown said. "That, to me, was the biggest difference in the ballgame.''

UNC's fate in the game may have already been determined, but the theatrics were over for the Tar Heels.

With Notre Dame's offense moving in position for another score as the fourth quarter began, Chris Tyree went around the left end and used a legal stiff arm to the face of UNC cornerback Tony Grimes. Grimes rode Tyree out of bounds on the UNC sideline, then shoved him into the video replay monitor, drawing a 15-yard unnecessary roughing penalty.

Teammate Noah Taylor rushed to the sideline to confront Grimes about his poor judgement, causing Grimes to throw a jab at Taylor's helmet before teammates separated the two.

"As far as the sideline situation, guys are passionate about the sport,'' UNC's Gray said. "Things got a little chippy. But we'll handle that in the team.''

The next play had the same result on the opposite sideline when defensive lineman Ray Vohasek hit Pyne out of bounds for a roughing penalty to set up yet another Notre Dame touchdown.

It all added up to a level of frustration seldom seen on a team that heads into Atlantic Coast Conference play next week against Virginia Tech with a 3-1 overall record.

"It's (frustration) high,'' Gray said. "I'm very disappointed. But this is only our first loss of the season. We still have a lot of games to play and a lot more to look forward to. Yeah, I'm frustrated about the outcome tonight. We have to just get back to the drawing board and make whatever adjustments we've got to make and get everybody on the same page to meet our goals the rest of the season.''

The biggest of those adjustments will need to be made on defense. Notre Dame, which won a 25th straight regular-season game against ACC competition, entered Saturday having scored just 55 points in its first three games and ranked 113th nationally in total offense (300.3 yards a game).

But Brown believes the Notre Dame game experience was the perfect prep for ACC play.

"I don't think we could have had a better challenge tonight to get ready for the ACC,'' he said. "This may be the best team we play. I'll be in the group. There were times we stepped up and there were things we did really well, but we didn't do well enough to be in the game in the fourth quarter. But again, we'll show them tomorrow where we failed and show them what we did well and what we can be. We're just inconsistent. We've got to get more consistent on both sides of the ball.''

Kickoff for the home game against Virginia Tech is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. (ACC Network).

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: UNC football frustration boils over in loss to Notre Dame