Early, Late Turnovers At Cal Keep Tar Heels From First ACC Win

BERKELEY, Calif. — The backbreaking way North Carolina lost its road matchup with California was the same way it started its slow offensive day.

UNC opened its first offensive drive post-bye week with a turnover, as Shanard Clower had the football knocked out of his hands after a short completion. Four run plays later, Cal struck first on offense with a 7-0 lead. Immediately, it felt like another team was going to race past North Carolina early without looking back.

But the Tar Heels hung around with this power conference opponent, though. UNC even tied the game at seven apiece later in the first quarter. On a challenging day for both offenses, North Carolina found itself driving with 10:29 remaining in the fourth with a chance to tie or take the lead against the Golden Bears.

Ten plays and 40 yards later, the Tar Heels stood 13 yards away from the endzone with less than four minutes left. Gio Lopez took a few steps back and zipped a pass to Nathan Leacock, who shook off an initial defender and looked poised to secure a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. But before he could complete his lunge to the endzone, Cal’s Brent Austin knocked the ball out of his hands at the one-yard line. Leacock crawled his way over to the football, but Austin made a diving recovery before he could catch up to it.

As Cal fans erupted with cheer, a dejected North Carolina team made its way to the sideline, hoping the defense could get the football back. For a moment, it seemed victory was within UNC’s grasp. But in a matter of seconds, the possibility escaped the team’s clutches.

“I think the first reaction was to just go talk to Nate,” Lopez said after the game. “I’ve been in a situation against TCU where I had two turnovers that went for a touchdown. I had two turnovers against UCF, where I was like, ‘Man, this sucks.’ But for him, I think just showing up for him and being a good teammate.”

North Carolina got the ball back late and attempted a series of laterals to get to the endzone, but it came up unsuccessful, and UNC took a 21-18 loss to the Golden Bears at California Memorial Stadium. North Carolina is now 2-4 on the season and 0-2 in ACC play.

UNC recorded 287 yards of total offense and allowed 294 to Cal — both figures serving as season-high marks for the team in conference play. The Tar Heels did fall behind by 11 points, but Friday was the first time that they went stride-for-stride with a power conference team.

North Carolina certainly didn’t put up a flawless performance, but it stayed within striking distance for the majority of the game. The giveaways, on the team’s first and final drives of the game, ultimately made the difference.

“You can’t turn the ball over and win,” Bill Belichick said after the game. “It’s just too hard. We’ve got to eliminate some of those kinds of mistakes. We need to tackle better, play better on third down, both sides of the ball. Still things we need to do. It might have been enough if we hadn’t turned the ball over, but we did, and we didn’t get any turnovers on defense. So until that changes, it’s a little bit of uphill struggle.”

Cal didn’t turn the ball over against the Tar Heels, but North Carolina’s defense was effective enough for the team to stay in the game. The giveaways on UNC’s part, though, kept it from taking control of the game.

Leacock stood alone on the sidelines, looking on as UNC’s defense attempted to get the ball back from Cal. As he did, wide receivers coach Garrick McGee went over to talk to him, and senior receiver Kobe Paysour stood by him briefly as well. Offensive lineman Christo Kelly spoke with Leacock as well.

North Carolina will have to wait longer for its first ACC win of the season, as the opportunity narrowly slipped away on Friday.

“We’ve all been trying to help him and be there for him,” Paysour said when speaking on Leacock, “but it wasn’t just him. We all had bad plays in the game, so it’s not just his fault.”