North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech: Game Grades, Analysis for Tar Heels and Hokies
If Frank Beamer had to go out with a loss, there probably wasn't a more exciting loss possible. Just when you thought UNC was going to roll away with this game, Beamerball came roaring back one last time at Lane Stadium, and the Hokies came back from a 14-point deficit late in the fourth quarter to force overtime.
But a lackluster offense only yielded four yards and three points in overtime, and North Carolina came away with the 30-27 win and the Coastal Division title in the process.
Here is the box score from Saturday's game, via NCAA.com.
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| Pass Offense | B- | B+ |
| Run Offense | B- | A- |
| Pass Defense | B+ | B+ |
| Run Defense | B+ | B+ |
| Special Teams | B+ | B+ |
| Coaching | B- | B- |
Tar Heels Pass Offense
One of the things that make Marquise Williams such a threat is his ability to beat you with his arm and his feet. He didn't find a great deal of consistent success against the Hokies, completing just half of his throws (13-of-26) for 205 yards and one touchdown.
That lone touchdown, however, came in overtime and won the game for the Tar Heels.
The star in the receiving game was Brandon Fritts, but as if to highlight the Tar Heels' often middling passing attack, he led the team with just 63 yards.
We're going to give some credit to the Virginia Tech defense in a bit, but for now, Williams and company will need to work on their efficiency before facing off against Clemson in the ACC title game.
Tar Heels Run Offense
Williams was just a hop, skip and jump away from the all-time UNC record for rushing yards by a quarterback, but he went up against a tough Tech defense.
The Hokies limited Williams to 74 yards on 18 carries. He also found the end zone once on the ground, but it was the three fumbles that really made this game close. Coming into this game, Williams had lost just two fumbles all season. When he walked out of Lane Stadium, he had five on the year.
Luckily for the Tar Heels, Elijah Wood made his presence felt, rattling off 17 runs for 115 yards and two scores.
Tar Heels Pass Defense
It's difficult to say that giving up 273 yards and two touchdowns is a successful day for a passing defense, but for the better part of three quarters, UNC seemed to have the Hokies' number in the passing game.
Virginia Tech relied on some great field position and late heroics to send this game into overtime, and we're definitely not going to reward the Tar Heels for that, but we're also not going to ignore the three quarters of solid defense displayed by UNC.
We're also going to hand out a few bonus points to Des Lawrence and M.J. Stewart for their pivotal interceptions. Without those two takeaways, this game would have had a very different result.
Tar Heels Run Defense
If you spend your week in practice defending against Williams' running ability and Hood's power and speed, you're probably going to develop into a solid run defense. That's exactly what UNC showed against Virginia Tech.
UNC limited the Hokies to 130 yards on 47 carries, for an average of less than 2.8 yards per rush. That's good no matter who you're playing.
The UNC front seven was plugging holes all afternoon, and the Hokies were never able to establish their typical ball-possession game. Third-and-long was the rule of the day, and UNC's run-stifling defensive line forced Virginia Tech into six punts.
Tar Heels Special Teams
It's usually a good day when your special teams units don't make headlines. UNC's Nick Weiler connected on his only field-goal attempt of the day, and Joey Mangili averaged just over 40 yards on his eight punts.
The return game never really got into the act Saturday, as UNC was credited with zero kick returns and four punt returns that combined for minus-four yards.
Tar Heels Coaching
For the most part, we are strong believers in coaches making the calls and players needing to execute those calls. But every once in a while, a coach makes some decisions that simply leave us scratching our heads.
For Larry Fedora's part, we were left wondering why UNC called a timeout after the Tar Heels were stopped short on third down with less than a minute to go in the fourth quarter and the score tied. Why not just let the clock run out?
OK, so it didn't cause any major disasters as the punt went off without a hitch and Virginia Tech took a knee to send the game to overtime. But why risk it? Did Fedora not watch the end of the Michigan-Michigan State game? Did he not know he was playing a team coached by Beamer?
Anyway, it's hard to penalize a winning coach too much, but UNC can't afford these little chinks in the armor if it wants to impress the thus far unimpressed College Football Playoff committee.
| Pass Offense | B | B- |
| Run Offense | C | C |
| Pass Defense | B | C+ |
| Run Defense | A | A- |
| Special Teams | C | C |
| Coaching | A | A |
Hokies Pass Offense
Michael Brewer finished with 273 yards on 20-of-35 passing with two touchdowns. But he also tossed a pair of interceptions, and as is usually the case, those turnovers proved costly down the stretch.
Virginia Tech had a difficult time getting much momentum going (outside of the last five minutes of the fourth quarter), and Brewer never really found a string of completions to build that momentum.
In fact, Tech had just one drive that lasted 10 plays; none was longer than that.
Isaiah Ford had a career day, hauling in eight receptions for 155 yards and a crucial touchdown with 1:07 left in the fourth quarter to tie the game.
Unfortunately, as overtime began, Virginia Tech reverted to its old ways of inconsistency and settled for four yards and a field goal in what ended up being a losing effort.
Hokies Run Offense
The Hokies struggled with running the ball against UNC. The Tar Heels simply schemed too well against the Hokies for Tech to find much room on the ground. That forced the Hokies into passing situations, and UNC was able to dictate the play-calling for much of the game.
Travon McMillian, as expected, got the lion's share of the carries but only notched 3.8 yards per rush on his 21 attempts (80 yards).
Virginia Tech was unable to find any big plays in the ground game, and the team's longest run was an 18-yard scamper by Sam Rogers. Take that and McMillian's long of 10 away, and the Hokies averaged less than 2.3 yards per carry.
Hokies Pass Defense
If you're a Virginia Tech fan, you have to be pleased with the effort put forth by the defense, particularly in defending the pass.
Williams never really looked comfortable in the pocket, and although Corey Marshall was the only Hokie credited with a sack, it forced a critical fumble—and it was far from the only time Tech hit Williams in the backfield.
As the game wore on, a lack of offensive production doomed the Hokies. The defense stood tall about as long as one could expect without much support from the offense, and it was the pass defense that eventually gave up UNC's game-winning touchdown in overtime.
Still, the VT secondary performed well enough to earn some respect.
Hokies Run Defense
The front of the Virginia Tech defense was just as stout as the back end. The defense even managed a critical goal-line stand in the second half that held UNC to a field goal rather than a touchdown we were all sure was coming.
Of course, that goal-line stand might not have been necessary were it not for Dadi Nicolas slapping referee Ron Cherry while Cherry was announcing a penalty against him.
It didn't look accidental at the time, as Nicholas was clearly heard yelling at Cherry through Cherry's mic, and the replays didn't do anything to convince us that it was accidental. We'll probably hear from the ACC on this one.
Hokies Special Teams
It's hard to look at a missed field goal in the first half as a game-defining moment at the time, but add three more Virginia Tech points to the score at the end of the fourth quarter and Beamer's sendoff would have had a different feel to it.
Yes, Joey Slye did make two of his three field-goal attempts, but that early miss is sticking out in our minds after the fact.
Hokies Coaching
It's Beamer. It was his final game at Lane Stadium as head coach. Yes, the Hokies lost, but Virginia Tech truly won having him as its leader for the last 29 years.
We could go into the ins and out of this game or discuss what Beamer should or shouldn't have done in any given situation. We can second-guess the knee at the end of the fourth quarter instead of trying to pull out the miracle when Tech had all of the momentum.
But we're not going to do that.
Instead, we're going to simply leave you with this: In a game where negative headlines are becoming all too commonplace, Beamer spent 35 years as a college football head coach doing all the right things. He's not only a winner of eight conference champions (one Ohio Valley, three Big East and four ACC), he's not only a coach who finished 21 of his 35 seasons with a team ranked in a final Top 25 poll, he's not only a man with (currently) 277 wins to his credit, but he's a man who made a difference off the field at Virginia Tech.
Beamer ran his program with class and dignity, and he also extended that class and dignity to Virginia Tech at large. The school, Blacksburg and college football as a whole are better places because he was around.
Although his coaching days are over, we hope he sticks around for a long time to come.
Unless otherwise noted, quotes or references to quotes were obtained firsthand by the writer.
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