The Tar Heels left Clemson with a reminder that controlling a game and closing one out are not the same thing.
UNC had the ball, the lead and the momentum late in the fourth quarter Saturday, building a methodical drive that leaned on the run and pushed the Tar Heels inside the Clemson 7-yard line with just under 13 minutes left. Then came a weather delay that stretched nearly 2.5 hours.
When play resumed, Aeron Burrell added his second field goal of the day from 22 yards to make it a five-point game, but UNC never found the extra touchdown it needed. Clemson finished with the final 13 points and escaped 28-20.
That sequence captured the day for the Tar Heels: enough physicality to tilt stretches of the game, not enough finishing power to protect the result.
"If we finish that game, we're having a different conversation right now," said Hall, who added that the Tar Heels "got to start coming up with seven instead of three."
Benjamin Hall was at the center of much of UNC’s best work. The redshirt junior rushed for a career-high 130 yards, smashing his previous best of 68, and nine of his 19 touches went for first-down yardage. He also caught a 15-yard touchdown out of the backfield that put UNC ahead 14-3, part of a night in which the Tar Heels repeatedly found success on the ground.
UNC finished with 214 rushing yards. Demon June added 58 yards on 12 carries and opened the scoring with a 3-yard run on the Tar Heels’ first drive. Hall said, "We can do that week in and week out,"
Hall’s return to Clemson carried its own layer of familiarity. He spent part of his childhood there while his father was an assistant coach for the Tigers’ women’s basketball program, and he made the most of the trip back.
Jordan Shipp also had a notable day, especially on the drive that helped UNC seize control early. The junior wideout’s 23-yard catch was the biggest play in the series that ended with Hall’s touchdown. Shipp finished with a team-high six receptions for 68 yards while wearing No. 13 to honor Tylee Craft, his late teammate who died nearly two years ago and was a Sumter, South Carolina, native.
UNC’s defense gave the Tar Heels a real chance to turn that production into a road win. Clemson managed only 49 yards on its first five possessions, and even an 88-yard drive to close the first half ended with UNC forcing a short field goal. The Tar Heels also held Clemson without a touchdown for almost 150 minutes of game time, dating back to the first quarter of the season opener, before the Tigers finally scored on a 27-yard pass with 4:21 left in the third quarter.
The defense did that without star defensive end Melkart Abou Jaoude for a second straight game. Still, UNC posted six tackles for loss and three sacks, with sophomore Xavier Lewis accounting for two of them. Lewis now has six sacks on the season and 8.5 TFLs.
Even with the pressure and the early control, the late lapses hurt. Derek McDonald, who led UNC with 10 tackles, said, "We just didn't play with great fundamentals the rest of the game," He added, "Just need to finish tackles.
Rally to the ball. I think we lost a little bit of that."
McDonald and Hall, both captains, said the Tar Heels have plenty to sort through before their second and final bye week. Bill Belichick agreed.
"A disappointing end. Proud of the way our players competed," Belichick said.
"Clemson's a good football team. In the end, they just made a few more plays than we did.
In the last eight minutes of the game, we missed a couple of opportunities on offense and missed some tackles on defense."
UNC returns from the bye to host Notre Dame at Kenan Stadium on Oct. 3. For Hall, the takeaway from Memorial Stadium was clear: the Tar Heels showed they can line up and fight, but the finish still has to match the fight.
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