North Carolina chokes in loss to Florida State with three straight drops to end game

North Carolina choked in their 31-28 loss at Florida State on Saturday night to suffer their first defeat of the season.

The Tar Heels scored with just under five minutes left to make it 31-28 in the fourth quarter. They forced the Seminoles into a 3-and-out to get the ball back, and then began to drive. The Heels started at their 22 with 2:24 left and moved to the FSU 41 with 48 seconds left.

That’s when things unraveled.

On second-and-9, Sam Howell passed down the right sideline to Beau Corrales, who was unable to make the catch. North Carolina would have had the ball inside the 10 and been in great position to win had he made the catch.

On third down, Howell passed high over the middle for Dazz Newsome, who wasn’t able to make the catch.

Then on fourth down with the game on the line, Howell scrambled and threw for Javonte Williams, who dropped the ball.

Had any one of the catches been made, North Carolina would have been in good shape to tie the game at minimum.

Instead, the drops resulted in UNC losing for the first time to fall 3-1. Meanwhile, FSU is now 2-3 and just got its best win under new coach Mike Norvell.

Photo: Bcollege6879/Wikimedia via CC BY-SA 4.0