CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina and sophomore sensation Gio Bernard vented an entire season of frustration Saturday at Kenan Stadium.
The bowl-ineligible Tar Heels scored the game’s final 18 points and secured a worthy consolation prize – a last-minute, 43-35 ACC victory over rival N.C. State.
“This game was our bowl game, our Super Bowl,” Bernard said after his mind-blowing, 74-yard punt return for a touchdown with 13 seconds to play helped snap UNC’s five-game losing streak against the Wolfpack. “It made our season. Of course we’ve got other games to go, but this one will go down in the record books for me.”
It should. Bernard used his wheels of fortune to deliver Carolina (6-3, 3-2) to a memorable triumph. Along the way the 205-pound running back sliced and diced for 135 yards and two touchdowns, caught eight passes for another 95 and possibly shoehorned his name into the Heisman Trophy conversation.
“When a play needs to be made, he wants the ball in his hands,” said UNC coach Larry Fedora. “Some people look at that situation and get nervous and scared. Not him. He believes in himself all the time. And when you expect good things to happen, sometimes they do.”
Bernard, who rolled his right ankle following a short gain in the opening quarter, made sure of it. There were fewer than 30 seconds remaining when he settled under a punt by State’s Wil Baumann – the game’s 18th – with the score tied 35-35.
“I was thinking about calling for a fair catch,” he said. “But there were two (teammates) right in front of me. I saw all blue jerseys, dark blue, so I knew I had a wall coming back at me. I just started yelling ‘Go, go, go, go.'”
Bernard juked the first State defender to cross his path and quickly advanced 15 yards up the middle. Then he found a seam down the right sideline, turned on the jets and raced into the end zone. “I still can’t believe it,” he told a roomful of reporters some 20 minutes later. “I’m still shaking right now. I started crying on my way into the end zone.”
He wasn’t alone. State coach Tom O’Brien was visibly ticked after the Pack (5-3, 2-2) coughed up a 10-point, third-quarter lead. “I think we might have overkicked it,” he said after NCSU was denied its third straight win. “(Baumann) hadn’t hit the ball real good all day and that was probably the deepest kick he hit. We had the wind behind us and the wind took it, but you still have to cover and make a tackle.”
Camouflaged in all the commotion were the softball-league numbers that both offenses put up. The teams combined for 48 first downs and more than 1,100 total yards. N.C. State quarterback Mike Glennon was a work-of-art, passing for 467 yards and five touchdowns – which matched his team record. He fired a 30-yard scoring pass to Rashard Smith late in the first quarter that trimmed State’s deficit to 25-14. Then in the second period he connected with Bryan Underwood on a 20-yard touchdown and found wide-open Tobais Palmer on an 83-yard hookup that put the guests ahead 28-25 at halftime. And when Glennon hit Underwood with a 55-yard TD pass, the Pack led 35-25 entering the fourth quarter.
“Yeah, but we kept saying that something good was going to happen,” said UNC linebacker Kevin Riddick, a flu-bug victim who spent Friday night hooked up to an IV. “We played like it was a bowl game, but then every game is a bowl game for us.”
Carolina quarterback Bryn Renner (30-for-47, 358 yards) threw his only touchdown pass with 10:23 to go – a 3-yard swing pass to Sean Tapley out of the backfield. Then Casey Barth’s late field goal tied the score and Reddick jailbreak sack forced the Wolfpack to punt on its final possession. That set the stage for Bernard, who scored the game-winning TD without being touched. “It was just digging deep,” he said afterward. “I had to tell myself to get there no matter how bad my ankle was hurting. It was something you have to dig deep and do.”
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NOTES: Salisbury graduates Darien Rankin and Romar Morris each played a small role in the victory. Rankin, UNC’s starting free safety, made his second interception of the season and returned it 11 yards with 3:16 remaining in the first half. Morris, the Heels’ third-string tailback, gained 12 yards on three rushes – including a 7-yard pickup when Bernard was injured.