BOONE, N.C. — North Carolina escaped from Boone and its record-setting crowd of 40,168 with a 63-61 victory over Appalachian State in a game that featured wild swings and big plays.
The Tar Heels squandered a 20-point lead and the Mountaineers were seemingly in position to win the game with 31 seconds left. App State elected to go for two trailing 56-55, but quarterback Chase Brice threw a shade too high to a wide open DeShaun Davis and the try failed.
Carolina’s Bryson Nesbit returned the onside kick 43 yards for a touchdown with 28 seconds left, which in any normal game would have been enough.
It wasn’t.
App State’s Milan Tucker returned the kickoff 47 yards and it needed just two plays to again be in position to tie the game. Kaedin Robinson caught a 26-yard touchdown with nine seconds left, which set up another two-point conversion attempt.
This time, Brice was chased down by linebacker Noah Taylor and Kaimon Rucker made a jarring hit to force the ball loose keep Brice from wiggling free to the end zone.
It was an exhausting game for defenders on both sides that in the third quarter seemed like it was headed toward a Carolina blowout.
Sam Howell, now a quarterback with the NFL’s Washington Commanders, stood in the corner of the end zone as North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye finished off a 12-yard touchdown run.
Maye acknowledged the three-year starter and record-setting quarterback he replaced slapping five and tapping shoulders in celebration. The exchange could unofficially represent the torch has officially been passed.
It’s just two games in to his career, but Maye proved on Saturday before a record crowd at Kidd Brewer Stadium that he can carry the offense. Maye threw for 352 yards and four touchdowns including the go-ahead score with 2:50 left as the Tar Heels never trailed again.
Maye stood in against a Mountaineers blitz and took a hit that kept him on the ground after the play was well over. He didn’t get to see D.J. Jones take his pass and race 42 yards untouched for a touchdown, but he surely heard the reaction of the crowd.
Maye’s performance came without Carolina’s star receiver Josh Downs, who set program records last season with 101 catches and 1,335 yards, in the lineup. Downs suffered a left knee injury in the opener on a fourth-quarter touchdown catch.
Carolina (2-0) looked like it was going to get blown out early in the game. App State scored touchdowns on each of its first three possessions and popped big plays in doing so.
Running back Noel Nate had a 52-yard run up the middle of the field. Brice completed a 41-yard pass to Dalton Stroman. The Mountaineers (0-1) totaled four plays of 20 yards or more on their first three drives and took a 21-7 lead two plays into the second quarter.
The Heels responded with 31 straight points and looked to tag on another score when linebacker Cedric Gray intercepted a Brice pass to set UNC up at the App 28. That sent some App State fans to the exits, but it turned out they should have stayed in their seats.
Maye missed an open Kamari Morales on what would have been a sure touchdown. The Heels settled for a 44-yard field goal from Noah Burnette to go ahead 41-21.
The Mountaineers began a furious rally in the fourth quarter. They ended a string of four scoreless drives when Noel scored on a 1-yard run. But it was energized when Maye fumbled on a designed run and linebacker Tyler Bird recovered at the UNC 28.
When App State’s Miller Gibbs caught a 13-yard strike to pull within 41-35, the crowd and the momentum were firmly back on its side.
Caleb Hood popped a 71-yard run to put Carolina back ahead two scores complete with a two-point conversion. The Mountaineers kept coming, eventually tying the game at 49 when Cam Peoples scored on a 38-yard run with four minutes left in the game.
Prior to Saturday’s win at Kidd Brewer Stadium, the Tar Heels had lost seven in a row away from Kenan Stadium.
