After a solid home conference win over Pittsburgh last Saturday, UNC football took its show on the road for the final week of September. The Tar Heels had a shot to get back to .500 overall and 2-0 in the ACC; things, however, didn’t go so great on a short week against No. 16 Miami.
In his first game back from suspension, quarterback Chazz Surratt entered the game on North Carolina’s third possession. Miami’s defense — which ranks No. 1 in the FBS in Havoc Rate, per Football Study Hall — harassed Surratt from the get-go. The lefty finished with a passing line that Larry Fedora will certainly want to forget: 4-of-10, 10 yards and three interceptions. (Yikes.)
According to Sports Reference, Surratt became just the fourth ACC quarterback since the 2000 season, and the first since Wake Forest’s Tanner Price in 2013, to throw three interceptions on 10 or fewer pass attempts. To make matters worse, two of the interceptions were returned for touchdowns — one by Joe Jackson, the other courtesy of Romeo Finley.
24 of Miami's 47 points have come off turnovers tonight.
— Jonathan M Alexander (@jonmalexander) September 28, 2018
It didn’t stop there, though. North Carolina also coughed up three fumbles that were recovered by Miami. That included one returned for a touchdown by Jonathan Garvin. In total, UNC finished with six turnovers. Per Sports Reference, this is just the 28th time in the last 19 seasons that an ACC team has recorded six or more turnovers — the first since Duke vs. Virginia, back in 2016.
This game also marked the first time since September 2000 that Miami scored three defensive touchdowns in the same game.
