North Carolina is heading to its first ACC championship game.
The Tar Heels, 10-1, clinched the ACC Coastal Division with a 30-27 overtime win against Virginia Tech. The win not only got North Carolina to uncharted territory, but it spoiled the final home game for Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, who is retiring at the end of the season.
Virginia Tech took the lead with a 41-yard field goal to start overtime. After UNC got the ball, Marquise Williams found Quinshad Davis for the winning score on third and goal.
The Tar Heels nearly squandered the game, however. UNC was up 14 points with less than five minutes to go. A touchdown pass for the Hokies cut the lead to seven with just under three minutes to go and UNC gave the ball right back to Virginia Tech after the Hokies kicked off.
Marquise Williams fumbled for the third time in the game with 2:24 left. Virginia Tech quickly got inside the UNC 20 and quarterback Michael Brewer hit Isaiah Ford on fourth down for the tying touchdown. Ford appeared to have made a touchdown catch a play earlier but lost the ball as he hit the ground.
Marquise Williams fumbled for the third time in the game with 2:24 left. Virginia Tech quickly got inside the UNC 20 and quarterback Michael Brewer hit Isaiah Ford on fourth down for the tying touchdown. Ford appeared to have made a touchdown catch a play earlier but lost the ball as he hit the ground.
Williams' three fumbles were more than North Carolina had in the first 10 games of the season. The Tar Heels had fumbled just twice in those 10 games. And another UNC blunder could have given Virginia Tech a chance to win the game in regulation. After a third-down run with the game tied at 24-24, UNC coach Larry Fedora was apparently confused and called timeout after the play. The timeout stopped the clock with 32 seconds left and North Carolina forced to punt. But after getting the punt back, Beamer unsurprisingly had his team kneel on the ball for overtime.
The win also gives North Carolina its first 10-win season since the team went 11-1 in 1997. The coach of the 1997 Tar Heels? Mack Brown. UNC will meet College Football Playoff No. 1 Clemson in the ACC title game on December 5, though the game may not be a win-and-in playoff scenario for UNC. At No. 17, the Tar Heels are being penalized for playing two FCS schools in non-conference play. And it doesn't help that South Carolina, the team that beat UNC in Week 1, lost to The Citadel on Saturday.
Beamer, the winningest active coach in FBS, entered the stadium to a special celebratory version of "Enter Sandman." The traditional Hokies entrance song was redone by Metallica for the occasion. Despite the loss, he was carried off the field by his team after the game.
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Beamer has taken the Hokies to a bowl game in every season since 1993. With his team now at 5-6, he'll need to win against Virginia in the final week of the season to prevent the streak from ending in his final season. It's a scenario quite similar to last year, as Virginia Tech had to beat Virginia in 2014 to get to a bowl game. Can Beamer's team do it twice in a row to give him a fitting sendoff?
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