Mack Brown squanders upset for North Carolina with awful 2-point try

Mack Brown made the right decision to go for the two-point conversion with North Carolina trying to upset No. 1 Clemson but the play call cost them the win.

Head coach Mack Brown had the North Carolina Tar Heels in position to do something historic. After a fourth-quarter touchdown, they trailed the No. 1 ranked Clemson Tigers by a single point with just over a minute remaining. The decision was easy: Go for two.

Up to that point, Brown had coached near exquisitely. His gameplan to sell out to stop Clemson’s run game worked to perfection. And his own offense ran the ball effectively time and again while freshman quarterback Sam Howell delivered several big throws in key moments both early and late. But it all came down to one play, a two-point try for North Carolina.

And that’s when Brown made his worst call of the day.

The Tar Heels head coach called an option keeper for Howell going to the right side and Dabo Swinney’s defense saw it coming from a mile away, stopping the UNC quarterback at the original line of scrimmage with no hope of getting the two points needed to take the lead:

After a failed onside kick, Clemson took a knee and ran out the clock to escape a monstrous upset loss in Chapel Hill.

For Mack Brown and North Carolina, the loss is a bittersweet one. On one hand, the Tar Heels could’ve pulled off their first-ever win over a No. 1 ranked opponent, or even a team ranked in the top three. So to see that go away due to an atrocious play call is tough for fans and the team alike.

But at the same time, UNC is rebuilding in the first year under Brown. They entered this game having lost to Appalachian State last week. And on Saturday, they took the defending National Champions to the very brink and, with a better two-point try, they could’ve won.

Without question, that’s something Brown and the Tar Heels can build on — if only to know never to call that play with the game on the line again.