CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Mark Fletcher Jr. punched in the go-ahead 2-yard touchdown run on fourth down with 7:49 left and No. 1 Miami followed with a critical takeaway on a struggle-filled Saturday night, helping the Hurricanes finally shake free to beat North Carolina 38-35 and avoid a seismic upset.
Marquise Lightfoot and Justin Scott followed Fletcher's third score of the night by teaming up for the Hurricanes' critical stop, with Lightfoot stripping illy Edwards Jr. from behind as he tried to throw, with Scott recovering the fumble with 5:33 left.
That became what turned into the deciding sequence for the Hurricanes (8-0, 6-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). Their high-powered offense followed by stretching the lead, getting a terrific individual effort on Elija Lofton's leap over a would-be tackler on a catch to move the chains and ultimately set up Darian Mensah's 9-yard scoring strike to star receiver Malachi Toney to make it 38-28 with 2:33 left.
That ultimately helped send the Hurricanes through to next week's marquee road matchup with No. 5 Notre Dame, though only after seeing their defense struggle to get off the field the entire way against the Tar Heels (4-4, 2-3).
This one against the team led by NFL coaching icon Bill Belichick went to the final minute, with Miami having to recover an onside kick -- coming after North Carolina had a pair of recoveries negated by penalties -- before finally being able to kneel it out.
North Carolina fell to 0-12 against No. 1-ranked teams.