The football arced high into the night sky. Too high. No. 17 North Carolina's cornerback Des Lawrence saw the underthrown pass on a flea flicker near the end of the first quarter of Thursday night’s 28-27 loss to Duke and maneuvered into position to make the play.
The ball landed right in his lap. Then it slipped away from his grasping hands, and what could have been UNC’s first interception of the season after 10 games instead fell incomplete. A couple hours later, UNC walked out of Wallace Wade Stadium, hopes of a second ACC Coastal Division title obliterated after a game it let slip away.