The 2022 Holiday Bowl will go down as one of the best bowl games of the year. Unfortunately for the North Carolina Tar Heels, they were on the wrong side of the story that nearly had them as heroes. North Carolina football head coach Mack Brown expressed his disappointment with the game's outcome mainly because he feels for his players, who were so close to tasting victory (h/t Ross Martin of Inside Carolina).
“So proud of this team, winning 9. Could have won 11, 12. Most of them are coming back, so it bodes great for next year. I love these young guys. The saddest thing for me is that they played their hearts out, and they're one point away from being out there on the field and having a great time and feeling great about themselves.
“That's one of the very difficult things about sports because there are actually two winners out there tonight because they played their guts out, and I'm really, really proud of the way they played.
North Carolina football had a seven-point lead at the end of the first half. After a scoreless third period, the Tar Heels would score the first points in the second half with a field goal with under 10 minutes remaining in regulation. An Oregon touchdown cut the lead down to three points before North Carolina football kicker buried yet another field goal to give his team a six-point advantage with only a little over two minutes on the game clock.
What followed was a game-winning touchdown drive by Bo Nix and the Ducks that was capped by a heart-pounding field extra-point attempt by Oregon kicker Camden Lewis.
Nevertheless, North Carolina football can take heart from the fact that it finished the 2022 college football season with nine wins — the most the program has collected since an 11-win campaign way back in 2015.
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