In UNC’s Holiday Bowl loss, Drake Maye reminded us of what still could be for Tar Heels

The kid from Charlotte made the game-winning play, and for North Carolina, it was the wrong one. Camden Lewis played one year with Drake Maye at Hough High, before Maye moved on to Myers Park, and they each had a chance to secure victory.

Lewis’ extra point caromed off the left upright and through to put Oregon ahead 28-27 with 19 seconds to play Wednesday night. Maye’s 41-yard heave into the end zone with no time on the clock found a cluster of Oregon defenders in what’s normally deep left field in Petco Park.

So Maye’s first and presumably penultimate season as North Carolina quarterback ended with a Holiday Bowl loss, the Tar Heels’ fourth straight to close out the season after a 9-1 start, and his stellar play in the game — with UNC missing its top two receivers and its offensive coordinator gone for another job — once again underlined what a missed opportunity this season was, and how essential it is for the Tar Heels to make the most of Maye’s last season before he moves on to the NFL.

On that point, Mack Brown had no argument. It’s why Maye was part of the selection and interview process for new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, who observed but did not coach Wednesday night. Maye was allowed to vet all the candidates, essentially picking his own boss, which still probably understates his value to the Tar Heels.

“Absolutely,” Brown said. “That’s why he was part of the hiring process. That’s why I got him involved. Because he could have left, and he stayed. And what’s important to us, you could see tonight, he’s really good. He gives us a chance to be as good as anyone in the country.”

And that’s also why, on a critical 3rd and goal from the 9 midway through the fourth quarter, Brown asked Maye which of three plays he wanted to run. With receivers coach Lonnie Galloway calling plays for the first time, with a lot of cooks in the play-calling kitchen, Brown took the decision to his quarterback. Wednesday night, it was as much Maye’s offense as anyone’s.

But after Maye took a tumble on that play, scrambling down to the 2, Brown took the ball out of his hands, kicking a 19-yard field goal to go up 10 instead of letting Maye cook on fourth down. His three touchdown passes in the first half were already a school bowl record, and he was one short of Sam Howell’s school record for the season.

The Tar Heels took the three points. They were North Carolina’s last as Oregon’s Bo NIx led the Ducks down the field twice, the last in the final minute.

“I didn’t want the ball in your hands,” Brown told Nix afterward. “I should have gone for that 4th and 2.”

But that’s a micro issue among macro issues. Some schools wait a generation for a quarterback like Maye, and North Carolina has gone from one to another. In four years of Howell and Maye, a gift from the football gods spanning Brown’s second stint at UNC, the Tar Heels have a Coastal Division title and a Military Bowl win to show for it.

They get one more shot with Maye next fall, and he needs more help. The Tar Heels are bringing in two transfer receivers, but that’s just a start. A functional running game. A defense that can get a stop when the Tar Heels need it. A team capable of winning a close game against a program like Oregon. (Or Clemson, or Notre Dame...)

“We’ve got a chance to be so good next year, I wanted to play the best team we could possibly play, because that’s who we’ve got to start beating to take the next step,” Brown said..

Wednesday, the defense even delivered the biggest momentum swing of the bowl game, with Oregon heading toward the end zone late in the first half: Power Echols’ immaculate interception. Echols snagged a pass that deflected off a leg and Echols’ own foot mere inches from the ground and ran with it all the way to midfield. Maye hit Kobe Paysour from 49 yards out on the next play, turning what looked like a seven-point halftime deficit into a seven-point lead.

“The first half, after we go up seven, that was the most fun I had the entire season, out here tonight,” Maye said. “These guys, all the smiles out there tonight, the energy in the locker room, I’ll remember that for the rest of my life. We poured our heart out tonight. We had certain things going against us — a new guy calling plays, freshman receivers. But we gave it all we got.”

It was one of many NFL-level throws Maye demonstrated against Oregon, zinging deep outs, firing strikes over the middle, and even improvising a shovel pass on the run to pick up a first down — all the more impressive given the state of the turf, sod laid over the baseball grass and sodden, almost beyond repair in one 10-yard section of the field, by overnight rain.

In the aftermath, as the Oregon players celebrated and Lewis posed for a photo with high school teammates Chance Carroll and Cole Maynard, Nix spotted Maye across midfield. He called his name four times before Maye finally turned around and trudged back to pose for a photo. Nix smiled widely. Maye grimaced wanly.

This season had only just ended, but next season beckoned already. Maye was ready to move on.

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