UNC quarterback Drake Maye for Heisman? It’s not as crazy as it might sound

For such a one-sided rivalry, at least in football, North Carolina’s games against Duke over the years have made for compelling theater, and for the Tar Heels they’ve also often been a sort of State of the Program barometer. Just think of some of the relatively recent history.

UNC throttled Duke in 2015 on its way to the ACC championship game. The next year, the Tar Heels fell apart in Durham during a defeat that spelled the beginning of the end for former coach Larry Fedora. In 2019, UNC’s dramatic victory against the Blue Devils in Chapel Hill was a high point of Mack Brown’s first season back in Chapel Hill.

And Saturday? Well, perhaps Saturday is when Drake Maye became a real-deal Heisman Trophy candidate. Don’t laugh, those of you who love to root against Carolina. And don’t hate, those of you who support Wake Forest, and long for Sam Hartman to receive his due (and, yes, Hartman is fantastic, as well).

Maye, though, continues to produce at a level that’s become impossible to ignore. In his latest show, inside Duke’s Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday night, he passed for 380 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another 70 yards. And, oh yes: he led UNC on a 74-yard game-winning drive in the final minutes, and a 38-35 victory that felt larger than a single win.

Lose that game, and the pressure mounts for North Carolina. With the victory, though, UNC tightened its grip on the Coastal Division, and Maye again proved his mettle. (Sound familiar?) On the one hand, it’s entirely crazy to think that Maye, seven games into his first season as UNC’s starting quarterback, could be a Heisman candidate. And on the other it’s ... not?

At least it’s not based on the numbers. Maye is now seventh nationally (and third among Power Five quarterbacks) in passing yards per game, with 326.1. He’s tied for the national lead in touchdown passes, with 24. He’s third in quarterback rating and fifth in yards per attempt (9.9).

So, not bad. And look, we know it’s not apples to apples here. Some teams are going to play more difficult schedules. Some conferences offer more challenging tests. All anyone can do, though, is play the games in front of them, and Maye has done that just about as well as anyone or, in most cases, far better than pretty much any other quarterback in the country.

“But the Heisman,” you say? “Clearly you jest.”

Not exactly. Through seven games — his first seven college starts, remember — Maye compares more than favorably to the other eight quarterbacks who’ve won the Heisman over the past decade. In their Heisman seasons, only Joe Burrow and Baker Mayfield threw for more yards through seven games than Maye (2,283 yards) has this season. Only Burrow and Kyler Murray through seven games passed for more touchdowns than Maye’s 24.

As for passing and rushing yards, combined? Only Lamar Jackson, in 2016, had more through seven games than Maye has now (2,661). Is Maye going to win the Heisman? Probably not. To have a realistic chance he would have to continue putting up these numbers, or perhaps even somehow improve upon them, and most important of all UNC would likely have to win out through the regular season. But should Maye be in the conversation for the most prestigious award in the sport?

He should. And if he keeps it up, he should probably be in New York, as a finalist.

ONE BIG THING

For the second consecutive week, Devin Leary occupies this space. And for the second consecutive week, it’s not for the reasons anyone could’ve hoped. On Oct. 8 Leary, the N.C. State quarterback, absorbed a hit that knocked him out of the Wolfpack’s eventual victory against Florida State. A week after the hit, we learned he’ll miss the rest of the season with the pectoral injury he sustained on that play.

It’s sad, brutal news for Leary, the ACC preseason player of the year who has been through more than his share of injury woes. And, yes, it’s tough news for his team, too. Even with Leary, the Wolfpack’s offense labored through the first half of the season and had yet to really get going. Without him? Eight wins would probably be a worthy accomplishment.

Most important, here’s hoping Leary can fully recover and protect his future.

THE HOTTEST TAKE*

We’re dedicating this space this week to whatever Duke coach Mike Elko had to say to the officials Saturday night after his team’s come-from-ahead defeat against Carolina — a defeat aided in no small part by some ... questionable! ... calls in the final minutes. We have no doubt Elko shared some doozies, and that his opinions came from an unbiased place of neutrality.

*a take in which we sarcastically poke fun at a real, actual take. Not meant to be taken seriously.

THREE TO LIKE

1. UNC and Duke are best known for the rivalry they share in basketball — or at least the one they used to share, according to some UNC fans who think it’s over after last March and early April — but it’s always more fun in football when their games matter, and deliver. And safe to say the one in Durham on Saturday night delivered. One thing is clear enough: It matters to Mack Brown. He hasn’t lost to Duke since 1989, when then-Duke coach Steve Spurrier posed with his team for a picture of the scoreboard after Duke’s 41-0 win. Scoreboard, indeed, for Brown in this series since then.

2. How about those Pirates of ECU, showing some grit and resilience? They trailed Memphis 17-0 late in the second quarter only to come back and tie it, take the lead, lose it late in the fourth quarter and then win — in four overtimes. ECU’s 47-45 victory came in one of Saturday’s wildest games. Next up for the Pirates: UCF, which has won six straight against the Pirates.

3. While nerves were tight in Durham on Saturday night they were more relaxed earlier in the week, across town, where N.C. Central began the MEAC portion of its schedule Thursday night with a 59-20 dismantling of Morgan State. The Eagles are 5-1, fifth nationally among FCS teams in scoring offense and quarterback Davius Richard is among the top-20ish FCS players in total offense (averaging about 270 yards per game). Central’s in the midst of a fun, rewarding season.

THREE TO ... NOT LIKE AS MUCH

1. Not to go all Mike Elko here, but perhaps he had a point with whatever he presumably said to the refs Saturday night? Football officiating is a difficult job, and there are going to be mistakes. But in both the UNC-Duke game and the N.C. State-Syracuse game, it was noticeably bad. Worse than usual, even. The ACC has long had a perception problem when it comes to officiating, and days like Saturday suggest it’s closer to reality than the league might want to acknowledge. Late in the UNC-Duke game, especially, questionable calls took points off the board and played a direct role in the outcome. Not great!

2. Silly grumpy old man take incoming in three ... two ... one: But what’s up with the low point of view and bad camera angle at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse? (And yes, it’s no longer named the Carrier Dome but, still, it’ll always be the Carrier Dome, you know?) The dome always makes for a poorer TV viewing experience, with that low camera angle. I just wanted to get this off my chest. Thank you for listening.

3. Staying in Syracuse, and acknowledging that any average (or even below average!) college football coach has forgotten more about the game than most writers will ever accumulate, the Wolfpack’s offensive game plan left something to be desired Saturday. Especially in the first half, it seemed to be: Don’t turn the ball over and maybe the defense will score? State’s defense is good enough to keep the Wolfpack in games, but it’s going to have a problem winning if it doesn’t try to score. Yes, no Leary hurts. There are other injuries. The receivers aren’t quite there. But you’ve got to try, right?

CAROLINAS RANKING

1. Clemson (always Clemson); 2. Wake Forest (possibly in the top 10 entering Raleigh in a couple weeks?); 3. North Carolina (a new season-high ranking for the Tar Heels!); 4. N.C. State (kind of here by default, if we’re being honest); 5. South Carolina (can deliver quite a blow to Jimbo Fisher’s job security this week); 6. Duke (shoulda, woulda, coulda); 7. Appalachian State; 8. Coastal Carolina; 9. ECU (really, Nos. 7 through 9 here are interchangeable); 10. Charlotte (poor Charlotte).

FINAL THOUGHTS, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

▪ I think the ACC Network games perfectly represented the ACC on Saturday: Miami-Virginia Tech offered two programs that have slowly declined since joining the ACC; State-Syracuse offered two pretty good Atlantic teams beating each other up and then you had UNC and Duke, and two schools better known for basketball.

▪ I think UNC must take advantage of having Maye and break the streak of local schools underachieving with tremendous quarterback talent. It has been an embarrassment of riches around here over the past 20 years. Philip Rivers, Russell Wilson, Daniel Jones, Mitch Trubisky, Sam Howell — all that talent, and no ACC titles. If UNC can’t win one with Maye, when will it ever?

▪ I think N.C. State can still have a good season. Not the season the Wolfpack wanted, but good. It was too late, but State might have found something Saturday in the second half offensively.

▪ I think after what happened in Raleigh last week, five people killed in a neighborhood massacre, it should make us appreciate the little things — this silly diversion called college football, for instance — much more than we do. It should allow for greater perspective. These are games. They’re big business, and there are a lot of flaws and moral questions, but ultimately they’re just games. What happened in that neighborhood, meanwhile, is real life. Real, tragic life in America in 2022.