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, helping the Hurricanes finally shake free to beat North Carolina 38-35 and avoid a seismic upset Saturday night.
Marquise Lightfoot and Justin Scott followed Fletcher’s third score of the night by teaming up for the critical stop, with Lightfoot stripping Billy Edwards Jr. from behind as he tried to throw, and 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.
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