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UNC starting linebacker emphasizes costly penalties after loss to Duke
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- UNC starting linebacker emphasizes costly penalties after loss to Duke
Saturday was a must-win game for the UNC football team, which welcomed Duke to Kenan Stadium for another edition of the Victory Bell.
North Carolina entered the day with four victories, needing wins in each of its final two games to reach bowl eligibility. The Tar Heels played well enough to beat their archrivals, but penalties cost them in a 32-25 loss.
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UNC (4-7, 2-5 ACC) entered Saturday with 56 penalties on its season, third-fewest in the ACC. When the final seconds ticked off Kenan Stadium's electronic scoreboards, North Carolina committed 12 penalties for 103 yards.
The Tar Heels ' costliest penalty arguably came in the second quarter, when Marcus Allen roughed Blue Devils (6-5, 5-2 ACC) kicker Todd Pelino to wipe out a missed field goal. On the ensuing play, Darian Mensah connected with Jeremiah Halsey for his lone touchdown pass.
After the game, starting linebacker Andrew Simpson highlighted why UNC committed an uncharacteristic amount of mistakes.
"When you get 12 penalties, you're shooting yourself in the foot," Simpson said. "It's hard to play defense when you're just penalizing yourself after a good play, or even a bad one. Just not us and we definitely have to get better at that. It's a rivalry, we want to play hard, but we're not going to let anyone try and play harder than us. I feel like it was getting chippy, it was going both ways. We're just getting all the calls on us."
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Simpson was a defensive bright spot for North Carolina, totaling six tackles (four solo) and recording quarterback hurries.
Referees only called three penalties on Duke , which totaled 352 yards and held the Tar Heels to 305. UNC played hard on Saturday , like Simpson alluded to, but the Blue Devils just made a few more plays.
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: Andrew Simpson says UNC shot itself in foot with penalties vs. Duke
