Babers frustrated by early controversial call in defeat to No. 14 UNC

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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Dino Babers said he had a good angle on the play. He knew that opposing punter Ben Kiernan was at the 41-yard line, not the 42.

With a little over 10 minutes gone between Syracuse and No. 14 North Carolina, Kiernan just had his first and only punt attempt of the day blocked by Denis Jaquez Jr. But, Kiernan scooped up the ball and sprinted to the right sidelines. As Kiernan approached the 41-yard line, SU’s Anwar Sparrow gave the punter a booming hit that knocked both players to the ground out of bounds. The officials awarded the Tar Heels the first down. Babers, and seemingly every Syracuse fan on X, said it wasn’t a first down.

“I felt like the ball carrier had the ball in his left hand and I did not feel like he hit the 42-yard line,” Babers said.

But even as Babers had an extended discussion with the officials, it did not matter. UNC quarterback Drake Maye got another chance. Both Maye and North Carolina (5-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) took that controversial call for a touchdown to make the score 10-0. Following that, the Tar Heels never relented, dominating Syracuse (4-2, 0-2 ACC) the rest of the afternoon in the 40-7 affair. While the call was just one of many negative moments for the Orange in Chapel Hill, it left a very sour taste in Babers’ mouth.

The call was the first question that Babers got asked, and he immediately paused before he went on one of his longer responses to a question in any press event this season. Babers, who was standing on the left side of SU’s sideline, almost didn’t even have a chance to get a review. North Carolina was about to run another play, but before it could, Babers got to nearly the middle of the field.

But when Babers got to talk to the officials, there was immediately a disagreement.

According to Babers, he and the officials went back and forth some more before he expressed his desire to challenge the call. The head coach added that the officials told him that they had already reviewed the play. Babers persisted and challenged it anyway because he wanted it “in the record that I challenged.” Babers made it clear why he wanted to do that.

“Because I want them to understand that I know they’re wrong,” Babers said.

The officials reviewed the play relatively quickly and the call stood, giving Babers the explanation that they did not have the camera angle to reverse it. Babers said that the officials’ camera angle explanation was “totally different” from what they told him initially.

“That’s what they continued to tell me. And I said he did not make it. So that was the conversation. And that’s how it ended,” Babers said.

An ACC communications official did not immediately respond to comment regarding why the referees made their decision.

Babers said that calls like that “comes down to believing in what you saw.”

He wasn’t the only one on the SU sidelines who felt the same way. Defensive lineman Caleb Okechukwu agreed with his coach.

“Man, I thought we were off the field for sure,” Okechukwu said. “But I guess we weren’t. I’m not a ref so I don’t make the call.”

With the overturned call, Maye and the Tar Heels went back to tearing the Orange’s defense apart. On the first play, Maye threw to Bryson Nesbit and picked up 13 yards on an in route. Maye then scrambled for a first down and found receiver Nate McCollum on a bubble route the next play to set up 1st-and-goal. While Omarion Hampton couldn’t break the plane, Maye did on a tush push on 2nd-and-goal.

From there, Maye finished the blowout win with 442 passing yards, three touchdowns and a passer rating of 170. He was a completion and six yards short of his career best.

And in a cruel twist of fate, the two Syracuse players who were key on that controversial play left the game with injuries. Sparrow left right after he took the hit, and Jaquez Jr. was holding his arm in pain as he left for the tunnel in the fourth quarter. Babers confirmed that Jaquez Jr. would be out for the year.

But Babers knew that one play wasn’t the final decision. The Orange gave up 644 total yards, the most they have given up since Oct. 10, 2020.

“That play would have gave us great momentum,” Babers said. “And maybe who knows what happens in that first quarter? But I mean, this is a good football team. I mean, the way that game ended…that’s a good team.”