Gophers squander two second half leads in 19-17, season-opening loss to North Carolina

In a back-and-forth fourth quarter, the Gophers staged a furious rally but could not finish the job, falling 19-17 to North Carolina in Thursday night’s season opener at Huntington Bank Stadium. Gophers kicker Dragan Kesich was wide right on a 47-yard field goal attempt as time expired, sending the Tar Heels into a celebration.

North Carolina took the lead on Noah Burnette’s 45-yard field goal with 1:44 to play.

The Gophers started their final possession at their 25 and immediately moved to the 40 on a pass interference call on UNC’s Marcus Allen. Quarterback Max Brosmer found Elijah Spencer for 20 yards and Daniel Jackson for 8 to the Tar Heels 32. After a holding penalty in Tyler Cooper, the Gophers got to the UNC 29, and brought in Kesich, who supplied the winning 47-yard field goal against Nebraska in last year’s opener. This time he missed, and coupled with his first-half 27-yard miss, the Gophers left some points on the board.

Just because there’s a new quarterback under center, that doesn’t mean everything will be fixed immediately. Brosmer completed only three of his first seven passes for 43 yards while facing pressure from the Tar Heels pass rush. He began to hit his stride late in the first quarter, when his deep ball intended for Jackson drew a pass interference penalty. Then in the second quarter, Brosmer found Jackson for a key, 20-yard gain on the go-ahead TD drive. Brosmer finished 13-for-21 for 166 yards.

A 70-yard interception return by Justin Walley ignited the Gophers in the second quarter and led to their first touchdown. And after a key third-down sack of North Carolina quarterback Max Johnson forced a punt, Minnesota’s offense drove 65 yards for the go-ahead touchdown late in the second quarter.

Down 14-7 at halftime, North Carolina committed itself to its 1,500-yard rusher, Omarion Hampton, in the second half. The junior carried seven times for 19 yards on the Tar Heels’ first second-half possession that led to a field goal. He rushed six times for 32 yards on the drive that cut the lead to 14-13. In the third quarter, North Carolina had the ball for 13:34 to the Gophers’ 1:21.

Hampton finished with 30 carries for 129 yards and five receptions for 17 yards.

While Hampton did yeoman’s work with his rushing, Burnette made all four of his field-goal attempts.

The Gophers play their second nonconference game of the season on Sept. 7, playing host to FCS-level Rhode Island at 11 a.m. Brosmer is quite familiar with the Rams, going 2-1 against them in his three seasons as New Hampshire’s starting QB. Last year, Brosmer passed for 430 yards and two TDs in a 34-28 overtime loss to Rhode Island.

* A previous version of this story had the incorrect date for the Gophers next game. It will be Sept. 7 vs. Rhode Island.