UNC hires former NFL head coach Freddie Kitchens as TE coach

Syndication: The Record
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – North Carolina has hired former Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens as its run-game coordinator and tight ends coach.

The school announced the hiring Tuesday, with Kitchens named to replace John Lilly after Lilly joined Frank Reich’s staff with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.

Kitchens spent 16 seasons in the NFL ranks, leading the Browns to a 6-10 record as head coach in 2019. He also worked as an offensive coordinator with the Browns and took over as play-caller for the New York Giants in 2021.

Kitchens also spent 11 years on the staff of the Arizona Cardinals, including for their Super Bowl appearance in the 2008 season. He has had college coaching stints at North Texas and Mississippi and spent last year as a senior analyst at South Carolina.

Nix leads No. 15 Oregon to Holiday Bowl win vs. North Carolina

Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
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SAN DIEGO – The Holiday Bowl emerged from a two-year pandemic hiatus with a new home and the same reputation for thrilling finishes.

Bo Nix threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Chase Cota on fourth down with 19 seconds left and Camden Lewis‘ PAT bounced off the left upright and went through to give No. 15 Oregon a wild 28-27 victory against North Carolina at Petco Park.

Cota caught the ball at about the 1 and got it across the goal line as he was being tackled by Don Chapman. The play was upheld on review. Lewis then banked in the PAT.

Nix called it “just one of our favorite plays” that the team practices a lot.

“It’s an option route and there’s a lot of different angles, so it’s hard to stop,” Nix said. “That’s what I want to call because we have the most reps at it and I know exactly where each guy is going to be, and Chase did a good job getting over across the field in man coverage and hooking the ball in and catching it and getting in the end zone. Extremely proud of Chase, he deserved that one.”

Cota said that when he saw the Tar Heels bringing a house blitz, “I knew. It was perfect and Bo saw it. Just an easy touchdown from there.”

Said coach Dan Lanning: “All we needed was time on the clock. It took every fourth down, it took every yard, it took every inch, it took every ounce of effort that our guys had to finish the way they needed to finish.”

North Carolina (9-5) got the ball to the Oregon 42 with one second left before Drake Maye‘s desperation heave into the end zone fell incomplete.

“Very disappointed that we didn’t win, but we’ve got to make a play here or there, and they’re a great football team,” said North Carolina coach Mack Brown, who brought Texas to the Holiday Bowl five times between 2000 and 2011. “Nobody gave us a chance in the game and we had a chance with one second left. That’s all we could ask for in this situation.”

The Ducks finished 10-3 thanks to Nix, who came up big late in the fourth quarter after being held in check much of the second half. He threw a 6-yard TD pass to Troy Franklin with 6:58 to go to pull the Ducks to 24-21.

The Tar Heels took a 27-21 lead with 2:34 to go on Noah Burnette’s 44-yard field goal, his second of the quarter.

Nix then moved the Ducks 79 yards in eight plays for the win, with the drive being aided by a pass interference call.

Nix was 23 of 30 for 205 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception.

Maye, the ACC Offensive Player of the Year, was 18 of 35 for 206 yards and three scores.

The Tar Heels took a 21-14 lead on Maye’s 49-yard TD pass to Kobe Paysour just before halftime that was set up by an incredible interception by linebacker Power Echols. Echols’ jaw-dropping interception and 40-yard return gave the Tar Heels the ball at the Oregon 49.

With the score tied at 14 and Oregon driving late in the second quarter, Nix threw behind Terrance Ferguson and the ball bounced off the right calf of linebacker Cedric Gray toward Echols, who tipped it up with his right foot before bending over and grabbing it and taking off to the Oregon 49.

Maye then hit Paysour at about the 28 and he outraced the defense into the end zone, where he bowed to the crowd after giving the Tar Heels a 21-14 lead 26 seconds before halftime.

Maye also threw touchdown passes of 6 yards to Andrew Greene Jr. and 14 yards to Bryson Nesbit.

Oregon’s Bucky Irving had touchdown runs of 2 and 66 yards – the third-longest in Holiday Bowl history – in the first half.

THE TAKEAWAY

Oregon: The thrilling win was a nice finish for the Ducks, whose once-promising season fizzled out in November when they lost two of three after winning eight straight.

North Carolina: The Tar Heels ended with four straight losses, including a 29-point defeat against Clemson in the ACC title game.

UP NEXT

Oregon: Nix announced last week that he’ll return for his fifth season of eligibility. “There’s nothing like being an Oregon Duck. For 2023, I’m back,” he said in a video.

North Carolina: Maye recently batted down rumors that he had been offered a $5 million name, image and likeness deal to transfer. Maye had a breakout season that has made him a top prospect for the 2024 NFL draft.

Tar Heels WR Downs opts out of Holiday Bowl for NFL leap

Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – North Carolina receiver Josh Downs is opting out of the Holiday Bowl against No. 15 Oregon to prepare for a jump to the NFL draft.

Downs announced his decision in a social media post Friday, less than a week after he had 11 catches for 100 yards in the Tar Heels’ loss to No. 10 Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. He led the team with 94 catches for 1,029 yards and 11 touchdowns despite missing two games.

Downs ranks third in the Bowl Subdivision ranks with 8.5 catches per game, while his 11 TD catches is tied for seventh.

His top stretch came when he had a run of four straight 100-yard games with at least nine catches each time. That included 15 catches for 166 yards and a touchdown at Virginia and 11 catches for 154 yards and three scores in a win at Wake Forest that clinched the ACC’s Coastal Division title.

Downs had ranked 10th in FBS in 2021 with 1,335 yards receiving to go with eight scores.