Miami Beats North Carolina 38-35 as Fletcher Scores Three Touchdowns

No. 1 Miami held on to beat North Carolina 38-35 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill on Saturday night, October 31, as Mark Fletcher Jr. scored three touchdowns and the Hurricanes moved to 8-0.

Miami struck first. Malachi Toney caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Darian Mensah to cap a 13-play, 74-yard opening drive. North Carolina answered in the second quarter, and the Tar Heels stayed close all night behind quarterback Billy Edwards, who threw two of his four touchdown passes to tight end Jelani Thurman in the first half.

Fletcher takes the record

Fletcher put his name at the top of the Miami record book in the second quarter. His 31-yard touchdown catch from Mensah was the 36th total touchdown of his career, moving him past Stephen McGuire and Edgerrin James, who had shared the program mark at 35. Fletcher had entered the game with 35 career total touchdowns, 33 rushing and 2 receiving.

Jake Weinberg kicked a 25-yard field goal with 25 seconds left in the second quarter, and Miami led 17-14 at halftime. The quarter scores told the shape of the game: Miami led 7-0 after one quarter, North Carolina won the second quarter 14-10, and both teams scored 7 in the third and 14 in the fourth.

Fletcher scored on a 2-yard run in the third quarter to put Miami ahead 24-21. Early in the fourth quarter, Demon June scored on a 1-yard run to give North Carolina the lead again. Fletcher answered on fourth and 1 with 7:49 left, scoring on another 2-yard run to put Miami ahead 31-28. That run tied McGuire's program record of 35 career rushing touchdowns. It was Fletcher's second three-touchdown game, after his game against Stanford in 2025.

A wild final five minutes

Miami's defense set up the score that finally gave the Hurricanes room. Edwards was strip-sacked with 4:05 left and Miami recovered, the first turnover of the game, taking over at the North Carolina 37. Mensah then found Toney for a 9-yard touchdown with 2:33 left, stretching the lead to 38-28. The catch was Toney's 13th touchdown of the season, tying Leonard Hankerson's program record set in 2010.

North Carolina still would not go away. Edwards hit Trech Kekahuna for a 15-yard touchdown with 1:38 left, cutting the lead to 38-35. The Tar Heels tried an onside kick, and Miami's hands team recovered it. Toney fielded a spot on that hands team wearing a No. 41 jersey, because Mohamed Toure was also on the unit and two players cannot wear No. 1. Mensah then knelt the clock out, ending the game with a kneel-down on third and 4 at the North Carolina 28 in the final minute.

Mensah finished with three touchdown passes, two to Toney and one to Fletcher. Edwards threw four touchdown passes for North Carolina in the loss.

What it means

Miami entered the game ranked No. 1 at 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the ACC, and the win makes the Hurricanes 8-0. North Carolina entered 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the ACC under head coach Bill Belichick, and falls to 4-4. The Tar Heels were trying to beat a No. 1 ranked team for the first time in program history. They entered the game 0-11 against top-ranked teams, and that wait for a first win goes on. Their run of five straight wins over Miami is also over.