It was already a rough Saturday for Gio Lopez , but then Scott Frost ‘s Orlando turned it into a nightmare. The UNC quarterback, the South Alabama transfer who was supposed to give Bill Belichick ’s Tar Heels some juice, went down in the third quarter against UCF after what looked like a leg injury. And the way it all unfolded? Pure heartbreak for Chapel Hill.

Lopez was having one of those “two steps forward, three steps back” type of days. He was somewhat accurate on paper—11-of-14 for 87 yards—but those two first-half picks had UNC buried 27–3. Still, he tried to make something happen on his legs. Fourth-and-1, with just six minutes left in the third. He kept it, muscled past the sticks, then boom—rolled up by a wall of Knights defenders. He stayed down, trainers rushed over, and

See Full Page