North Carolina beats Tennesssee 30-27 in double OT

2010-12-30 20:38:00 PST Nashville, TN 37200, United States — (12-30) 20:38 PST Nashville, Tenn. (AP) --

Casey Barth kicked a 23-yard field goal in the second overtime to send North Carolina past Tennessee 30-27 in a Music City Bowl that will be remembered much more for the crazy finish of regulation than how it ended Thursday night.

Barth kicked a 39-yard field goal after officials reviewed what had been the final play of the game and decided to penalize the Tar Heels (8-5) for having "more than 11 men" on the field. The Big Ten officiating crew also announced T.J. Yates had spiked the ball with 1 second left.

That allowed Barth to run out and kick the field goal that tied it at 20.

Tennessee (6-7) was stunned at the sudden switch that cost the Vols an apparent bowl victory to cap Derek Dooley's first season. Tyler Bray threw a 25-yard TD in the first overtime, but Quan Sturdivant picked him off to end the Vols' last chance in the second OT.

This is the second time this season that Tennessee has lost a game because of too many men on the field. The Vols lost to LSU on Oct. 2 when they got caught having too many defenders, giving the Tigers another chance to pull out a 16-14 win.

"It was chaos again," Dooley said.

This will hurt much more. Tennessee had the home-field advantage with LP Field painted orange from top to bottom, and the Vols' fans had been celebrating ever since Bray's 8-yard TD pass to Justin Hunter put them up 20-17 with 5:16 left.

But Donte Paige-Moss blocked Daniel Lincoln's extra point, and that provided the edge North Carolina needed to force overtime with Barth's second field goal.

Tennessee had a chance to clinch the victory when the Vols got the ball back with 1:36 left but punted it back to North Carolina with 31 seconds remaining to set up the bizarre finish.

Everyone was on the field after the clock appeared to run out when North Carolina got caught — and flagged — with too many men on the field. A handful of Tar Heels were running toward the sideline when Yates took the snap and spiked the ball with the holder behind him as if preparing for a field-goal attempt.

North Carolina coach Butch Davis took the blame for the confusion. He said the offensive players were doing what they'd been told a couple plays before, while the field-goal unit started running out.