The top-ranked Miami Hurricanes are still unbeaten, but barely. Mark Fletcher Jr. scored the go-ahead touchdown on fourth down and Miami held off North Carolina 38-35 on Saturday night in Chapel Hill.

Fletcher's 2-yard run with 7:49 left was his third touchdown of the game. Miami improved to 8-0 and 6-0 in the ACC.

North Carolina fell to 4-4 and is now 0-12 all-time against No. 1 teams.

The play that saved Miami

The Tar Heels got the ball back with a chance to answer. Marquise Lightfoot chased down quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. from behind and stripped him as he tried to throw. Justin Scott recovered the fumble with 5:33 left.

Miami then stretched the lead. Tight end Elija Lofton leaped over a defender on a key catch to keep the drive alive. Darian Mensah finished it with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Malachi Toney for a 38-28 lead with 2:33 to go.

North Carolina still scored again. Two Tar Heels onside kick recoveries were wiped out by penalties before Miami finally recovered one and ran out the clock.

Belichick's offense keeps it close

Mensah threw for 274 yards and three touchdowns. Two went to Toney and one to Fletcher.

Edwards had a season-high 341 passing yards and four touchdowns for Bill Belichick's team. Tight end Jelani Thurman caught two of them. One North Carolina touchdown drive lasted 16 plays and nearly 8 1/2 minutes.

It was the most points Miami has allowed in regulation this season. A week ago North Carolina lost at home in overtime to Syracuse.

Notre Dame is next

Miami visits No. 5 Notre Dame next Saturday. It is a rematch of last year's game that helped send the Hurricanes to the College Football Playoff instead of the Irish.

North Carolina leaves ACC play to visit UConn.