UNC bowl bound in Mack Brown’s return as coach after rout of NC State
North Carolina ended its ACC schedule with a loss to N.C. State the previous three years and both 2017 and ‘18 ended without a bowl trip.
Mack Brown’s return and Sam Howell’s arrival changed all of that for the Tar Heels. The freshman quarterback threw for a season-high 401 yards and three touchdowns to lead UNC to a 41-10 road win over the Wolfpack on Saturday night.
The Tar Heels (6-6, 4-4 ACC) used a third-quarter outburst to erase a small halftime deficit and convincingly end their losing streak to their rivals.
Brown, who was UNC’s coach from 1988 to ‘97 before a 16-year stint at Texas, went 2-0 against his Triangle neighbors this season to get the program back in a bowl game after a two-year 5-18 lull.
After two-year bowl hiatus, UNC will have a shot at a “Tier I” game with losses by Pittsburgh and Louisville on Saturday. The Pinstripe Bowl (Dec. 27, New York) or Belk Bowl (Dec. 31, Charlotte) could be possible landing spots.
“We’d lost to Duke four out of the last five and we got over that hump,” Brown said. “And we’d lost to State four of the last five and we got over that hump. And (our players) get another game together and this gives us a chance to have a winning season by winning the bowl game. So they’re really happy in that dressing room.”
Howell completed 23 of 33 passes and had touchdown throws of 11, 52 and 13 yards. Running back Javonte Williams had a hat-trick of touchdowns in the third quarter when the Heels broke the game open.
N.C. State (4-8, 1-7) ended the season with a six-game losing streak. The Wolfpack had been eliminated from bowl contention with last week’s loss to Georgia Tech but had come out intent on playing the spoiler.
A 39-yard touchdown pass from Devin Leary to receiver Tabari Hines had the Wolfpack up 10-6 at the half.
And then the bottom fell out for the home team.
“I thought our guys played with a lot of heart in the first half,” N.C. State coach Dave Doeren said. “I thought we did absolutely everything possible to lose that game in the third quarter.”
UNC has usually saved its best for the fourth quarter this season but it got going a little bit earlier on Saturday at a soggy Carter-Finley Stadium.
Williams ran for a 26-yard touchdown, set up by a Don Chapman interception, to put the Tar Heels up for good at 10:07 in the third.
N.C. State, which was out-scored 89 to 27 in the third quarter of ACC play this season, went three-and-out on the next series.
“I don’t really know what happened,” said freshman linebacker Payton Wilson, who had an interception in the second quarter to set up Hines’ touchdown. “It got out of hand real fast.”
Williams caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Howell to make it 20-10. After a Bam Knight fumble, Williams cashed in a 6-yard touchdown run at 2:08 in the quarter for a 27-10 lead.
After a second Leary interception, Howell hit Dyami Brown for a 52-yard strike and a 34-10 advantage. N.C. State turned the ball over three times in the third quarter, which led to 21 UNC points.
“I thought the biggest difference in the second half was turnovers that led to points,” Brown said. “So I was really proud that number one, we forced turnovers with our defense, which we haven’t done a lot during the season.”
First down
N.C. State sophomore defensive tackle Alim McNeill had a pair of sacks in the first half to spark N.C. State’s defense.
Touchdown
UNC’s ground game struggled in the first half (18 rushes, 24 yards) but Williams was able to get in gear in the third quarter. He had five carries for 51 yards and two touchdowns in the third quarter and finished with 58 rushing yards. Michael Carter added 97 yards on 16 carries.
Offsides
Both sides were sloppy with pre-snap penalties and other procedural mistakes. UNC was flagged 10 times for 90 yards, and State was penalized eight times for 65 yards.
ICYMI
Wilson’s interception in the second quarter was the only turnover caused by N.C. State’s defense in a home ACC game this season. N.C. State finished with a turnover margin of minus-16 in ACC play.
Making sense of the numbers
6 Howell finished with 401 passing yards, his first 400-yard game and sixth with at least 300 yards.
13 N.C. State has won nine of the past 13 games in the series but three of the four losses (2013, ‘15 and ‘19) have been in Raleigh.
This story was originally published November 30, 2019 at 10:17 PM.
