Sam Howell and UNC finally have what they’ve missed all season. Just in time for Wake
North Carolina discovered its balance offensively in last week’s loss at Notre Dame, just in time for its attempt to knock No. 10 Wake Forest off its equilibrium.
The Tar Heels watched quarterback Sam Howell distribute the ball passing to eight different targets — which was the most in a game this season. Running backs Ty Chandler and D.J. Jones combined for 122 yards rushing and each averaged 5.6 yards per carry — which was their highest collective average since the opener. And the offensive line is now as healthy as it’s been all season.
Receiver Josh Downs continued to be the most consistent player with a career-high 10 receptions for 142 yards. Although his streak of eight consecutive games with a touchdown came to an end, it was easily Carolina’s best road performance of the season. It prompted UNC coach Mack Brown to say after the game that the Heels, “look like the offense we were last year.”
Howell said the reason Carolina (4-4) is starting to reach its potential offensively is because they have developed more playmakers besides just Downs. Chandler had a 53-yard scoring run against the Irish and receiver Antoine Green added a 33-yard touchdown catch. Tight ends combined to catch four of their five targets, including freshman Bryson Nesbit hauling in a season-high three catches for 50 yards against the Irish.
“The big thing for us, and why we were able to play a decent game on offense, is we got everybody involved,” Howell said. “We had all the wideouts involved, the tight ends involved. The running backs ran the ball very well, I was running the ball a little bit. I think when we have all of our weapons involved in the game plan and I’m spreading the ball around, I think we’re really hard to stop.”
Carolina’s offense putting up 45 against Miami and 34 at Notre Dame was its best effort in back-to-back games since scoring 59 in consecutive weeks against Georgia State and Virginia. The way the Demon Deacons (8-0) offense produces, Carolina may have to score more than 50 as it did in last season’s meeting, to win. Wake is second in the ACC in scoring offense, averaging 43.3 points per game.
Brown said with Carolina’s offense in such a rhythm and the fact that Wake can score in bunches might change some of UNC’s play calling. Staying conservative on offense probably won’t win this game.
“You go back to like we were the first two years and you can be much more aggressive,” Brown said. “… In a game where Wake Forest has scored 155 points in three weeks, you’ve got to take more chances and be more aggressive on offense, because you’re going to have to score points to have a chance in this game.”
UNC offensive coordinator Phil Longo said the outside receivers’ involvement in the offense has been a reason why it has improved. Green had his best game since his lone 100-yard receiving performance against Georgia State with five passes for 83 yards and a score.
Justin Olson caught two passes in a game for the first time ever and even freshman J.J. Jones got his first catch of the season with a 6-yarder on his only target.
The Heels need to utilize Green, in particular, who has shown his deep-threat potential but hadn’t had more than one catch in a game since the loss at Georgia Tech. Longo said he’s put an emphasis on getting Green more targets moving forward.
“We’d been playing with 9 on 11 basically for a couple of games there, where we weren’t getting the ball to the outside receivers,” Brown said. “So I feel like the whole offense now I started to be more confident, and they’ll have to continue to do that.”
Brown said Howell was playing “more comfortable and more confident” than he was earlier in the season. And ultimately, the game will still rest with how well Howell is playing. He became Carolina’s career leader in passing yards after throwing for 341 yards on Notre Dame.
Longo said Howell, who passed for a career-high 550 yards last year’s win over Wake, has figured out how to best utilize the players around him.
“I’ve been impressed with Sam because I think he’s had to deal with a very different cast around him,” Longo said. “He has different weapons, maybe not as many weapons (as last year), and you still have to find a way to win and put points on the board and score.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 7:00 AM.