UNC’s win over USC in season opener shows it’s heading in right direction under Brown
When the clock expired at Bank of America Stadium on Saturday, and the scoreboard read “FINAL: North Carolina 24, South Carolina 20,” UNC running back Michael Carter raised his hands in the air and began to run around the field.
“I was just excited to be part of the winning team,” Carter said.
Because over the past two seasons wins were hard to come by. In 2017 and 2018, UNC combined to finish 5-18. Had this been 2018, the Tar Heels might have lost to the Gamecocks — fumbled the ball or gave up a game-winning touchdown. Seven of their nine losses came by 10 points or less in 2018, and three happened when the Tar Heels had a lead in the fourth quarter.
So when Carter and his teammates realized that their team had finally won, they celebrated, sharing hugs with each other and slapping high-fives with Tar Heel fans.
“We just wanted to change the narrative of who we were,” said Carter, who finished Saturday’s game with 76 rushing yards on 16 carries. “We knew that our stigma last year was, if we get hit in the mouth, that we’d lay down. Today, I feel like we got hit in the mouth, and we got back up and we kept fighting.
“And I’m really proud of my teammates for that.”
It took a change in mind-set, UNC safety Myles Dorn said. The Gamecocks led the Tar Heels 20-9 and had the ball in UNC territory late in the third quarter after UNC freshman quarterback Sam Howell lost a fumble.
But Dorn said despite that, he still believed his team would win.
UNC’s defense came up with a big stop, and Howell and the offense responded with 15 unanswered points.
“That’s big,” Dorn said. “When you’re down and you got a team that’s going to fight, it’s a special thing.”
Howell, who became the first true freshman to start a season opener at quarterback for UNC, threw two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
And the defense forced two turnovers in the final three minutes to keep South Carolina out of the end zone.
“I trust my teammates,” said Howell, who is from Monroe, which is about 20 miles outside of Charlotte. “I was just trying to seize the moment, take advantage of this opportunity. This is what I dreamed of, being back in my hometown, playing front of all my close people.
“It was awesome.”
Coach Mack Brown, who returned to UNC 22 years after his first stint with the program, was emotional, too.
When he left Texas in 2013, he was exhausted. His coaching career hadn’t ended the way he would have liked. He was angry after losses and ugly wins.
But this win gave him joy. In the locker room, Brown danced with the team.
He said he got into coaching to be a mentor to young men. He said he lost sight of that in his latter years at Texas after winning a national title.
“I am so pumped,” he said, adding that his wife, Sally, made him promise to enjoy the wins no matter how ugly.
When Brown was hired, he said he and Sally liked to fix things.
It’s only the first game of the season, but the win signals a step in the right direction for UNC’s program. Prior to Saturday, the Tar Heels hadn’t won a season opener against a Power 5 opponent since 1997. They were 0-11 in those games. Last season, they lost to California in the 2018 season-opener 24-17, but the game was not as close as the score suggested.
In this game against South Carolina, there were both highs and lows.
When Brown walked into his postgame news conference, he held up a sheet a paper he said listed the number of mistakes the Tar Heels made. The paper was full.
Among them were 10 penalties for 90 yards. There was a turnover. There were three sacks allowed, and Howell took a lot of big hits. There were also many missed tackles, especially in the first half.
But the highs outweighed lows.
From start to finish, the Tar Heels running game behind Javonte Williams, Michael Carter and Antonio Williams, was strong. UNC rushed for 238 yards. It opened up the passing game for Howell, who finished with 245 yards passing and two touchdowns in his first college game.
After the Gamecocks gained 116 yards in their first two drives, the Tar Heels settled down and held them to 154 yards the rest of the game. The Tar Heels’ defense, under new defensive coordinator Jay Bateman, had USC quarterback Jack Bentley confused. He finished 16-of-30 for 142 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
The Tar Heels outgained the Gamecocks 483 to 270.
Dorn said what excites him most is that he knows this team can get better.
“But at the end of the day, we put it all together and we did enough to win the game,” he said. “We won, we’re going to get back on the drawing board and do what we gotta do to get better.”
Over the next four weeks — with games against Miami, Wake Forest, Appalachian State and Clemson — they’ll have to be.
But Saturday’s win against South Carolina was a step in the right direction.
This story was originally published August 31, 2019 at 10:11 PM.
