Howell at the moon: UNC quarterback’s name will be attached to this comeback win forever
When Sam Howell’s gone, when he’s off to the NFL, this is the game they’ll talk about in Chapel Hill. This is the one that will linger long into the future, no matter what happens to North Carolina the rest of the season, no matter where Howell’s career arc takes him.
This was his game, the one that’ll have his name attached to it forever, even if he changes his name to Samuel before the draft like his predecessor Mitchell “Mitch” Trubisky. A game in which he set school record after record, falling with nearly every play during the fourth quarter, in the midst of a comeback from 21 points down. A game in which the Tar Heels scored eight touchdowns, and needed every one of them, and Howell had a hand in all but the last.
Wake Forest had an answer for just about everything North Carolina did on Saturday, but the Demon Deacons didn’t have an answer for Howell, whose 550 passing yards were glitzy and gaudy but whose churning legs at the game’s most critical moment made the difference in a 59-53 win.
First for seven yards to convert a third down, and then for 20 yards for a touchdown with the score tied in the fourth quarter, Howell did himself on the ground what he had done through the air to that point: He dragged the Tar Heels to victory. His touchdown run was as effective as it was inelegant, a draw up the middle that he busted outside to the left, moving almost in slow motion compared to the high-octane fireworks that the teams had displayed to that point, what Mack Brown called one of the best offensive performances he’d ever seen.
But Howell shed one tackler, then turned the corner, then rumbled into the end zone behind a convoy of blockers to put the Tar Heels ahead for good to secure the biggest home comeback in UNC history and the biggest second-half comeback in UNC history to go with several single-game and ACC records of his own.
“It definitely means something to me,” Howell said. “I’ve put a lot of time, a lot of work into my craft to be a really good player.”
It was not an exaggeration to say North Carolina’s season was hanging in the balance at that point. A loss here would surely tip the balance from success to failure for good. At the least, it would remove even the slim chances left for North Carolina to sneak into the ACC title game in Charlotte. At the most, it would be a third loss to a team below the Tar Heels in the standings.
If UNC had settled for a field goal, there was no guarantee its defense would be able to hold that lead. As it happened, the Tar Heels made a fourth-down stop deep in their own territory thanks to a Chazz Surratt sack and tacked on a Javonte Williams insurance TD, one they would need when the Deacons drove for a late touchdown.
It was that kind of day, enough back and forth to give the few fans in attendance stiff necks. Howell’s run that put North Carolina ahead for good completed a comeback from 21 points down in the second half, a seemingly insurmountable deficit on a day the Tar Heels’ defense couldn’t stop Wake Forest for most of three quarters. Once it finally forced a few punts, Howell made the Demon Deacons pay, and quickly with five straight touchdowns before Wake Forest could muster a response.
What looked like a historic performance in a shootout loss became a heroic one in an epic comeback, record after record falling seemingly with each throw: passing yards in a game, passing TDs in a game, touchdowns accounted for in a game. He’s the second ACC quarterback to throw for six TDs and run for a seventh, and unlike Lamar Jackson, he did it in a conference game, but anytime your name is in the same sentence with a Lamar Jackson superlative, you’re doing something right.
None of the names that used to be on the facade of Kenan Stadium had ever done this, not Choo Choo Justice or Don McCauley or Kelvin Bryant, whose record of six TDs accounted for in a game Howell broke on Saturday wearing an appropriately retro throwback jersey. In the glow of the fall sun, in a mostly empty stadium, Howell steadily carved out his own place in North Carolina history from start to finish.
“Sam and I have talked a lot about a legacy for a guy like him,” Brown said. “His legacy will be how many games he wins. That’s what quarterbacks are remembered for. ‘Ah, he had how many touchdown passes?’ No. It’s how many wins. How many quarterbacks can be down 21 and lead their team back to win -- and keep their confidence even when we had a couple three and outs to start the second half.”
It wasn’t just Howell, obviously. By the end, everyone had answered the call. The defense made adjustments and got stops, eventually. Things got better on that side of the ball just when they couldn’t get worse. Dyami Brown was called for a penalty that wiped out a touchdown by his brother Khaifre, then finished the drive with a TD of his own. Williams scored his 15th rushing touchdown of the season to keep his meter running in that department, only four behind McCauley’s single-season records for rushing touchdowns and three back in total touchdowns.
The Tar Heels had a 100-yard rusher (Williams) and two 100-yard receivers (Brown, Dazz Newsome). Wake had a 400-yard passer, a 100-yard rusher and two 100-yard receivers of its own, so it took all of that from North Carolina to move to 3-0 against the Big Four: state champs.
They also had a record-setting passer who made the game’s biggest play with his legs, keeping the Tar Heels’ hopes alive and attaching his name to this historic win forever and ever, whatever happens next.
