There was a point Saturday afternoon in 93-percent empty Kenan Stadium that some of us may have thought, “You know, NC State might be as good as the Tar Heels.” 

It came early in the second half, after Carolina had dominated the first 30 minutes in total yardage, time of possession and plays from scrimmage – about a 2-1 ratio in all three – and led only 17-7. 

But there was State making the Heels punt away the second half kickoff after three plays. In the first half, the so-called 23rd-ranked Wolfpack had turned a sure touchdown into a bobbled pass and athletic interception by UNC safety-cornerback Don Chapman on the back line of the end zone. 

The Pack did score with one-minute left in the second quarter, which made Mack Brown mad because Florida State had done the same thing last week in Tallahassee. Carolina countered with a 40-yard field goal on the last play of the half by grad transfer Grayson Atkins, who had hooked a chip-shot 22-yarder earlier and after going 2-for-6 so far this season might have been one more miss from being benched. 

At halftime, Brown probably pulled out the same speech he gave his troops last season in Raleigh when they flubbed around to a 10-6 halftime deficit before saying “let’s just be us” and rolling to a 41-10 win that assured them a bowl bid. And, finally, that same mojo kicked in this time on the way to a record number of points (89) against the Pack in consecutive games. 

It started when senior linebacker Tyrone Hopper leaped to tip a pass from freshman Ben Finley, the kid brother of Ryan Finley who had QB’d State to the last two of three straight wins in Chapel Hill, when snarky Wolfpack players and fans started calling Carolina’s home field Carter-Finley West. Any idea of continuing that began to slip away when Chazz Surratt came down with the tipped ball for his second interception as a college linebacker. And we all remember his first – on the goal line against Duke in a game-saving play. 

Surratt’s steal gave UNC great field position, and four snaps later Sam Howell found freshman receiver Josh Downs behind State’s busted coverage for a touchdown and 24-7 lead. Downs’ father, by the way, played at NC State but also was a friend of Tar Heel All-American and assistant coach Dre Bly. 

The scoring pass kept Howell’s streak alive of throwing for at least one TD in each of his 18 games as a Heel. With the toss, Howell also surpassed the 5,000-yard career marker and moved him past Ronald Curry into fifth place on the all-time Carolina list. And he’s only a sophomore! 

Before the ensuing kickoff, which Jonathan “Money” Kim booted through the end zone for the 31st time this season in 33 attempts, Brown took off his mask in a sideline huddle with the defense and challenged them to make a stop so they could put this game out of reach. The defense did, but not before young Finley quick-kicked on fourth down to the UNC 1-yard line. 

Since his team was in the process of setting all kinds of records, Howell led the offense on the longest-known drive in Carolina history, 99 yards to the house in almost four minutes, culminating with Javonte Williams’ 1-yard touchdown, the first of his three on the day that gave him an ACC-leading 12 for the season. The field-length march also included one of seven receptions by Dyami Brown for another 100-yard game that would have been more had he not dropped Howell’s sideline bomb in the first quarter. 

The 11-play drive made it 31-7, which was a weird sign that this game was truly over because that’s the score by which Carolina trailed FSU at halftime. Something about poetic justice. 

But the scoreboard soon lit up again after Surratt sacked a scrambling Finley and forced him to fumble, which freshman linebacker Desmond Evans pounced on at the State 9. After the teams traded strange penalties, Javonte scored again on an option pitch that left one State defender looking for his jock strap on the Kenan field. It was the same swivel-hipped move that Williams’ fellow rusher Michael Carter made on his way to the Tar Heels first score of the game at the diametrically opposite corner of Kenan a couple of hours earlier. 

Carter and Williams continued on as the best one-two rushing punch in the ACC and perhaps the nation, each gobbling up more than 100 yards for the second time this season and Carter adding 46 as a pass-catcher. These guys are really good, slashing through creases and racing around corners or simply running people over. Carter is a senior and Williams a junior who will eligible for and likely picked in the next NFL draft. (Note: a sophomore named Josh Henderson went in during mop-up time and had 27 yards on five carries.)

As bad as Carolina was in the Panhandle the week before, the Tar Heels were good against a team that won’t stay in the top 25 but is a lot better than Florida State, which you may have noticed got crushed by a one-win Louisville on Saturday. That affirmed for Brown that his guys were far more responsible for their only loss to date than were the Seminoles. 

“You’ve got to have talent, but football is also a game of emotion,” Mack said after the 48-21 beatdown of his UNC System rival. “It’s life lessons, and one of them is you’ve got to be ready every week.” 

The 4-1 Tar Heels were and compiled some dominating stats (like 326 yards rushing and holding State to 34) in a win that should inch them back toward the top 10 while earning Brown’s seventh straight victory over the Wolfpack in two UNC coaching stints across 28 years. 

Stranger than fiction, but aren’t we lucky. Next comes a trip to Virginia, Carolina’s oldest if not fiercest rival.

Photo via ACC Media.

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