The weird season continued with a game of almost unprecedented twists and turns between two teams that really don’t like each other very much, as the last minute of 60 at Kenan Stadium showed.
The Tar Heels welcomed a sparse COVID-allowed crowd back to Kenan, and hopefully the other 50,000 ticket holders who were watching and listening appreciated record-breaking performances by the home team. The game had 14 total touchdowns, and two more were called back by penalties.
Carolina rolled up 656 yards of total offense against a Virginia Tech program that prides itself on defense. Somewhere, retired D-coordinator Bud Foster had to be wincing as he watched. It was the first time ever two UNC running backs surpassed 150 yards in the same game, Michael Carter darting, side-stepping and sprinting to 214 and two touchdowns and Javonte Williams blasting to 169 yards and two more scores to reach six on the season, which leads the ACC and might lead the nation after the weekend.
Looking truly like the No. 8 team in the country, Mack Brown’s boys scored the first three times they had the ball while holding the Hokies to two three-and-outs and 13 anemic yards. Then, the momentum shifted to where Carolina thrice lost three-score leads and, for a moment, looked as though it could actually blow a game it had led 21-0, 35-14 and 42-17 before finally winning 56-45.
Sam Howell was sensational, completing 18 of 23 passes with at least two dead drops by his receivers and for three touchdowns. He hit Dyami Brown with two scoring bombs (his first two of 2020) and a third that was nullified because Brown pushed off in the process. Sudden Sam also hit Dazz Newsome for his first touchdown of the season and later threw a long lateral to him that went down as a rushing TD.
But Howell was a best supporting actor in this track meet between three running backs and two option quarterbacks on the other side. Virginia Tech has a special back of its own in Kansas transfer Khalil Herbert, who wound up with 139 yards and 7.7 yards per carry, down from his seasonal average of more than 12 coming into the game. Carter and Javonte were better; Carter had a long touchdown run of 62 yards that boosted his average to 12-plus per carry and Williams ran with the leather for 7.7 per tote.
VaTech used its two run-pass quarterbacks who combined for 19 carries, 80 yards and a touchdown on the ground and hit 14 of 28 for 215 yards through the air, including two for scores. Strangely, in such a wide-open affair, there wasn’t a fumble or an interception on a slick field from the morning rain.
The Hokies, now 2-1, scored 20 unanswered points in the third quarter, seven coming after an onside kick that caught Carolina napping, and closed the margin to five points. Mack Brown pointed to three secondary regulars who missed the game with injuries and three replacements who were seeing their first extended action of the season. But when the margin got antsy, the offense bailed out the defense with consecutive touchdowns, the second each by Newsome and Carter.
Despite all the fireworks, the day didn’t look exactly right. It was sort of like a Duke game from years ago when a small crowd strolled in and had its choice of any section, let alone seats. And the Tar Heels came out with another new color combination, navy jerseys with light blue numerals and names between white helmets and britches. Don’t ever remember that exact get-up, but it played well “outlined against a blue-gray October sky” as Grantland Rice once wrote it.
The Tar Heels are 3-0 and bound to move up some in the polls, considering losses by No. 4 Florida and No. 7 Miami. They now face a visit to an average Florida State team before coming back to Kenan to face N.C. State, which won at Virginia in a second straight road upset and looks like a real rival again.
“I didn’t realize it, but Virginia Tech had beaten us 13 out of 16 since they joined the ACC,” Mack Brown said afterward, recalling the game Larry Fedora’s last team gave away here two years ago and the six-overtime loss in Blacksburg last season.
So you can see why the Hokies expected to win again and were still taking cheap shots on Howell and his mates as they were running out the clock in a victory formation in the red zone, from where they could have easily scored again.
Photo via ACC Media.
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