After three weeks of heartbreaking losses in the final plays, the UNC football team finally got back on the winning track on Saturday in Atlanta—defeating the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets by a score of 38-22 to improve to 3-3 in 2019 (2-1 ACC).
The win marked the first time in six games this season where there was no late game drama involving the Tar Heels or their opponents, as UNC put together a solid all-around showing against a Georgia Tech team projected as possibly the worst in the entire ACC.
Freshman quarterback Sam Howell was fantastic, throwing for a career-high 376 yards and four touchdowns. He also limited himself to only a single interception. Without a plethora of drops by the receivers on a number of different deep balls in the first half, Howell’s numbers could have been even better and the final score a lot more indicative of UNC’s dominance.
The UNC defense held Georgia Tech largely in check for the duration of Saturday’s game. (Dakota Moyer/Chapelboro.com)
The Tar Heels moved the ball at will on the way to 589 total yards, while holding Georgia Tech (1-4, 0-2 ACC) to just 321 yards and a measly 14 first downs in its time with the ball.
All week long in the lead-up to the game, UNC head coach Mack Brown talked about how his team needed to put the close losses behind them and turn those lessons into wins.
The early results on Saturday were nothing short of impressive, good enough to tie Brown with Dick Crum atop the all-time coaching wins list in school history at 72 apiece.
“We spent so much energy in a close loss to the No. 1 team in the country last week,” Brown said after the game. “When we did that early in the year after a win, we didn’t come back with as much energy for Wake Forest and Appalachian.
“I told them, we can be the same team and do that again or we can learn to play every week and play to a standard,” he continued. “And that’s who we’ve got to be. The biggest thing tonight I thought they did is they played to a standard.”
Besides the early drops by the receivers and Howell’s first-quarter turnover, there weren’t too many negatives to be found for UNC.
The tailback duo of Javonte Williams and Michael Carter found running room all day long for a combined 212 yards on 40 carries.
Howell looked like a seasoned veteran leading the offense for the most part and defensive coordinator Jay Bateman continues to prove he’s one of the best minds in the country in regards to that side of the ball.
All of those things —not to mention avoiding another slow start by building a 17-0 lead by halftime—are reasons to be optimistic about UNC’s hopes for the second half of the season.
With everything clicking on all cylinders, this could serve as a building block win that shows the Tar Heels what they’re capable of against teams with less talent than the defending national champions.
Beating Georgia Tech alone isn’t one of the team’s main goals for the year, but it’s certainly a start.
“Our team is growing up,” Brown said. “It was a good week’s practice. Wednesday wasn’t as good as we wanted. We challenged them, and they jumped right back up and had a good day Thursday, good day Friday, and came and played really hard tonight.
“We made a lot of mistakes,” the coach added. “But this was the first time we’ve been ahead, so we didn’t know how to act.”
Up Next:
The Tar Heels have their bye week, before returning to action on Saturday, Oct. 19 at Virginia Tech
Game Notes:
- Javonte Williams’ 144 rushing yards represented a career-high.
- Four different receivers caught touchdowns from Howell in the game, a list including: Dyami Brown, Dazz Newsome, Beau Corrales and tight end Garrett Walston. Brown’s touchdown was his team-leading fifth of the season.
- Howell’s 33 completions were just five shy of the single-game school record set by Marquise Williams in 2014 against Georgia Tech.
- True freshman Don Chapman–filling in at safety for the injured Myles Wolfolk an Cam’Ron Kelly–recorded his first career interception early in the second quarter.
- This was just UNC’s second win in Atlanta since 1997.
Cover photo via Dakota Moyer
