UNC Runs on All Cylinders, Earns Blowout Win Against Temple in Military Bowl

An impressive all-around team performance on Friday afternoon in Annapolis propelled the UNC football team to a 55-13 blowout victory over the Temple Owls in the Military Bowl—representing the program’s first bowl win since 2013.

A wild first season in the second tenure for head coach Mack Brown ended about as well as anyone could have hoped for, as the young Tar Heels (7-6) were brilliant from start to finish against Temple.

Freshman quarterback Sam Howell threw for 294 yards and three touchdowns to earn the game’s MVP honors, while also catching a touchdown pass from receiver Toe Groves to give UNC a 35-point lead midway through the third quarter.

It was just the latest in a long line of outstanding performances by Howell, who has firmly established himself as one of the top signal-callers in all of college football regardless of age.

“This definitely means a lot to our program,” Howell said. “Just what all these players here have been through. It just means so much to us to come out here and get this win, and send our seniors out the right way.”

On the final play of the first half, Temple (8-5) appeared to have blocked Noah Ruggles’ 41-yard field goal attempt and returned it for a touchdown. Referees called an offsides penalty, however, allowing the Tar Heels another chance at the field goal—which they would convert.

This was perhaps the most important play of the game, as this gave UNC a two-touchdown lead instead of allowing Temple to pull within four points.

Following that 10-point swing, UNC got a one-yard rushing touchdown from Javonte Williams on the opening drive of the third quarter. Then, just seconds later on Temple’s first play of the half, freshman cornerback Storm Duck returned an interception for a score—representing the team’s first defensive touchdown of the season.

The rout was on at that point, with the team getting huge contributions through the air, on the ground and from its defense.

“Today, I think it all came together,” Brown said. “And we just played really, really well against a good Temple football team.”

In a year full of games coming down to the wire, the Tar Heels chose to save their best for last with blowout wins over NC State and Temple when the stakes were at their highest.

With much of the roster slated to return next season alongside an extremely talented recruiting class, the future appears very bright indeed for Brown and the UNC football program.

“Number one, we needed to have a winning season for this team and these seniors,” Brown said. “Because that’s something that we haven’t done these last few years. So that was important for this year.

“We needed to win a bowl game for these seniors, that was important,” the coach added. “But more importantly, the winning season and the bowl win is something that really gives us momentum moving forward.”

Game Notes:

Storm Duck’s interception returned for a touchdown was UNC’s first since Dominique Ross did it in a win over the Citadel back in November of 2016.
UNC’s 21 points in the third quarter tied the Military Bowl’s all-time record for most in a quarter.
Both Dyami Brown and Dazz Newsome surpassed the 1,000 yard receiving mark for the season during the game, becoming just the fourth and fifth players in UNC history to ever do so.
The Tar Heels piled up 534 total yards of offense, while holding Temple to just 272.

FINAL BOX SCORE

Cover photo via Associated Press

UNC Runs on All Cylinders, Earns Blowout Win Against Temple in Military Bowl

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