Lucas: Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. What a cathartic second half for the entire Carolina football program in a dominating performance that resulted in a 41-10 win over NC State.

2. There have been times this year when the Tar Heel defense struggled getting turnovers. It turns out they were just saving them for the season finale. The turnover floodgates opened in the third quarter, with a pair of interceptions and a very nice forced fumble and recovery by Jeremiah Gemmel. Those takeaways led to three touchdowns and a mammoth 28-point explosion in the period, with the Tar Heels changing the game from a 10-6 deficit to a 34-10 lead. Myles Dorn added another interception in the fourth quarter for good measure. "At halftime we settled back down," Mack Brown told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network after the game. "The difference in the second half was totally that our defense forced turnovers and we turned them into points about every time."

3. The biggest momentum-turning play was made by freshman Don Chapman early in the third quarter. After a dismal Carolina offensive possession, Chapman made a diving interception on the Wolfpack side of the field. Suitably inspired, the Tar Heels scored two plays later to take a 13-10 lead.

4. That score came on a 26-yard run by Javonte Williams. Prior to that play, Carolina had accumulated a grand total of 24 rushing yards and was averaging fewer than 1.5 yards per carry. They finished with 180 yards on the ground.

5. Chazz Surratt had an All-ACC year. It continued on Saturday, as Surratt played fast and from sideline to sideline in racking up ten tackles, two of them for loss, and had Carolina's only sack. In a year when Surratt entered the season as one of Carolina's biggest question marks, he ended the campaign as one of the team's biggest stars.

6. How unexpected was the third quarter explosion for Carolina? Prior to Saturday night, the Tar Heels had a combined four third quarter touchdowns all season against ACC opponents. They put up four third quarter touchdowns against NC State alone. The Tar Heels' halftime adjustments were dramatic.

7. The red zone has periodically been a problem for the Carolina offense this year. Those issues crystallized in the second quarter after the Tar Heels drove deep into Pack territory. Facing third and five on the NCSU 10-yard line, the Tar Heels called back-to-back timeouts, then took a sack. Noah Ruggles saved the drive with a 32-yard field goal, but it was a frustrating example of Carolina's inability to punch the ball in for a touchdown.

8. But if offensive coordinator Phil Longo is going to take criticism for Carolina's occasional red zone issues, you also have to give him credit for sticking with the running attack in this game when many observers probably would've seen how many times Howell could throw the ball in the final two quarters. Instead, the Tar Heels kept plugging away, and the State defense wilted. Credit also to an offensive line that lost some battles to the State defensive line in the first half (giving up three sacks), but made some adjustments and played much tougher in the second half. Howell was not sacked in the second half. Michael Carter accumulated 97 yards on 16 carries, and Javonte Williams added 58 yards on nine rushes.

9. The road team has now won six of the last seven in this series.

10. Remember at the start of the season when Mack Brown had to persuade people that a turf field at Kenan Stadium was a good idea? He's looked pretty smart the last two weeks, as the artificial surface held up well against Mercer last week, and then the Tar Heels saw the alternative on Saturday night on a very slippery Carter-Finley Stadium grass surface.

11. In any other season, Sam Howell's performance would have been a headline-making, monument-building game. This year, after his incredible freshman season has numbed us to all of his video game numbers, his 23-of-33, 401-yard, three-touchdown showing is down here at point number 11. Nice game (and season), freshman. His 400+ game was the first such UNC game since Mitch Trubisky did it against Florida State in 2016 and is just the 12th 400+ game in Tar Heel history. Howell's 35 touchdown passes is tied with Deshaun Watson for the fourth-most ever by an ACC quarterback. By the way, he has at least two more years in Chapel Hill. "After the first half, I thought that's as good as we've played offensively," Brown said. "We were on fire."

12. With a bowl invitation pending, it's hard to see the first season of Mack Brown 2.0 as anything other than an unqualified success. The Tar Heels beat Duke and NC State, earned bowl eligibility, were competitive in every single game, and perhaps most importantly, reignited a passion for football in Chapel Hill and sold out every home game. That's the very definition of a program on the rise.

13. It's not time to look forward to next season just yet. But just to whet your appetite for Carolina's 2020 offense, remember that all of the big performers from Saturday night--Howell, Michael Carter, Dyami Brown (six catches for 150 yards and a score), Dazz Newsome (seven catches for 130 yards and a score), and Javonte Williams (three touchdowns)--have at least one year of eligibility remaining.

14. The Tar Heels won't officially know the bowl destination until next weekend. "We want to get as many fans there as we can," Brown said. "We want to win our bowl game and get seven wins."

Players Mentioned

Dyami Brown

Michael Carter

Don Chapman

Myles Dorn

Jeremiah Gemmel

Sam Howell

Dazz Newsome

Noah Ruggles

Chazz Surratt

Javonte Williams

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