Extra Points: Number Crunch

Michael Carter saw the look in Javonte Williams' eyes as kick-off approached Saturday afternoon in Miami. This was big-time stuff—the vaunted Miami Hurricanes donning their black "Miami Nights" uniforms, the Tar Heels challenging a top-10 team to remain in contention for an Orange Bowl berth, the high-octane Carolina offense still feeling the sting of its second-half implosion two weeks earlier against Notre Dame, the ESPN "A team" of Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit calling the game for a national audience.

"We 'bout to do numbers today," Carter thought.

Numbers? Good gracious, did Carter, Williams and the Tar Heels churn them out Saturday afternoon:

* 62 (points scored by the Tar Heels, most ever against an AP poll ranked opponent);

* 36 (margin of victory, largest in school history against a ranked opponent);

* 554 (yards rushing, one shy of a program record, and Carter and Williams combined the highest two-player total in Football Bowl Subdivision history);

* 778 (total yards, a program record and the most Miami had ever allowed);

* 308 (Carter's rushing total, second best in school history behind Derrick Fenner's 328 vs. Virginia in 1986);

* 22 (touchdowns this season for Williams, breaking Don McCauley's half-century old standard);

* 3 (the ways QB Sam Howell accounted for touchdowns by rushing, passing and receiving, matching Marquise Williams' feat vs. Notre Dame in 2014);

* 5 (consecutive defensive stops in the first half, including a fourth-down stoning of Donald Chaney on fourth-and-one);

* 1 (sacks allowed by the Tar Heels against a furious Hurricane defense led by book-end edge rushers Quincy Roche and Jaelen Phillips);

* 40 (minutes of ball possession by the Tar Heel offense, including 7:24 to open the second half on a 13-play touchdown drive);

* 0 (number of times the Tar Heels punted and number of times they turned the ball over);

* And 3 (the ridiculous moves by Williams on a 43-yard third quarter run with a jump, a steamroll and a 360-degree spin). The Pro Football Focus analytics site tweeted a clip of that play Sunday morning, saying "the Earth is still shaking from this Javonte Williams run."

"Javonte refused to go down on that play," said running backs coach Robert Gillespie. "You could feel the energy of people chasing the ball down our sideline. We played inspired football tonight. We wanted to be a physical team tonight. We talked about it all week. We wanted to set the tone as a team. That play summed up the entire game."

When it was over, the offensive line, running backs and tight ends and their coaches gathered for a group photo to commemorate a running back passing the thousand-yard mark, which Carter (1,245 total) and Williams (1,140) both did against Miami. The same groups convened after the Military Bowl victory over Temple last December to celebrate Carter clipping that barrier.

"The offensive line takes pride in whatever the running backs accomplish," O-line coach Stacy Searles said. "The kids look up at the scoreboard as the game goes along and say, 'Look what Michael's got' and 'Look what Javonte's got' and kept saying let's keep going, let's keep going. It was crazy. Coach [Phil] Longo is always pushing the pace, rolling his arms as if to say, 'Go, go, go.' Our guys are out there doing the same thing. They wanted to push it and keep pushing. When it was over, we had to get a picture to remember the moment."

Added Gillespie: "It was a good week of practice, a confident week. Nobody was uptight. Everybody believed we'd put our best foot forward. We had a good opportunity two weeks ago against a really good Notre Dame team and didn't take advantage of it. Our guys relaxed and showed just how good we can be as a team."

The Hurricane ends—both transfers and neither of them on the team that came to Chapel Hill last September—wrought havoc across the ACC this fall by lining up in track stances, pinning their ears back and charging vertically like Renaldo Nehemiah sniffing the finish line. Tackles Asim Richards and Jordan Tucker with help from the tight end generally neutralized them, and Carter and Williams feasted on counter plays and cutbacks against the grain to negate the Hurricane's speed and pursuit. Carter and Williams were patient in letting the blocks evolve and then left the Hurricanes in their wake downfield.

"In our room, we pride ourselves on 1-on-1s, and we had a lot of 1-on-1s with the safeties," Carter said. "We won more than we lost."

The Tar Heels averaged over 10 yards a rush and complimented that with striking for pass plays of 51 and 87 yards to Dyami Brown, this against a defense allowed fewer than four yards a snap on the ground.

"The game hasn't changed in a hundred years," Coach Mack Brown said. "It's still the team that runs it best and takes care of the ball and kicks it best and stops the run best is going to win. That's what happened tonight. We established the run early, and when they crowded the line of scrimmage, we got Dyami 1-on-1 and we were able to throw the ball deep."

Brown noted that through two seasons of his return to lead the program, the Tar Heels have entered games against four elite teams—Miami in both seasons, Clemson last year and Notre Dame this year. Carolina beat the Hurricanes both times, albeit by a slender three-point margin in 2019, lost in the last minute to Clemson and was overwhelmed by the Fighting Irish defense in the second half two weeks ago. The Tar Heels struck a quick and decisive blow to the Hurricanes from the first whistle, taking a 21-3 lead after the first quarter and never looking back.

"This was the first time against a really good team we played 60 minutes in the two years I've been here," Brown said. "It makes a statement that we're a confident team that wasn't scared to go on the road against a team that's already won eight games with the Orange Bowl on the line. And that confidence is something I didn't think we had the second half of Notre Dame as a team."

The Tar Heels now wait until bowl selections are made next Sunday. Brown is giving the team this week off after a four-and-a-half month grind since early August. The players will return to Chapel Hill on Saturday, have their Covid tests and be ready to resume practice the next day. Meanwhile, the coaching staff will welcome its incoming recruiting class of 2021 on National Signing Day on Wednesday.

Add it all up: An 8-3 regular season, certainly an improvement over 7-6 in Brown's first year; a national top-five offense and a defense stocked with dynamite young players, two of them showing up often Saturday being Ja'Qurious Conley with six tackles and Tony Grimes with a stupefying interception; and no Covid issues and no games being postponed or cancelled on the part of the Tar Heels.

And the cherry on top certainly being ravaging a Miami team on national television.

"They are definitely trying to send a message not only to Miami but to the nation, to recruits," Herbstreit said from his ESPN vantage point. "I am still just in awe of this UNC running game and what they have done vs. Miami."

"We got our ass kicked. It was a humiliating experience," Miami Coach Manny Diaz admitted. "They were phenomenal. That was probably as good as they can play matched up with probably as badly as we can play, and that's the result … With everything on the line tonight, we took our eye off the ball."

Truer words, as they say. They'll be crunching the numbers on this one for a long time to come.

Chapel Hill based writer Lee Pace (Carolina '79) has written "Extra Points" since 1990, is the author of "Football in a Forest" and has been part of the Tar Heel Sports Network broadcast crew since 2004. Write him at leepace7@gmail.com.

Players Mentioned

Dyami Brown

Michael Carter

Ja'Qurious Conley

Tony Grimes

Sam Howell

Asim Richards

Jordan Tucker

Javonte Williams

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