University of North Carolina Athletics

Inside The Numbers: Wake Forest Game
November 9, 2021 | Football
IN-STATE DOMINATION
Mack Brown is 23-1 in his last 24 games against in-state ACC opponents as the head coach of the Tar Heels.
COMEBACK KIDS
UNC became the first FBS team to ever come back from down 14 points against the same opponent in consecutive seasons. The Tar Heels rallied from a 21-point deficit, which matched the largest comeback and was the largest second-half comeback, in program history in the 59-53 victory in 2020.
Last Saturday, Carolina fell behind by 18 points midway through the third quarter, but the Tar Heels defense came up with three straight stops and the offense ripped off 24 straight points during the fourth quarter. Cam'Ron Kelly's second interception of Sam Hartman with 10:40 remaining set up Ty Chandler's 21-yard touchdowns that tied it at 48-48. A fourth-and-2 stop on Wake's next drive allowed Grayson Atkins to convert his third field goal of the afternoon to take the lead and Chandler iced it with a 50-yard scamper with 72 seconds left.
2021: A SCHEDULING ODDITY
A hat tip to one of Carolina football's stat guys, Jeremy Jones, for this note. North Carolina played Notre Dame and Wake Forest in consecutive games two years in a row. In 2020, they were both ACC games, while this year they were both non-conference games.
HOWELL'S 10K
• Sam Howell took over as Carolina's career total offense leader last time out against Wake Forest. He is the second-fastest player in ACC history to reach 10,000 yards of offense. Howell's 33 games are tied with Clemson's Deshaun Watson, trailing only Louisville's Lamar Jackson at 31 games.
Fewest Games to Reach 10,000 Yards of Offense
Lamar Jackson, Louisville - 31
Sam Howell - 33
Deshaun Watson, Clemson - 33
Eric Dungey, Syracuse - 34
ELITE COMPANY
In the playoff era, only three quarterbacks have had five games with 300 passing yards and five games with 100 rushing yards in a season. Sam Howell has already done it in his first nine games of the 2021 season.
Lamar Jackson (twice)
Deshaun Watson
Sam Howell
Sam Howell is about to break rushing records set by Lamar Jackson & Lynn Bowden...@UNCFootball pic.twitter.com/0qI7hsi4S4
— PFF College (@PFF_College) November 8, 2021
ELITE COMPANY PART DEUX
Ty Chandler became just the third player with 200 or more rushing yards and four or more touchdowns against a CFP Top 10 opponent. The other two are Ezekiel Elliott (2015 vs. Oregon) and John Rhys Plumlee (2019 vs. LSU).
Chandler exploded for a career-high 213 yards and four rushing touchdowns against Wake Forest last Saturday afternoon. He was named ACC Running Back of the Week for the second time this season after becoming the first Tar Heels rusher with four touchdowns in a game since Leon Johnson against UTEP in 1993.
Yards after contact leaders among P5 RBs in Week 10:
— PFF College (@PFF_College) November 9, 2021
1. Ty Chandler, North Carolina: 150
2. Travis Dye, Oregon: 141
3. Tavion Thomas, Utah: 132 pic.twitter.com/CGiZ7Xwfr3
DOWNS 1K
Josh Downs was relatively quiet for his standards last week against Wake Forest with four catches for 35 yards, but his remarkable season has already seen the sophomore slot star reach 1,000 receiving yards in only nine games.
SEASON
Yards, Name, Year
1,222, Hakeem Nicks, 2008
1,196 Dwight Jones, 2011
1,112 Ryan Switzer, 2016
1,099 Dyami Brown, 2020
1,034 Dyami Brown, 2019
1,018 Dazz Newsome, 2019
1,014 Josh Downs, 2021
VICTORY VIBESMost yards AFTER the catch this season
— PFF College (@PFF_College) November 7, 2021
1. Josh Downs, UNC - 614
2. Drake London, USC - 460
3. John Metchie, Bama - 440
4. David Bell, Purdue - 431 pic.twitter.com/5lTTL1cXHc
NFL TWEETSVictory Vibes: Wake 🎩#CarolinaFootball 🏈 #BeTheOne pic.twitter.com/HP66dC8DeP
— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) November 9, 2021
Brissett ➡️ Hollins 🙌 #FinsUp
— NFL (@NFL) November 7, 2021
📺: #HOUvsMIA on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/gM43YDodWN
Javonte Williams leads the NFL with a 37% forced missed tackle rate
— PFF Fantasy Football (@PFF_Fantasy) November 8, 2021
Nobody else is above 30% 😳 pic.twitter.com/WUPaM5V0sn