Quick Hitters - North Carolina at NC State

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 34-30 road loss to NC State on Black Friday.

Author:
Isaac Schade
Nov 27, 2021 1:35 AM EST

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 34-30 road loss to NC State on Black Friday.

Highlights:

Condensed Game:

There’s no way to soften this blow. That was an extremely painful loss. Regardless of the context, losing a game in that fashion is difficult. But the context makes the defeat even more bitter. Given the fact that it was the regular season finale. Given the fact that it was against NC State. Given the fact that it was at NC State. Given the fact that Carolina had a shot at back-to-back “state championships”. Given the fact that Carolina could have dashed any Wolfpack hopes of an ACC Championship Game birth. Given the fact that a win potentially results in a better bowl game. This one stings and will do so for quite some time.
He won’t want to dwell on it because of the lack of team success, but congratulations are in order to Josh Downs who becomes the Carolina all-time leader in single-season receiving yards. Hakeem Nicks, the previous leader, had 1,222 yards in 2008. Downs, with eight receptions for 75 yards tonight, is up to 98 receptions for 1,273 receiving yards with a bowl game left to play.
Sam Howell started and played the whole game, but was clearly still bothered by his injury. What a tough competitor. In fact, even though his injury is upper body, Howell appeared slightly hobbled as he jogged off after being sacked on third down on the first series of the game. Let’s agree to ignore the play that immediately followed that sack, shall we? Deal? Deal.
Howell continued his streak of throwing a touchdown pass in every game of his Carolina career. The number is now up to 36 straight games. His third quarter 17-yard pass to Justin Olson did the trick. It was also Olson’s first career touchdown reception.

Howell’s touchdown pass gives him 91 for his career and moves him into sole possession of third place on the ACC all-time passing touchdown list. He had been tied with some guys you might have heard of named Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence. Ahead of Howell now are Philip Rivers (95) and Tajh Boyd (107). Keep in mind that Rivers and Boyd were both four-year players, meaning that Howell is first in touchdown passes for a three-year ACC player.

The Tar Heels did an overall nice job of limiting their penalties, committing seven for a total of 65 yards. It was a higher total than their average in the first half of the season, but still lower than the 10.8 penalties and 101.8 penalty yards they averaged in the second five games. However…
The issue with the penalties is that with 93 seconds left Carolina had only committed four of those seven penalties for 30 of the 65 penalty yards. On NC State’s final drive, after the Wolfpack recovered their onside kick, the Tar Heels were charged with an offside penalty, a roughing the passer, and a defensive pass interference. State reached the Carolina 24 without gaining any yards on a play. Literally, the only play of that drive with positive earned yardage was the touchdown pass.
Grayson Atkins did his job tonight, nailing field goals of 22, 21, and 50 yards. The 50-yarder appeared, at the time, to put the final nail in NC State’s coffin. The Tar Heels had burned 3:16 off the clock and left the Wolfpack just 2:12 to work with down nine points.
Let’s also point out that in his two years at UNC, Atkins is a perfect 111-111 on extra points.
On defense, Cedric Gray continues to cement himself as a force to be reckoned with. He led the team with 12 total tackles, had half a sack, 1.5 tackles for loss, and a fumble recovery. In his final regular season game, Jeremiah Gemmel was just behind Gray with 10 tackles, half a sack, half a tackle for loss, and a forced fumble.

As a unit, the defense recorded a season-high six sacks. Tomon Fox was responsible for 2.5 of those six sacks and finishes the regular season with a team-high 7.5.
British Brooks was the leading rusher on the night. He had 15 attempts for 124 yards and a touchdown. For Brooks, he sets a career high in rushing yards for the second straight week (89 last week against Wofford).
Carolina now awaits their bowl destination, date, and opponent.