Quick Hitters - North Carolina @ Miami

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 62-26 victory over Miami to close out the regular season on Saturday.

Author:
Isaac Schade
Dec 13, 2020 3:15 AM EST

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 62-26 victory over Miami to close out the regular season on Saturday.

Highlights:

Condensed Game:

What Carolina couldn’t do against Notre Dame on Black Friday, they did today against Miami. This was the first top-10 win for the Tar Heels since 2004. And this one was on the road.
Is it too early to consider where in the pantheon of UNC football victories this game belongs? Consider all the contexts: Top-10 opponent. On the road (albeit not a typical road environment). Playing for a potential Orange Bowl berth. Playing to return to national prominence. Working to establish credibility in the ACC tier just behind Clemson and Notre Dame (with the possibility of joining them next year). And then on top of all that, it turns into one of the most dominant performances in program history. So no, I don’t think it’s too early to ask where this game falls.
This was essentially an ACC third-place game. With the victory, the Tar Heels cement themselves just behind Clemson and Notre Dame in the conference pecking order. Carolina is technically a half-game behind Miami and tied with NC State but demolished both those teams. Were it not for the Florida State and Virginia losses, the Tar Heels would be on even better footing heading into bowl season.
There are just too many accolades to know where to start, so let’s dive into the team content first. The Tar Heels had already set the program record for total yards in a single game earlier this year against Wake Forest (742). They decided to blow right on past that tonight with 778 total yards of offense, more than doubling Miami’s respectable 314. The most yards Miami had ever given up previous to today was 670 to UCLA in 1998.
Carolina had 13 drives. Two of them ended with Carolina in possession at halftime and the end of the game. One was a missed field goal. The other 10 were all scores (eight touchdowns, two field goals).
Can we all stop and make sure we’ve fully appreciated just how absurdly good this North Carolina offense is before it's gone? I mean really. Have you paused and processed it? The skill positions are loaded. The line carves out cavernous, gaping holes for Michael Carter and Javonte Williams to run through. It’s a thing of beauty. Oh and by the way, yes the Tar Heels will lose some skill position players, but all five starting linemen have eligibility left.

We’ve already gone too far without talking about Carter and Williams and the literally never-seen-before show they put on. I say “literally never-seen-before” because they combined to rush for 544 yards, the most in a single game NCAA history at any level by a duo. Here's one of Carter's two touchdown runs:

Both running backs set a new career high in rushing yards; 308 for Carter and 236 for Williams. These outbursts put both backs over 1,000 for the season (1,245 for Carter; 1,140 for Williams) and solidified an average per game over 100 for the regular season (113.18 for Carter; 103.64 for Williams).
This was the first time in ACC history, and the seventh in NCAA history, that a pair of running backs each eclipsed 200 rushing yards in a single game. Here's two different angles of the run on which Williams crossed the 200 threshold. WARNING: Some Miami Hurricane defenders were treated poorly during this run. Be ye forewarned.

Javonte Williams set another record – he broke the UNC program mark for most touchdowns in a season. Williams came into the game with 19, trailing only Don McCauley’s 21 touchdowns in 1970. He scored three times today and now has 22 on the season, with a bowl game providing the opportunity to tack on more. Here's the record-setting run:

As a team, Carolina rushed for 554 yards, literally one yard shy of matching the program record for total rushing yards in a game. The most unfortunate part about this is that back-up quarterback Jacolby Criswell fumbled on the last play of the game and lost five yards.
Carter and Williams are not the only 1,000-yard performers for the Tar Heels this year. Dyami Brown’s 167 receiving yard explosion gives him 1099 yards this season (an average of 99.91). Brown becomes the first two-time 1,000 yard receiver in Carolina history (1,034 yards last year).

If you told me before the game that Sam Howell would only throw one touchdown pass, and that it wouldn’t be until the fourth quarter, I would have been rather concerned for the fate of the Tar Heels. But as it turns out, everything was fine.
Thanks to that passing touchdown, Howell continues his streak of passing for a touchdown in every college game he’s played in. Today brings the streak to 24 games.
Not only did Howell throw a touchdown, but he also had a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown. He is the first ACC quarterback to complete that trifecta since 2014. Any guesses as to who that quarterback might have been? The one and only Marquise Williams.

One more Howell tidbit: His passing touchdown gives him 65 in his college career, which is tied with Jameis Winston (FSU) for the second-most touchdowns for an ACC QB through his sophomore season. And since you’re probably wondering, Trevor Lawrence is in first place with 66. If Howell throws two touchdowns in Carolina’s bowl game, he will be the record holder.
Supposed-to-be-senior-in-high-school Tony Grimes picked up the first interception of his career late in the third quarter. The pick came at the perfect time as Miami had just scored and then Garrett Atkins missed a field goal. Grimes’ interception came on the second play of the ensuing drive.

Commentator Kirk Herbstreit gave DB Kyler McMichael some accidental high praise on the first play from scrimmage. McMichael made a beautiful play in coverage to knock away a deep pass and Herbstreit called the Tar Heel “Kyler Murray”, the Arizona Cardinal's quarterback. You can hear it here:

You could almost sense it would be a strong day running the ball when Carter picked up 12 yards on the first offensive play of the day for Carolina. The same feeling showed up again on the next drive as Williams punched in a 4th and goal from the one-yard line.
The veterans led the way on defense as Chazz Surratt finished with 10 total tackles and Jeremiah Gemmel had eight. Also, it feels odd to call Surratt a “veteran” on defense. Trey Morrison and Ja’Qurious Conley were right behind Gemmel with six each. Surratt had a huge stop on 4th-and-1 in the first quarter with the Heels up 14-3. Worth another look:

Mack Brown postgame press conference

Players postgame press conference

Michael Carter

Javonte Williams

Sam Howell

Chazz Surratt

Jeremiah Gemmel

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina football game. The Tar Heels will wait to learn their bowl game destination. Stay tuned to AllTarHeels for more bowl information as it becomes available.

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