NCAAF Game Recap - South Carolina at North Carolina
Sat Aug 31, 2019 3:30 PM EDT

GATec
14
Clem
52
F
Duke
3
Bama
42
F
UGA
30
Vand
6
F
Hou
31
Okla
49
F
FlAtl
21
OSU
45
F
GaSo
3
LSU
55
F
MidTN
21
Mich
40
F
ND
35
Lou
17
F
LT
14
Tex
45
F
Oreg
21
Aub
27
F
TxSt
7
TxAM
41
F
EWa
14
Wash
47
F
Utah
30
BYU
12
F
Idaho
7
PSU
79
F
FlaAM
0
UCF
62
F
Tuls
7
MSU
28
F
Wisc
49
SoFL
0
F
MiaOH
14
Iowa
38
F
NoIa
26
IASt
29
F(2OT)
Syr
24
Lib
0
F
NMS
7
WaSt
58
F
SoAl
21
Neb
35
F
NW
7
Stan
17
F
Alb
21
C Mi
38
F
UCLA
14
Cin
24
F
RMor
10
Buff
38
F
Wagn
21
UConn
24
F
Mor
3
BGSU
46
F
C Ark
35
W Ky
28
F
GWebb
28
UNCC
49
F
JacSt
14
SouLA
35
F
AlaSt
19
UAB
24
F
FLInt
14
Tul
42
F
SDSU
21
MIN
28
F
NoCol
18
SJSU
35
F
Kent
7
AzSt
30
F
Rice
7
Army
14
F
UMass
21
Rut
48
F
UtSt
35
Wake
38
F
Purd
31
NEV
34
F
ColSt
31
Colo
52
F
OkSt
52
OreSt
36
F
Miss
10
Mem
15
F
MissSt
38
ULLaf
28
F
InSt
17
Kans
24
F
Akr
3
Ill
42
F
ECU
6
NCSt
34
F
How
0
MD
79
F
Toled
24
KY
38
F
Ind
34
Ball
24
F
Boise
36
FlaSt
31
F
JMU
13
WVU
20
F
URI
20
Ohio
41
F
Buck
12
Temp
56
F
HolyC
7
Navy
45
F
Colg
7
AF
48
F
GASt
38
Tenn
30
F
SCar
20
UNC
24
F
E Mi
30
CoCar
23
F
ETenn
7
App
42
F
MonSt
10
TxTch
45
F
PorSt
13
Ark
20
F
VaTec
28
BC
35
F
SamHu
31
NM
39
F
(N/A)
7
UTSA
35
F
Camp
14
Troy
43
F
UCDav
13
Cal
27
F
VMI
17
Marsh
56
F
IllSt
10
NIU
24
F
Monm
13
WestMI
48
F
AlcSt
10
SMiss
38
F
Nich
14
K St
49
F
SFA
17
Bayl
56
F
SMU
37
ArkSt
30
F
Norf
21
OD
24
F
MIZ
31
Wyo
37
F
Abil
31
NorTx
51
F
UVA
30
Pitt
14
F
Gram
9
ULMon
31
F
HBU
34
UTEP
36
F
ArkPB
7
TCU
39
F
Web
0
SDSU
6
F
SoUt
23
UNLV
56
F
Fres
23
USC
31
F

Aug 31, 2019, 3:30 PM EDT

Final

1

2

3

4

T

South Carolina (0-1)

10

3

7

0

20

North Carolina (1-0)

3

3

3

15

24

Return of the Mack: Tar Heels defeat S. Carolina 24-20
Sat Aug 31, 2019 9:36 PM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) Tar Heels coach Mack Brown knew that eventually he had to take the handcuffs off freshman quarterback Sam Howell.

With South Carolina stacking the box and daring the Tar Heels to throw, Brown decided he had no other option than to let Howell try to make some plays. Howell responded in a big way throwing for 245 yards and two fourth quarter touchdowns as North Carolina battled back from an 11-point deficit to beat South Carolina 24-20 on Saturday.

Howell led touchdown drives of 98 and 95 yards and connected on TD passes of 22 yards to Dyami Brown and 17 yards to Beau Corrales to give Brown his first win since 2013, when he coached at Texas.

"We were very conservative with Sam Howell around the goal line early," Brown said. "And we felt like at halftime, he's a quarterback, we have to turn him loose. And he played a tremendous second half."

Conservative might be an understatement.

North Carolina ran 12 plays inside the South Carolina 25-yard line in the first half and 11 were runs. The only pass attempt resulted in a sack.

"We didn't take any shots in the first half," said Howell, the first true freshman to start a season opener in school history. "We kind of opened it up in the second half and our receivers made some good plays."

Brown, who previously coached at North Carolina from 1988-97, was holding back tears as he was interviewed leaving the field after singing the school fight song with fans and raising his hands to them in victory.

"I don't usually (do that) but I thought I should because they stayed, they were loud," Brown said. ". ... I wanted to tell them thank you."

Later, Brown danced in the Tar Heels locker room.

So did his players, who erased the memory of so many close losses in years past.

The Tar Heels' defense showed incredible resolve in the second half, and Myles Wolfork sealed the win by intercepting Jake Bentley twice on South Carolina's final three possessions helping North Carolina register its first win over a power-conference opponent in a season opener since topping Indiana in 1997, Brown's final season in his first stint at the school.

Bentley was limited to 142 yards passing.

"I was given every opportunity to win this game and I didn't do it, so it hurts a lot," Bentley said.

North Carolina did plenty of damage on the ground though, wearing down the Gamecocks with 52 carries resulting in 238 yards. Javonte Williams led the way with 102 yards on 18 carries.

"They are patient in their runs and we cut back and over-pursued," said South Carolina coach Will Muschamp.

Clemson graduate transfer Tavien Feaster, who won two national championship rings with the Tigers and ran for 1,109 yards and 13 touchdowns over the past two seasons, ran for 72 yards and a touchdown for the Gamecocks.

THE TAKEAWAY

South Carolina: Muschamp will undoubtedly take some heat for his conservative decision to punt at midfield on fourth and 1 in the fourth quarter with his team leading 20-17. "We played the percentages there with our defense, but I was wrong," Muschamp said. South Carolina's offense gained 133 of its 270 yards on the game's first two series. The Gamecocks had just 137 yards combined on their final 11 possessions.

North Carolina: The Tar Heels will need to learn to trust Howell more as they grow offensively. On the game's first drive, the Tar Heels reached the Gamecocks 11 and ran it up the middle three times. On the third drive they ran a draw play on third-and-8 resulting in a three-and-out. And then late in the first half they ran the ball on third-and-goal from the South Carolina 8 instead of taking a shot at the end zone.

WHAT WAS THAT?

Brown's debut was not without a few blunders, including one that could have cost his team the game.

With the Tar Heels leading 24-20 with in the final seconds, Brown wanted his freshman QB to take a snap and run around to burn off the final seconds on the clock on fourth down. Instead, Howell took an early snap and immediately went to his knee, stopping the clock with 11 seconds left and giving the Gamecocks the ball on downs - and one last chance to win the game from the North Carolina 47 on a Hail Mary.

Luckily for the Tar Heels, Chazz Surratt and Tomon Fox combined to sack Bentley on the game's final play.

"We need to work on our victory formation," Brown joked.

RETURN GAME WOES

The Tar Heels will need to clean up their special teams moving forward. They allowed a 60-yard kickoff return, a 38-yard punt return and had a field goal blocked. They also had a punt that travelled only 25 yards.

UP NEXT

South Carolina: Host Charleston Southern next Saturday.

North Carolina: Host Miami next Saturday. The Hurricanes lost 24-20 to No. 8 Florida in their season opener.

---

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and http://www.twitter.com/AP-Top25

Passing

SCar Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
J. Bentley 30 16 53.3 1 142 26 2 49.6
UNC Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
S. Howell 24 15 62.5 2 245 31 0 124.5

Rushing

SCar Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
T. Feaster 13 72 5.5 34 1
R. Dowdle 11 62 5.6 21 0
UNC Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
J. Williams 18 102 5.7 26 0
M. Carter 16 77 4.8 26 0

Receiving

SCar Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
S. Smith 5 55 11.0 26 0
K. Markway 2 37 18.5 22 1
UNC Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
D. Newsome 4 74 18.5 31 0
D. Brown 4 69 17.3 22 1

Fumbles

UNC F FL
S. Howell 2 1

Returning

SCar KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
S. Smith 3 33.3 0 60 0 0 0
B. Edwards 0 0 0 3 22.0 0 38
UNC KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
D. Newsome 0 0 0 1 15.0 0 15
M. Carter 1 13.0 0 13 0 0 0

Punting

SCar Punt Yds Avg LgPu
J. Charlton 5 216 43.2 59
UNC Punt Yds Avg LgPu
B. Kiernan 5 208 41.6 48

Takeaways

UNC Int Yds InTD
M. Wolfolk 2 33 0

Team Stats Comparison

SCar UNC
Points For 20 24
Total Yards 270 483
Rushing Yards 128 238
Passing Yards 142 245
Passing Completions / Attempts 16/30 15/24
Turnovers 2 1
Interceptions Thrown 2 0
Fumbles - Lost 0/0 2/1
First Downs 15 24
Penalties - Yards 9/75 10/90
Time Of Possession 07:07 42:42
Third Down Conversions/Attempts 3/12 5/16
Fourth Down Conversions/Attempts 0/0 1/2
Punts - Average Yards 5/43 5/42

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter SCar UNC
SCar 03:30 FG Parker White 32 yd FG 3 0
UNC 09:02 FG Noah Ruggles 22 yd FG 3 3
SCar 11:51 TD Tavien Feaster 34 yd run (Parker White kick) 10 3
2nd Quarter SCar UNC
SCar 07:36 FG Parker White 39 yd FG 13 3
UNC 13:10 FG Noah Ruggles 24 yd FG 13 6
3rd Quarter SCar UNC
UNC 07:05 FG Noah Ruggles 22 yd FG 13 9
SCar 09:50 TD Kyle Markway 22 yd pass from Jake Bentley (Parker White kick) 20 9
4th Quarter SCar UNC
UNC 00:33 TD Dyami Brown 22 yd pass from Sam Howell (SAM HOWELL 2pt run) 20 17
UNC 06:34 TD Beau Corrales 17 yd pass from Sam Howell (Noah Ruggles kick) 20 24

Game Information

Stadium: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina
Attendance: 52,183
Game Time:
Weather: