Quick Hitters - North Carolina at Notre Dame

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 44-34 road loss to Notre Dame on Saturday night.

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 44-34 road loss to Notre Dame on Saturday night. 

Highlights:

• Congrats to Sam Howell whose two touchdowns tonight (1 rushing, 1 receiving) give him 101 accounted for in his Tar Heel career, a new school record.
• Another accolade for Howell: tonight he passed TJ Yates to become the all-time leading passer in the Carolina record book.
• Howell and his counterparts on the offensive side of the football did their job, scoring 34 points and racking up 564 yards of total offense in Notre Dame Stadium. The defense, unfortunately, has now surrendered 35+ points in each of the past three games and 40+ in each of the last two.
• In my game preview, I wondered aloud if the defense could build off of their multiple turnovers forced and sacks from the Miami game. It was not to be. The Tar Heels didn’t register a turnover and had just one sack.
• Cam’Ron Kelly and Cedric Gray had monster individual nights, recording 12 and 11 total tackles respectively.
• The teams’ first three drives essentially mirrored one another. Both clubs went punt, touchdown, field goal to start the game. Where the teams diverged was possession number four. Notre Dame scored another touchdown but Carolina could only muster a field goal going into halftime. 17-13 Irish. The Tar Heels though, got the ball after halftime and were able to score on both bookends of the halftime period. A Ty Chandler 53-yard touchdown run gave Carolina their first lead of the game just after halftime – 20-17. Carolina had the momentum and the potential of really fighting to win this thing.

• The problem was that Carolina allowed another Irish touchdown a few plays later, and the home team never again trailed.
• The penalty numbers were slightly better this week, but still higher than the first five games of the season. Tonight’s total was nine penalties for 75 yards.
• Referees don’t decide games. However, the refs assessed Trey Morrison a questionable off-the-ball facemask penalty on a 4th down play that otherwise would have resulted in a turnover on downs. That drive ultimately led to Notre Dame’s go-ahead touchdown just before halftime.
• Ty Chandler tallied 101 all-purpose yards and now has hit triple-digits in that category in three of the last four games. He was part of a concerted effort by the Tar Heels to establish the run early and often.
• Sam Howell had 101 rushing yards to once again lead the team in rushing. While his ground game has been an integral part of the offensive attack this year, he was visibly slower getting back to his feet on multiple occasions tonight.
• What else can we say about Josh Downs? He had another 10 receptions for 142 yards, 67 of which were after the catch. Sadly though, Downs’ touchdown streak ended at eight games after failing to register one tonight.
• Carolina’s season record drops back to .500 at 4-4. The Heels will have to find two more wins in the schedule in order to get to a bowl game. All due respect to Wofford, Carolina will beat them and will then need one other victory in order to play in the postseason. 

Box Score

Mack Brown postgame press conference

Players postgame press conference

Sam Howell 

Jeremiah Gemmel

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina football game. Next up is a home game against Wake Forest on Saturday, November 6. Kickoff is at Noon ET on ABC.

.@UNCFootball's next 🏈 game:

• vs. Wake Forest (@WakeFB)
• 🌎 = Chapel Hill, NC
• 🏟️ = Kenan Stadium
• 📅 = Saturday, November 6
• ⏰ = Noon ET
• 📺 = ABC
• 📻 = https://t.co/FPb183rM89#UNCvsWF

— Isaac Schade (@isaacschade) October 31, 2021

Follow us on Twitter: @SI_HEELS | @isaacschade

Want to receive an email with Quick Hitters and other articles from Isaac Schade? Click here. Include your name in the text of the email.

Send Isaac Schade an email to talk more about this article.