North Carolina vs. Virginia Postgame Notes
Posted Nov 3, 2019
North Carolina fell to ACC Coastal Division rival Virginia 38-31 on Saturday at Kenan Stadium. This was the 124th game in the series and just the second in which both teams scored 30 or more points. The other was a 44-40 Virginia win in Charlottesville in 1973. Here are some other highlights, courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications.
• Series: North Carolina leads 64-56-4. This is the third win in a row for Virginia…UNC now 32-15-3 in Chapel Hill.
• The teams combined for 69 points, 1,056 yards and 53 first downs.
• Carolina gained 539 yards, its second-highest figure of the season (587 at Georgia Tech) and the most in a loss.
• Sam Howell gained 350 yards of total offense, most ever by a Tar Heel against Virginia. Previous mark was T.J. Yates, who gained 341 in 3010.
• Carolina (all Howell) passed for 353 yards, the second most this season (376 at Georgia Tech). It was Howell’s fourth 300-yard passing game of the season (376 at GT, 353 tonight, 348 at Virginia Tech and 323 vs. Appalachian State).
• Howell tossed four touchdown passes (all for at least 34 yards) to give him 26 for the season. That ties Miami’s Brad Kaaya for third most in ACC single-season history by a freshman. The only two players with more are Jamies Winston (Florida State, 40, 2013) and Trevor Lawrence (Clemson, 30, 2018).
• Howell threw multiple touchdowns for the ninth straight game to begin his career. That is the longest active streak in FBS moving past Ohio State's Justin Fields, who is off this week, according to Brian Ives at ESPN.
• This was the third time in the last four games Howell threw at least four touchdown passes – four against Georgia Tech, five against Virginia Tech and four tonight vs. the Cavaliers.
• Howell had touchdown passes of 34, 42 and 47 yards to Dyami Brown and a 50-yarder to Antoine Green. He has nine TD passes this season of 40 or more yards and four of 50 yards or longer.
• Howell averaged a season-high 23.5 yards on his 15 completions. It was the second straight game he set a singlegame high in yards per completion. Last week against Duke, he averaged 22.7 yards on 10 completions.
• Dyami Brown tied his career high with six catches and set career highs with 202 receiving yards and three touchdown receptions. He leads Carolina with eight receiving TDs this season, tied for the fifth most in a season by a Tar Heel.
• Brown’s 202 yards receiving are the most by a Tar Heel since Ryan Switzer had 208 against Pitt in 2016. They are the most in the ACC this season. They are also the most receiving yards by a Tar Heel against Virginia (Dwight Jones had 198 in 2010).
• Brown is the first Tar Heel with three receiving TDs in a game since Mack Hollins against Wake Forest in 2015.
• Brown became the seventh Tar Heel in history with 200 yards receiving in a game. The 206 yards are the seventh most in a game.
• Brown's 151 yards receiving in the 1st half are the most in any half by a North Carolina player since Dwight Jones had 188 in the 1st half in 2010 against Virginia, according to Brian Ives at ESPN.
• Brown hauled in a 57-yard reception in the first quarter. He leads the team this season with three catches of 50 or more yards.
• Michael Carter moved ahead of Jacque Lewis and Ike Oglesby into 19th place on the UNC career rushing list with 1,785 yards.
• Javonte Williams led UNC with 98 rushing yards and Carter added 87. It was the first time this season two Tar Heels rushed for 80 or more yards in a game.
• Chazz Surratt had a game-high 15 tackles. It was his fourth straight game and fifth this season in which he’s made double-digit tackles. Surratt also had a forced fumble, two tackles for a loss and a QB hurry.
• Junior safety Myles Wolfolk saw his first action since an injury in the Appalachian State game on Sept. 21. He missed four games with a lower-body injury.
• Senior Nick Polino saw his first action at left guard since the Miami game on Sept. 7.
• Virginia’s Bryce Perkins gained 490 total offense yards, the third most ever against UNC (547 by Daniel Jones of Duke in 2018 and 525 by Louisville’s Lamar Jackson in 2017).
• Virginia’s Terrell Jana had 13 catches, which ties the second most ever against UNC (record is 14 by Duke’s Jon Jensen in 1994; Rutgers’ Mohammed Sanu had 13 in 2011 and Wake Forest’s Michael Companaro had 13 in 2012).
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