North Carolina vs. Temple Postgame Notes
Posted Dec 27, 2019
With it's 55-13 win over Temple in the Military Bowl on Friday, UNC improves to 7-6 on the season with its third-straight victory to close out 2019. Game MVP Sam Howell is the first freshman to ever receive the award, Howell finished the day 25-of-34 for 294 yards, three passing touchdowns, one receiving touchdown and 53 yards rushing.
Notes courtesy UNC Athletics Communications
• Game captains: Myles Dorn, Jason Strowbridge, Charlie Heck, Sam Howell and Antonio Williams
• North Carolina and Temple met for the first time on the football field in the 2019 Military Bowl
• Carolina made its 34th appearance in a bowl game with its first ever trip to the Military Bowl. The Tar Heels are now 15-19 all-time in bowl games.
• Mack Brown improves to 76-53-1 as head coach at North Carolina and 251-128-1 all-time in 31 seasons. He is the active wins leader in college football, and his 250 wins rank 10th on the NCAA all-time list for coaches with at least 10 years at an FBS institution. He won 158 games at Texas, 75 at Carolina, 11 at Tulane and six at App State.
• Brown improves to 15-8 in bowl games all-time, and 4-2 in games he coached at UNC. He won the 1993 Peach Bowl over Mississippi State, 21-17, the 1995 Carquest Bowl over Arkansas, 20-10 and the 1997 Gator Bowl over West Virginia, 20-13. He left for Texas before the 1998 Gator Bowl.
• Carolina set a school record for points in a bowl game with 55 points against Temple. The previous high was 42 points against Virginia Tech in the 1998 Gator Bowl.
• UNC also set a Military Bowl record for points (55) and its 21 points in the third quarter tied a Military Bowl record for most points scored in a quarter.
• Sam Howell tied a UNC bowl game record with three passing touchdowns. Accomplished for the fifth time, the most recent to do so was Marquise Williams versus Baylor in the 2015 Russell Athletic Bowl.
• Sam Howell finished his true freshman season with 3,641 yards, the second most in a season to Mitch Trubisky’s 3,748 yards in 2016.
• Howell’s 38 touchdown passes are the third most in a single season in ACC history. He trails only Clemson’s DeShaun Watson (41, 2016) and Florida State’s Jamies Winston (40, 2013). Howell’s passing TD total is believed to be the most by a true freshman in FBS history.
• Howell’s 38 touchdowns are the second most ever by an ACC freshman quarterback. He trails FSU’s Jamies Winston, who had 40 touchdown passes in his red-shirt season of 2013.
• Howell threw multiple touchdowns for the 13th straight game to begin his career. He is tied with Ohio State's Justin Fields for the longest active streak in FBS.
• Howell had eight games with three or more passing touchdowns in his true freshman campaign.
• Howell caught his first career touchdown in the third quarter, a 2-yard grab from WR Rontavius Groves, who is the first player other than Howell to throw a TD this season for the Tar Heels.
• WR Dyami Brown hauled in his 12th receiving TD of the season to tie the UNC school record, matching Hakeem Nicks (2008) and Dwight Jones (2011). WR Dazz Newsome had two TD receptions to give him 10 for the season, the fourth most in program history.
• Brown and Newsome both went over 1,000 yards receiving for the season. Brown finished the season with 1,034 yards, while Newsome had 1,018 yards. They become the only set of teammates in Carolina football history to have a 1,000 yards in the same season.
• The other three players to reach 1,000 receiving yards at UNC include Hakeem Nicks (1,222 yards in 2008), Dwight Jones (1,196 yards in 2011) and Ryan Switzer (1,112 yards in 2016).
• Brown and Newsome set a new school record for the most receiving yards by two players in a single season. Brown led the way with 1,034 yards, while Newsome added 1,018 yards to give the duo 2,052 yards on the season. The previous mark of 1,939 yards was held by 2016 teammates Ryan Switzer (1,112) and Bug Howard (827).
• Newsome had eight catches to increase his season total to 72 receptions, the fourth most in a single season at Carolina.
• RB Michael Carter rushed for 84 yards to push his season total to 1,003 yards, the most at Carolina since Elijah Hood had 1,463 yards in 2015. His 2,159 career rushing yards rank No. 15 on the Carolina career rushing list.
• PK Noah Ruggles made two field goals to give him 19 for the season, tying Connor Barth (2007) and Casey Barth (2010) for the fifth most in a single season.
• Jason Strowbridge registered his fourth career blocked kick on an extra point in the second quarter. The school record is seven held by Bruce Carter.
• Storm Duck returned an interception 20 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter, the first defensive score of the season for the Tar Heels. It’s the first “pick 6” for Carolina since Dominque Green against The Citadel in 2016.
• Carolina did not punt in a game for the first time since Delaware in 2015.
• Carolina allowed only 30 points in the last three games of the season. The Tar Heels outscored their final three opponents my a margin of 152-30.
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