UNC vs. Texas A&M Orange Bowl Postgame Notes

• Carolina made its first appearance in the Orange Bowl and first major bowl appearance since the 1950 Cotton Bowl.

• Carolina made its 35th postseason bowl appearance and falls to 15-20 all-time record in bowl games.

• Mack Brown owns a 15-9 record in bowl games, including guiding the Tar Heels to six-straight appearances from 1992-97 and each of the last two seasons since his return to the program in advance of the 2019 season.

• Brown is 4-3 in bowl games he has coached at UNC, winning the 1993 Peach Bowl over Mississippi State, 21-17, the 1995 Carquest Bowl over Arkansas, 20- 10, the 1997 Gator Bowl over West Virginia, 20-13 and the 2019 Military Bowl over Temple, 55-13. He left for Texas before the 1998 Gator Bowl.

• Mack Brown is now 10-5 against Texas A&M. He was 10-4 during his time as head coach at the University of Texas.

• Sam Howell tossed three touchdowns to tie a Carolina bowl game record and give him 68 for his career, tying Darien Durant’s school record. Howell accomplished the feat in 25 career games in two seasons. Durant did so in 44 career games over four seasons.

• Howell’s 68 career touchdown passes are the most in ACC history by a sophomore quarterback. He passed the previous record of 66 set by Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence.

• Howell was 18 for 31 for 234 yards and three touchdowns in the Orange Bowl.

• Howell has thrown a touchdown pass in all 25 of his games as a Tar Heel, the longest active streak in the country.

• Howell has thrown three of more touchdowns in 14 of 25 career games. That includes both of his career appearances in bowl games. He tossed three TD passes last season in the 55-13 win over Temple in the Military Bowl.

• Howell finished the season with 3,586 yards, the third highest total in school history. His 3,641 yards as a freshman in 2019 are the second best total. Mitch Trubisky holds the school mark with 3,748 yards in 2016.

• Howell already holds the program record with 38 touchdowns in a season set in 2019. His 30 touchdowns in 2020 are tied with Mitch Trubisky (2016) for the second most in a single season.

• Dazz Newsome’s acrobatic 28-yard touchdown in the second quarter was his 18th career receiving touchdown. That ties his for seventh in program history alongside Art Weiner (1946-490 and Bug Howard (2013-16).

• Newsome’s 68 receiving yards moved him into fifth place on the UNC career receiving yards list as he finished his four-year collegiate stint with 2,435 yards.

• Freshman wide receiver Josh Downs had four receptions for 91 yards and two touchdowns. He entered the game with three catches for 28 yards and one receiving touchdown on the season.

• Downs 75-yard receiving touchdown was the third longest in Orange Bowl history.

• Carolina had three sacks to finish with 36 sacks this season, its most in a season since the Julius Peppers led 2000 squad had 53. Freshman Tony Grimes recorded his first career sack, while Trey Morrison registered his first of the season.

• Tomon Fox also had one sack to finish his career with 21 sacks, tying him with Lawrence Taylor for the fifth most in school history.

• Eugene Asante made a career-high 10 tackles in just his second career start. His previous high of eight tackles came against Mercer in 2019.

Courtesy UNC Athletics Communications