CHAPEL HILL — For all of the history that Sam Howell is authoring in the pages of the North Carolina football record book, coach Mack Brown underlines the win column as the place where the quarterback’s signature will be defined.
“I think it’s the biggest thing,” Brown said. “Sam and I have talked a lot about a legacy for a guy like him, and his legacy will be how many games he wins. That’s what quarterbacks are remembered for.”
And spotlighted moments, like the one that arrives Friday, ultimately shape the arc of a career.
The 25th-ranked Tar Heels play host to No. 2 Notre Dame, the unbeaten Atlantic Coast Conference leader closing in on a spot in the league championship game and pursuing a return to the College Football Playoff.
It’s an ACC showdown set for a national stage on the day after Thanksgiving, and Howell said this week that his North Carolina teammates recognize and appreciate “the weight this game holds,” as he considered the elevated stakes involved.
“We definitely understand this is a big opportunity for our team, and it’s a tremendous challenge with a team like Notre Dame,” Howell said. “We know the impact a win like this can have on a program. It’s definitely a game we want to win, and we’re going to put in all the work.
“Playing a really good team like Notre Dame, just the historic program that they are, they deserve all the respect they’ve been given. So it’s definitely a great challenge for our team, and I’m excited to see how we hold up against them.”
Perhaps no college quarterback has grown hotter or more comfortable at delivering in the clutch than Howell. The strong-armed sophomore threw for school records of 550 yards and six touchdowns in lifting North Carolina out of a 21-point deficit during the second half of its last game, a remarkable rally to defeat Wake Forest 59-53 that tied the largest comeback in school history.
Howell’s effort marked the third-most passing yards ever by an ACC quarterback. From trailing by 21 in the third quarter to launching an earth-shaking comeback that piled up 35 unanswered points in about 17 minutes of game time, it became an epic turnaround for the Tar Heels at a high rate of speed, with Howell the conductor.
Mack Brown has called it one of the finest offensive performances he has witnessed in 43 years of coaching, and North Carolina receiver Dyami Brown marveled after hauling in eight catches from Howell that produced 163 yards and two touchdowns.
“Sam is amazing,” Dyami Brown said. “He’s the best out there. I wouldn’t trade him for anybody, no quarterback out there. He’s the best, and he kept us going throughout each drive, throughout each quarter. He played all four quarters for us and pretty much put the team on his back, and we follow right behind him.”
Quite a trail of prolific achievements that Howell is creating as the frontman of North Carolina’s high-powered offense, which ranks fourth nationally in the bowl subdivision with 563.4 yards per game, a figure that tops the ACC.
The Tar Heels have scored at least 41 points in four straight games – a rarity last reached by the program 106 years ago in 1914 – and have surpassed 55 points in their last two games. Howell and Co. have racked up at least 500 total yards in six consecutive games, after amassing a school-record 742 total yards two weeks ago during the rally past Wake Forest.
Howell ranks eighth nationally with 328.9 passing yards per game and his 23 passing touchdowns are fourth-best in the country. If he can keep it going to enough of a potent degree that allows North Carolina (6-2 overall, 6-2 ACC) to knock off Notre Dame, he’s all but certain not to be framing what’s accomplished from an individual perspective.
“Legacy definitely means a lot to me,” Howell said. “I worry more about it as a team, how we’re going to be remembered as a team.”
Notre Dame (8-0, 7-0) has put together the longest winning streak in the country with 14 straight victories, has compiled a 31-3 record since the start of the 2018 season, and owns a stingy defense. That unit checks in fourth nationally against the run (allowing just 85.1 rushing yards per game) and ninth overall in total defense (304.1 yards per game).
North Carolina offensive coordinator Phil Longo said Howell won’t be overwhelmed by the magnitude of Friday, or the potential dramatics of crunch time in the fourth quarter, when Howell repeatedly has taken command at an elite level.
Across the fourth quarters of 21 career games with the Tar Heels, Howell is 88-for-133 passing for 1,430 yards and 17 touchdowns with zero interceptions. Advanced statistical data rates him as college football’s best quarterback in the fourth quarter since the start of the 2019 season, his freshman year, and over that time period North Carolina has outscored its opponents by 133 points in the fourth quarter.
“I think poise has a lot to do with adverse scenarios in the game of football,” Longo said. “So when adversity is the highest, I think it’s when Sam is able to maintain the same calm that he had midway through the second quarter. He really doesn’t change. He’s not a flappable kid. He doesn’t get rattled.
“I think it’s why any great quarterback is good in the fourth quarter, they’re so dang competitive. They just can’t accept losing. They can’t accept not getting the first down. They can’t accept not completing the pass. They can’t accept not finishing drive. Sam is as competitive as any quarterback I’ve ever coached, and I would say that about a number of our players, and I just think that lends to how competitive and how hard we play in the fourth quarter. And I think that has a lot to do with our fourth-quarter production.”
This article originally appeared on Times-News: History in real time: Record-setting Sam Howell takes aim at writing UNC legacy
