Under fire, in trouble: Takeaways from UNC football’s wreck on the road at Georgia Tech
ATLANTA — Sam Howell under fire and North Carolina engulfed by trouble.
Consider it a remixed recipe for disaster and déjà vu all over again.
Georgia Tech manhandled the No. 21 Tar Heels 45-22 on Saturday night in Atlantic Coast Conference football at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, another wreck on the road and deflating defeat for North Carolina.
“I thought the kids tried, I thought they fought through it the second half,” Tar Heels coach Mack Brown said, “but I’m disappointed. I’m embarrassed by our play, by our coaching, by me.”
Jeff Sims supplied a spark when the Yellow Jackets inserted him at quarterback to replace starter Jordan Yates. Sims ran for 128 yards and three touchdowns — producing all but 11 of his rushing yards during the second half — and added 112 passing yards and a touchdown through the air.
But this became an unwanted sequel to North Carolina’s season-opening loss earlier this month at Virginia Tech. The Hokies swarmed Howell, the star quarterback, for six sacks and three interceptions that night, sending frustration colliding into disappointment for the Tar Heels.
That same dread resurfaced here Saturday night at this gleaming downtown stadium, the home of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. Georgia Tech (2-2 overall, 1-1 ACC) sacked the junior Howell eight times, the most sacks he has endured across 29 career college games. He also lost three fumbles.
“We didn’t help him much,” Brown said of Howell. “I thought it looked similar to Virginia Tech, the whole thing. We were frustrated as an offense, I thought. Maybe they got the false impression after they ran up and down the field so easily last week (in beating Virginia) that it was just going to be easy now and they had it, and you can’t do that in this game. You’ve got to start over every week.”
North Carolina (2-2, 1-2) started September with its best preseason national ranking in 14 years and is certain to close the month having fallen out of the Top 25. Here are more takeaways from Saturday night’s loss in Atlanta:
Road tripping Tar Heels
North Carolina slipped to 5-7 in road games since the beginning of the 2019 season, and Brown’s return to Chapel Hill for his second stint in charge of the program. The Tar Heels now have lost 10 of their last 13 road assignments at Georgia Tech.
After being picked as the preseason favorite to win the ACC’s Coastal Division, North Carolina finds itself 1-2 in the league and winless against divisional foes Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, both stumbling losses away from home.
During the course of the week, Brown made the approach of his team’s fourth game of the season a talking point. Last year, the Tar Heels took a wrong turn at this juncture on the schedule, suffering a letdown loss on the road to a less-than-vintage Florida State team and damaging what had been an unbeaten start.
“Very similar to the Florida State game last year at this time,” Brown said here Saturday night. “So we haven’t matured enough as a group.”
Super sub Sims
Sims hadn’t played for Georgia Tech since the Sept. 4 season opener, when he left during the second quarter that day due to an undisclosed injury. Jordan Yates, nephew of former North Carolina standout and all-time leading passer T.J. Yates, replaced Sims then and made his third straight start at quarterback Saturday night.
But Sims entered with 3:15 remaining in the first half and Georgia Tech in business at the Tar Heels’ 17-yard line, after Howell’s second lost fumble. Sims promptly scooted in on an 11-yard touchdown run to put the Yellow Jackets ahead to stay a 13-7, part of their surge of 27 unanswered points.
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“You see when you miss a tackle on him, he can be explosive,” North Carolina linebacker Jeremiah Gemmel said. “We thought Yates was going to be the guy throughout the game, so we really didn’t game plan too much for both quarterbacks. We had some stuff for (Sims), but we didn’t think he was going to play the whole second half of the ball game.”
Yates never returned, as Sims accounted for 240 total yards and four touchdowns. His 50-yard touchdown dash in the game’s final 90 seconds effectively capped the night. Brown even compared his running style at 6-foot-3 to Vince Young, the former Texas sensation and NFL quarterback.
“He looked great,” Brown said, “and I thought he was the difference in the ball game. That second half, we couldn’t stop him.”
Howell runs into problems
Howell finished 25 of 39 passing for 306 yards and two touchdowns. He connected with tight end Kamari Morales and Josh Downs for scores in the second half.
He started fast on the ground. His first carry went for a 16-yard gain, and his second run delivered a tackle-breaking touchdown of 23 yards to jump the Tar Heels ahead 7-0 during the game’s opening five minutes. Howell knifed and spun through at least three Georgia Tech defenders to reach the end zone on that read-option keeper. Juanyeh Thomas, Wesley Walker and Tobias Oliver of the Yellow Jackets all whiffed on the tackle attempts.
The prolific passer Howell arrived having rushed for more than 100 yards in back-to-back games. And with 39 yards on his first two carries to start Saturday night, it seemed as if another career night on the ground could be brewing.
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Georgia Tech thoroughly bottled up that possibility. Linebacker Charlie Thomas (2½ sacks) and defensive end Kyle Kennard (two sacks) led the hit parade. The Yellow Jackets piled up 13 tackles for minus-71 yards in losses, to go along with their eight sacks of Howell.
“A lot of things went wrong,” he said. “I could’ve played better. Those fumbles when I was running really hurt us and put our defense in a bad position. I just think all-around we just have stuff we can clean up. There’s so many things we can do better on the offensive side of the ball, and it starts with me.”
Dome sweet dome
North Carolina’s visit here Saturday night marked the first of six home games across six seasons for Georgia Tech at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the sparkling 71,000-seat venue with a retractable roof. On campus, the Yellow Jackets play at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Georgia Tech calls the new series “Mayhem at Mercedes-Benz Stadium,” in reference to coach Geoff Collins’s days as a defensive coordinator at Mississippi State and Florida.
The Yellow Jackets have future matchups scheduled at Mercedes-Benz Stadium against Clemson (Sept. 5, 2022), Louisville (Sept. 2, 2023) and Notre Dame (Oct. 19, 2024). Dates and opponents for the 2025 and 2026 games there remain to be determined.
Adam Smith is a sports reporter for the Burlington Times-News and USA TODAY Network. You can reach him by email at asmith@thetimesnews.com or @adam_smithTN on Twitter.
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