Wooten: Sam Howell has the best day ever for a Carolina QB

CHAPEL HILL — Sadly, the you-know-what limited who drove through the resplendent fall foliage to see Sam Howell in this college town Saturday afternoon.

The Carolina quarterback had the best afternoon his school has ever seen.

He threw six touchdown passes, ran for a seventh, and led Carolina to its largest comeback victory, 59-53 over Wake Forest. The records were plentiful, the action frenetic, and the victory joyous.

“The main thing is celebrating the win,” Howell said, deflecting some of the individual praise. “We really don’t care what it takes, as long as we get it done.”

He praised his offensive line of juniors Quiron Johnson, Marcus McKethan and Jordan Tucker, and sophomores Asim Richards and Joshua Ezeudu that cleared the way for a school record 742 yards; the tight ends, the running backs and the receivers. His offensive coordinator, too, and yes, that porous defense that finally stiffened in the fourth quarter.

“The main thing is we had a lot of guys making plays,” Howell said.

Especially ol’ No. 7.

Midway of the third quarter, Sam Hartman and Wake Forest had made a fun day of exposing Carolina’s defense. Then it all changed.

The Tar Heels stuffed five straight drives, holding the Deacons to a combined 29 yards. The last one in the fourth quarter was senior Chazz Surratt’s sack of Hartman at the Wake 15 on a fourth down try with 3:30 to go and the Deacs down seven. Junior Javonte Williams cashed it in two snaps later.

“We took a huge step forward today,” Brown said. “We didn’t come close. We actually won.”

Howell, the slinging Carolina quarterback, finished with the third-best day in ACC history, throwing for 550 yards on 32 of 45 accuracy.

“Sam is the best,” junior Dyami Brown said. “I wouldn’t trade him for nobody. He put the team on his back and we followed right behind him.”

Howell’s touchdowns passes were for 75, 23, 44, 4, 46 and 10 yards, alternating evenly between senior Dazz Newsome and Brown, respectively, for the first four and hitting seniors Michael Carter and Garrett Walston for the last two.

“Sam and I have talked a lot about a legacy for a guy like him,” Brown said. “And his legacy will be how many games he wins.

“And especially, how many can be 21 points down and lead their teams back to a win?”

Howell knows his will be tied to the won-lost column.

“Legacy means a lot,” the Sun Valley High product said. “I worry more about it as a team, how we’ll be remembered as a team. We had so many times in this game where we could have quit. The team kept fighting back, battling back, and showed the kind of team we are. We want to be a team that battles all four quarters.”

Carolina has touted Williams and senior Michael Carter as the best running back combo in the country, but through three quarters it was Wake with the running game that made the difference. That changed, too, at the end.

With Carter and Williams carrying the load, Howell drove Carolina 82 yards to the go-ahead touchdown, throwing for just three and scampering the last 20 himself.

“When the thing flipped, we ran the ball so much better,” Mack Brown said. “That’s one of the reasons we were in trouble at halftime, we were not consistently running the football.”

Newsome finished with a career-high 189 yards, Brown had 163, and the duo combined for 18 catches. Williams finished with 101 rushing yards and Carter 74.

“As an offense, we got into a rhythm,” Howell said. “We were making really big plays. We had a slow start in the third quarter. Other than that, we were feeling it for the whole game.”

Hartman had a great day himself, throwing for 429 yards (29-of-45) and four touchdowns.

In fourth place entering the day and once a contender to reach the ACC title game, Carolina (6-2 overall and in the ACC) gets a week off before hosting No. 2 Notre Dame on Thanksgiving Friday and a trip to No. 9 Miami the next week.

The Tar Heels beat a Big Four team for the third time in four weeks. The head coach was pleased. He also had an assurance about falling behind by 21 for the third time in five games.

“It’s not part of our game plan, I can promise you that,” Brown deadpanned.

The defense is still troubling. But that sophomore slinger Howell — there are no worries there.

“We’re making progress,” Brown said. “We’re not ready to play as good as we can every week. Today, at least, after we had an outstanding performance against Duke, we were able to win. And that’s progress.”