RALEIGH – At halftime in Carter-Finley Stadium, the North Carolina football team trailed rival N.C. State 10-6.
But a 28-point explosion in the third quarter, thanks to three touchdowns from sophomore running back Javonte Williams, blew the game wide open for UNC and led to a 41-10 win, the team's sixth of the year.
Now the Tar Heels are going bowling.
“I thought the biggest difference in the second half was turnovers that led to points. That led the game to get out of hand very quickly,” head coach Mack Brown said. “The other stat that’s amazing is 24 out of the last 27 years, the team that has run the ball for the most yards has won the game (between UNC and N.C. State).”
That streak continued with the lights-out performance by Williams, who helped UNC rush for 180 rushing yards over N.C. States’ 132 rushing yards. While junior running back Michael Carter led the Tar Heels with 97 yards, Williams had 58 yards on the ground, 42 through the air and the three scores to put the game away.
“We know we’re good enough to play with anyone in the country, and I think we showed that tonight in the second half,” Williams said. “I felt like we took their pride. They started getting down and we just capitalized.”
After the Wolfpack held Williams to just seven yards on four carries in the first half, Williams put the team on his back in the third quarter. He had his best game of the season to change the tide for the struggling offense.
Williams’s 26-yard rush for a touchdown just a few minutes into the third would give UNC the lead for good. He added an 11-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Sam Howell, then tacked on a six-yard scoring run just three minutes later to earn UNC's first bowl appearance since 2016.
“It’s almost like he just flipped a switch,” Howell said.