Here is a scouting report on North Carolina (6-5 overall, 3-4 ACC) who plays at NC State (8-3 overall, 5-2 ACC) at 7 p.m. Friday on ESPN.
The Tar Heels needed a 34-14 win over one-win Wofford to become bowl eligible last Saturday.
Five North Carolina players to watch
Senior running back Ty Chandler
Chandler has saved his best for last. The 6-0, 210-pounder has 167 carries for a career-high 1,004 yards and 13 touchdowns this season, plus 13 catches for 208 yards and a score. He had gained 2,046 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns while splitting carries in four years at Tennessee. Chandler rushed for 213 yards and four touchdowns in the 58-55 win over Wake Forest on Nov. 6, and he had 198 yards and two scores in the 59-39 victory vs. Virginia on Sept. 18. Chandler was a Rivals.com four-star prospect in the class of 2017 coming out of Nashville (Tenn.) Montgomery Bell Academy. He was ranked No. 80 overall in the country and the No. 6 running back.
Sophomore wide receiver Josh Downs
The 5-10, 180-pound Downs has been electric this season for the Tar Heels. He has 90 catches for 1,198 yards and eight touchdowns, plus 16 punt returns for 149 yards. Downs has topped 100 yards in five games, including catching eight passes for 203 yards and two scores against Virginia on Sept. 18. He also had 10 receptions for 142 yards in the 44-34 loss at Notre Dame on Oct. 30. Downs, who is the son of former NC State running back Gary Downs, was the No. 53 overall player in the class of 2020 coming out of Suwanee (Ga.) North Gwinnett High by Rivals.com. He was the No. 9 wide receiver in the country.
Senior inside linebacker Jeremiah Gemmel
Gemmel has been the heart and soul of the defense. The 6-1, 225 has 63 tackles, six tackles for loss, one interception and one sack this season. He had a season-high 11 stops and the lone sack and interception at Pittsburgh on Nov. 11. Gemmel has 226 career tackles, six sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss in 40 games. Gemmel was a three-star prospect by Rivals.com coming out of Sharpsburg (Ga.) East Coweta High.
Junior quarterback Sam Howell
Howell has been the starter from day one at North Carolina. The 6-1, 225 has gone 191-of-301 passing for 2,704 yards, 22 touchdowns and eight interceptions, and rushed 152 times for 717 yards and nine scores this season. However, he did miss last Saturday’s game against Wofford with an injury. He has thrown for 9,931 career yards and 90 touchdowns in his three years at UNC.
Rivals.com ranked Howell the No. 111 overall player in the class of 2019, and the No. 4 pro-style quarterback coming out of Monroe (N.C.) Sun Valley High. He originally verbally committed to Florida State before switching to UNC. He passed for 13,415 yards and 145 touchdowns and rushed for 3,621 yards and 60 scores at Sun Valley.
Junior strong safety Cam’Ron Kelly
The 6-1, 210-pounder ranks third with 53 tackles and leads the squad with four interceptions, plus three passes broken up. He originally signed with Auburn before leaving for UNC. He started four games last year and was third on the team with 55 tackles, including 12 tackles at Virginia and 11 against Duke. Rivals.com had Kelly as a four-star prospect in the class of 2019 from Chesapeake (Va.) Oscar Smith High.
What to watch for from North Carolina
1. Concern with pass protection?: North Carolina returned a veteran line, but have allowed 40 sacks this season, and that is with Howell being a mobile quarterback.
Pittsburgh showed the defensive blueprint Nov. 11, with aggressive blitz packages that netted five sacks and made Howell uncomfortable during the first half. Georgia Tech had a staggering eight sacks on Sept. 25 and Virginia Tech had six in the season opener Sept. There is no question that Howell has the accuracy to pick apart any college defense, but not if he’s running for his life. His completion percentage has dropped from 68.1 percent lsat year to 63.5.
2. Balance on offense: North Carolina has the reputation of lining up and just airing the ball out with Howell. Instead, the Tar Heels have rushed for 443 carries and thrown the ball for 334 times.
The transfer of Chandler from the Volunteers has saved the running game, and Howell has been much more active on designed quarterback runs. Three games has skewed Chandler’s total of 1,004 rushing yards, but he averaged 16.4 touches per game between rushing and receiving. Only Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech have limited his yards per carry average.
3. Sloppy tackling in the secondary: North Carolina’s defense has been victimized off and on throughout the season. Cornerbacks Tony Grimes, Kyler McMichael and the recently healthy Storm Duck will be challenged to make open field tackles against both NC State’s wide receivers, but also when running backs Ricky Person and Zonovan Knight turn the corner.
Safeties Giovanni Biggers and Cam’Ron Kelly, plus nickel Trey Morrison will also have their tackling ability put to the test. They’ll need to fill the void created by sophomore safety Ja’Qurious Conley’s injury. The former Jacksonville (N.C.) Northside product has 46 tackles this season.
Three keys to the game for NC State football
1. Rushing game needs to produce: The Wolfpack have just 11 rushing touchdowns this season, which ranks tied for 109th nationally. Running back Ricky Person broke an ACC drought with a rushing touchdown against Syracuse on Saturday.
NC State has rushed for 111 yards or less the last five games, but did have an uptick against Syracuse. NCSU’s Person rushed 12 times for 50 yards and Zonovan Knight added eight carries for 4.6 yards. North Carolina did a solid job against Pittsburgh’s rushing attack on Nov. 11 — 31 carries for 95 yards and a touchdown — but gave up 217 rushing yards and two scores on 39 carries against a Wake Forest rush offense that doesn’t really have a main runner.
2. Blitz, blitz and blitz: NC State may not aggressively blitz as much as some ACC teams like Pittsburgh for instance, but the Wolfpack will need to rattle quarterback Sam Howell, who is coming off an injury. UNC’s offensive line might be big and mostly experienced, but they’ve also struggled at times.
Middle linebacker Drake Thomas had two sacks against Syracuse and has six on the season. Outside linebacker Vi Jones is an effective blitzed and has 4.5 on the season. NCSU has 28 sacks on the season, but it is incredibly important to dial up the heat against North Carolina.
3. Feed Emeka Emezie the ball: The senior wide receiver will likely be full of emotions in playing his last home game at Carter-Finley Stadium. Emezie had one catch for seven yards in the win over Syracuse, but wasn’t really needed. He will be needed against the Tar Heels.
The former Waxhaw (N.C.) Marvin Ridge High star has played in 61 games at NC State, and he has two more left. He came through in the two biggest games — catching 14 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown in the win over Clemson, and he snagged 10 passes for 133 yards and two scores in the loss at Wake Forest. It’s time for him to have a hat trick of big games against an opponent he knows best.
Three numbers of note
23 Wins in the last 24 games against in-state ACC opponents for North Carolina coach Mack Brown. He is 7-7 all-time against NC State.
653 Passing yards in two games for quarterback Sam Howell against NC State. He threw for 401 yards and three touchdowns his freshman year in 2019 vs. the Wolfpack.
1,000 UNC is one of three programs — Ohio State and Kentucky the other two — who have a 1,000-yard receiver (Josh Downs) and a 1,000-yard rusher (Ty Chandler).
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