UNC Football: Tar Heels blowout Temple in Military Bowl

The UNC Football program capped off their 2019 season with a blowout Military Bowl win over Temple on Friday afternoon

The North Carolina Tar Heels opened up the decade with a thrilling Music City Bowl win over Tennessee back in 2010. They will end it with a blowout win in the Military Bowl over Temple.

Mack Brown and his team capped off the 2019 season with a XX-XX win over Temple on Friday, finishing the year at 7-6 overall.  This is the first year in Brown’s second stint as head coach for the Tar Heels and he delivered their first bowl game appearance since 2016 and the first win since 2013.

UNC got off to a bit of a slow start in the first quarter but got on the scoreboard first when Sam Howell found Dyami Brown for a 39-yard touchdown pass to give the Tar Heels a 7-0 lead. In the second quarter, kicker Noah Ruggles added to that lead with a 26-yard field goal.

Temple found the end zone on a Re’Mahn Davis 4-yard run to keep the Owls in it but after that it was all Tar Heels. UNC added another touchdown pass from Howell, this time to Dazz Newsome from 16 yards out and would get a Ruggles field goal from 36-yards to take a 20-6 lead into the break.

Then in the second half, UNC came out rolling and never looked back.

They found the end zone three times in the third quarter with Senior Antonio Williams rushing from one-yard out followed by a pick six from Freshman Storm Duck on the ensuing Owls possession and finally a Toe Groves two-yard pass to Howell. Yep, Howell caught a pass as he did it all for the Tar Heels on Friday.

UNC took a 41-13 lead into the fourth quarter backed by Howell’s stellar play and the defense putting the clamps down on Temple. Howell added another touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, finding Newsome for an impressive 29-yard grab:

Williams would add another touchdown late in the game as UNC finished off Temple to capture the bowl win and get to 7-6.

Howell finished the game 25 of 34 for 294 yards and 4 total touchdowns. He was named the MVP of the Military Bowl as he closes out an impressive freshman season.

Both Newsome and Brown went over 1,000 yards for the season, becoming just the fourth and fifth receivers to accomplish the feat. It’s the first time two UNC wide receivers have finished with `1,000-plus yard receiving seasons.

This is a great way for UNC to cap off this impressive season under Brown. They will head into 2020 with a lot of confidence as kickoff vs. UCF in Week 1 is just nine months away.

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