Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
‘The start of next season’
Texas A&M, North Carolina poised to take next step after Orange Bowl run
For most of three quarters Saturday, Sam Howell languished without his usual cadre of weapons.
The North Carolina Tar Heels’ star quarterback, who averaged more than 300 yards per game and completed nearly 70 percent of his passes in the regular season, went into the fourth quarter of the 2021 Orange Bowl with only 128 passing yards and a completion percentage south of 60. It was one of the rare moments in the sophomore’s career when he seemed to be out of answers. He missed his leading receiver and his two leading rushers — all three of whom opted out of the bowl to prepare for the 2021 NFL draft — and he was in search of his next generation of targets.
Moments into the fourth quarter, the Texas A&M Aggies tied the score and pressure was bearing down on Howell. A pass rush came from the middle, so Howell retreated to his left, set his feet and found his new favorite toy streaking down the left sideline. He heaved and connected with Josh Downs for a 75-yard touchdown to put North Carolina back ahead.
Texas A&M answered with 21 unanswered points to win 41-27, but Howell’s bomb was a final reminder: Both of these teams are poised to vault into the national conversation in 2021.
“I expect big things,” Howell said Saturday. “I want to take this team to great places and I think we have a lot of potential in that locker room.”
Said Aggies running back Ainias Smith: “This game says a lot. This was the start of the next season.”
When the final batch of rankings arrive later this month, No. 5 Texas A&M will finish in the top five for the first time since 2012 and possibly achieve its highest end-of-season ranking since 1939 when the Aggies last won a national championship. The No. 14 Tar Heels will likely finish the season in the top 20 for only the second time since 1997 — the final season of coach Mack Brown’s first stint in Chapel Hill. The two teams had combined for just one appearance in the Orange Bowl before last week.
At Texas A&M, coach Jimbo Fisher is bringing in another top-10 recruiting class and should return most key contributors besides star quarterback Kellen Mond. In North Carolina, Brown is bringing in a second straight top-15 recruiting class and despite losing most of his top weapons on offense still brings back Howell.
In all likelihood, both programs will begin the 2021 season as the second highest ranked team in their conference.
“We don’t talk a lot about what we didn’t play with tonight, but we lost 4,000 yards coming into the game and still had a chance against the No. 5 team to win,” Brown said Saturday.
“This is going to be a special team.” Brown, who just wrapped up his second season in his second stint with the Tar Heels, has quickly turned North Carolina back into one of the most exciting teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
He’s recruiting at a high level and implementing the offensive principles that helped him win a national title with the Texas Longhorns. Most important, he has Howell, who could be a candidate to go No. 1 overall in the 2022 NFL draft.
The Tar Heels played this weekend without running backs Michael Carter and Javonte Williams and wide receiver Dyami Brown, so Howell turned a freshman with three catches in the regular season into a postseason star.
Downs, who arrived at North Carolina as a top-100 overall recruit in the 247Sports. com composite rankings, caught four passes for 91 yards and two touchdowns, including the 75-yarder. If fellow wide receiver Dazz Newsome doesn’t use his extra season of eligibility, Downs may have to step up to be Howell’s No. 1 receiver and he showcased why he’s capable of it in the Orange Bowl.
For the Aggies, the situation is inverted. Texas A&M (9-1, 8-1 SEC) played at full strength in the postseason because its only starter with a real chance to be drafted early in the upcoming NFL draft is Mond. While he ran for one of the Aggies’ five touchdowns, sophomore running back Isaiah Spiller scored two and freshman running back Devon Achane, who had only 31 carries in the regular season, added another two, including a 76-yard run to put Texas A&M ahead of the Tar Heels (8-4, 7-3) for good in the fourth quarter.
Fisher, who just wrapped up his third season in College Station, now has the Aggies on a similar trajectory to the one he had with Florida State last decade. In his third season in Tallahassee, Fisher led Florida State to a win in the 2013 Orange Bowl. In his fourth, Fisher guided the Seminoles to their first national title since 1999.
“That doesn’t happen without a lot of work and it doesn’t happen without a lot of circumstance,” Fisher said Saturday. “Is the ability and the vision there? Yes. That’s our plan and that’s what we want to do, but now we’ve got to go back and work.”