Temple overpowered by North Carolina in Military Bowl

ANNAPOLIS, MD. >> Having guided North Carolina to a winning season and a lopsided bowl victory in his first year back at the school, Mack Brown has raised expectations — for himself and the fans — moving forward.

The veteran coach wouldn’t have it any other way.

Freshman Sam Howell threw for 294 yards and three touchdowns in addition to catching a TD pass, and the Tar Heels blew out Temple 55-13 in the Military Bowl on Friday to cap a satisfying return season for their 68-year-old coach.

Howell completed 25 of 34 passes and ran for 53 yards on three carries to help the Tar Heels (7-6) secure their first bowl victory since 2013. North Carolina was 4-6 before winning its last two regularseason games to qualify for a bowl bid.

North Carolina went 3-9 in 2017 and 2-9 last year before hiring Brown, who coached the Tar Heels from 1988-97 prior to heading to Texas for a 16-year stay. Coming off a five-year absence from coaching, Brown — with help from Howell — quickly turned the program around.

“The last three weeks we’ve been a really good football team,” Brown said. “It’s fun. Now these guys coming back have something to build on. Seven (wins) is not enough anymore. You want to go to a bowl every year and get a streak of wins.”

Temple (8-5) has played in a bowl game in each of the past five years — and lost four of them. This was the Owls’ first trip under coach Rod Carey, who came to Temple after a run of six-plus seasons at Northern Illinois in which he was 0-6 in the postseason.

“It’s hard to swallow because I don’t know if there is that big a gap between these two teams, but there was today,”’ Carey said.

Pinstripe Bowl

MICHIGAN STATE 27, WAKE FOREST 21 NEW YORK >> Brian Lewerke threw for 320 yards and a TD and ran for a score in Michigan State’s victory over Wake Forest at Yankee Stadium.

Lewerke threw a 10-yard pass to wide receiver Cody White in the third quarter to put the Spartans (7-6) ahead 27-21 and they survived down the stretch.