The North Carolina Tar Heels will play the 21st ranked Pittsburgh Panthers in a Thursday Night Matchup.
As we know, the Heels have put up a disappointing season.
Anybody that believed the heels were appropriately rated in the preseason top 10 mostly believed in three things.
You thought Josh Downs and the skill players would replace all the NFL players they lost well enough to not see a significant drop off. Josh Downs has delivered, but clearly the talent around him has not.
The talent recruited to play defense for Carolina was a 2nd major point for Tar Heel truthers.
After all, it’s been the biggest weakness for Mack Brown the first 2 years of his tenure in Chapel Hill, and if they could fix that, then UNC would be well on their way.
That unit has failed in big games, frequently giving up 40 or more.
Lastly, and the biggest factor you bought into if you were high on North Carolina, was elite quarterback play from Sam Howell. You thought it would cover up a lot of mistakes.
A lot of people would argue he’s been disappointing. Sam came into the season as a Heisman candidate and someone who could threaten the field as a potential number 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
That’s not the case anymore. Widely considered the 2nd best QB prospect heading into the season, he’s fallen even further despite Spencer Rattler getting benched at the midway point.
We’ve mentioned the things affecting North Carolina’s disappointing season, but how much of that falls on Sam Howell?
I’d argue he’s been criticized way too much, and shouldn’t drop at all from his original standing.
If you compare this year, without Dyami Brown and Dazz Newsome, and compare it to last year, a team that also had Javonte Williams and Michael Carter, the numbers are actually pretty similar.
ESPN’s David Hale tweeted through 8 games in each of the last 2 seasons, Sam Howell has more passing yards in 2021, to go along with 1 less touchdown pass, 1 less play of 20 yards or more, and an almost identical QBR. That was before the 50 point performance against Wake Forest.
HE also mentioned Sam Howell being one of only 3 QB’s in the playoff Era to have 5 games with 300 passing yards, and 5 games with 100 rushing yards. The other two? Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson. Howell did it in 9 games.
Despite the Heels struggles, it’s still safe to say. Draft Sam Howell, and draft him high.
