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Michael Carter rushed for three touchdowns and Sam Howell threw for two touchdowns as North Carolina rolled past Western Carolina 49-9 in its home finale Saturday.
North Carolina (7-3, No. 17 CFP) built a 42-3 halftime lead against the Football Championship Subdivision opponent.
Nine different players caught passes from Howell, who was 20 of 23 for 287 yards before sitting out the second half. Those connections included a 22-yard hook-up to Antoine Green, who made his first catch of the season on the first-quarter play, and a 26-yard strike to Dazz Newsome with 49 seconds left in the first half.
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The Tar Heels picked up 16 first downs after just 26 snaps on offense. They topped the 40-point mark for the sixth time this year.
Carter ran for first-quarter touchdowns of 17 and 22 yards and then a second-quarter score from 5 yards out. Javonte Williams (3 yards) and D.J. Jones (2 yards) also had touchdown runs.
Western Carolina (0-3) completed an abbreviated fall slate with its third lopsided loss.
Paxton Robertson’s 40-yard field goal gave the Catamounts their first first-quarter points of the season, closing the gap to 7-3 at the time. A fake field goal failed in the third quarter. Linebacker Nigel Manns scored on a 42-yard fumble return in the fourth quarter.
THE TAKEAWAY
Western Carolina: The Catamounts dropped to 0-32 all-time against current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. This was the third loss – all in a four-year span – to the Tar Heels. The Catamounts played their first game in the month of December since participating in the 1983 NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.
Until Saturday, that was the only other year a Mack Brown-coached team faced Western Carolina, with his Appalachian State team losing that game in the regular season.
North Carolina: More than half of North Carolina’s victories have come against in-state opponents, improving to 4-0 against that group. The others came in ACC play against North Carolina State, Duke and Wake Forest.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
North Carolina could return to the Top 25 after holding the first spot outside of the rankings this week. The Tar Heels have played seven games this season while holding an AP ranking.
UP NEXT
Western Carolina: Feb. 20 at Furman as part of the Southern Conference’s season in the spring semester.
North Carolina: Saturday at Miami for its second game in three weeks against a Top 10 opponent.
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