By Dave Holcomb
SouthernPigskin.com

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Dave Holcomb recaps North Carolina’s 59-39 win over Virginia.

For old offensive records, it was not a great night at Chapel Hill.

The North Carolina and Virginia offense broke two school records and approached several other offensive milestones in their matchup Saturday night at Kenan Memorial Stadium. It was an offensive slugfest for the ages.

But while the Cavaliers did not continue their first-half pace, quarterback Sam Howell and the Tar Heels offense never slowed down and outlasted Virginias potent passing attack, 59-39.

More important than the score, the Tar Heels offense looked like itself against an ACC foe. Virginia Tech held North Carolina to only 10 points in Week 1, giving us some doubt about whether Howell could be as effective without all his playmakers that left for the NFL during the offseason.

Since then, North Carolina has recorded 59 points in two straight games (Georgia State and Virginia).

With 59 points, North Carolina broke its previous scoring high against Virginia from 1943 (54 points). Thats quite impressive considering theres only one other rivalry in college football history that has more than the 126 matchups North Carolina and Virginia have.

Howell threw for 307 yards and five touchdowns with just 21 attempts. He averaged 14.6 yards per pass, which was the second-highest average for a game in his college career. The only time Howell had more yards per pass in a game was last year against xa6 Virginia (443 yards with 28 attempts; 15.8 yards per attempt).

Through the first two weeks, sophomore Josh Downs was Howells favorite receiver, and that was again the case Saturday. Downs caught eight of his quarterbacks 14 passes for 203 yards. The rest of the Tar Heels receiving core combined for 104 yards.

Downs also scored two touchdowns — the first two of the night — to get things rolling for North Carolina. Both of his touchdown receptions were more than 35 yards.

Fellow sophomore receiver Khafre Brown joined the long touchdown party despite only having one catch. His lone reception was a 75-yard score. On all three long touchdowns, Downs and Brown displayed tremendous speed, which North Carolina must continue to utilize throughout this season.

Graduate transfer running back Ty Chandler provided the offensive balance the Tar Heels largely lacked the opening week. Chandler surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark for the fourth time in his college career, running for a new career high 198 yards.

Howell continued his strong start to the season on the ground as well, racking up 112 yards on 15 carries. Howell accounted for 419 yards of offense — a yardage total that he surpassed last year just once.

With many of the top ACC teams again struggling in Week 3, its a big boost to North Carolina to see its offense perform so well. The Tar Heels are a danger to anyone in the conference when they play this way.

They posted 699 yards against Virginia while recording just one giveaway and allowing one sack. Two weeks ago, North Carolina had three giveaways and allowed six sacks against Virginia Tech.

The Tar Heels will have to improve defensively, particularly against the pass, to truly become the national contender they were supposed to be before the season. But plenty of credit should go to Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong for the 39 points the Cavaliers tallied Saturday night.

North Carolina stifled the Virginia ground attack, holding the Cavaliers to 21 yards on 22 carries. So Armstrong did the heavy lifting, going 39 of 54 with 554 passing yards and four touchdowns.

Armstrongs 554 yards through the air set a new school record for a single game. It obliterated Kurt Benkerts previous record from 2016 of 421 passing yards against Central Michigan. Armstrong actually broke the record before the end of the third quarter. At halftime, he was on pace for more than 700 passing yards.

The Virginia quarterback also threw for more than 400 yards last week against Illinois. Armstrong is the first quarterback in program history to throw for 400 yards in two different games, and he did it on back-to-back weeks.

Although it came in a losing effort, Armstrongs performance should give Virginia plenty of confidence for the rest of the season. His ability to strike quickly will keep the Cavaliers in just about any game. Armstrong is averaging 10.7 yards per pass through the first three games.