Florida State @ North Carolina preview
Kenan Memorial Stadium
Last Meeting ( Oct 17, 2020 ) North Carolina 28, Florida State 31
North Carolina puts its perfect home record on the line Saturday when Florida State comes to Chapel Hill, N.C., for an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup.
The Tar Heels (3-2, 2-2 in ACC) are led by quarterback Sam Howell and are 3-0 at home this season.
Howell has thrown for 300 or more yards in four straight games, the longest streak of his career. He has a touchdown pass in all 30 games as a Tar Heel, the longest active streak in the country, and in last weekend's win over Duke moved past T.J. Yates for third place in North Carolina history in career total offense.
The school record in total offense is within reach for Howell, as he trails Marquise Williams by just over 1,000 yards. Howell needs 34 yards to pass Darian Durant for second in all-time passing yards at the school, and 656 to set the record.
Saturday will be the first game between the two conference rivals in Chapel Hill since 2009. The three most recent meetings were played in Tallahassee, Fla. in 2010, 2016 and 2020. The last four games in the series have seen each team win twice, and all four games have been decided by three points or less.
"Still haven't put our best game together," Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown said. "We're still waiting to do that. This weekend would be great to do so."
The Tar Heels plan to pay tribute to the late former Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden with a mural at their home stadium.
Florida State (1-4, 1-1 in ACC) got its first win of the season last week, 33-30 over Syracuse. But even though it leads the overall series between the two teams with a 16-3-1 record, Florida State is a double-digit underdog in this game.
Florida State also has a pair of three-point losses this season.
"To think that we've had three games that have come down to the last play, four games that have been down to the last drive," head coach Mike Norvell said."The margins are very small. The detail, the effort that goes into that, the execution of what's necessary to be able to achieve success, we want to play our best game."
Jordan Travis broke Florida State's program record for career rushing yards by a quarterback during his career-high 113-yard performance against Syracuse. Travis, who set FSU's single-season quarterback rushing record last season, has 932 rushing yards in 16 career games to surpass 1993 Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward's previous record of 889 yards.
--Field Level Media