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North Carolina had one of its more productive games of the season on the ground Friday night at NC State, but the Tar Heels still fell short, falling 34-30 to their rivals at Carter-Finley Stadium.

After falling behind 14-0, the Tar Heels outscored the Wolfpack 30-7 to take a 30-21 lead with 2:12 remaining, but they then collapsed and came away with the disappointing loss.

UNC finished the night with 444 total yards, 297 of which came on the ground. British Brooks led the Heels with a career-high 124 yards. Carolina accumulated 22 first downs, had the ball for 29:23, and ran eight more plays (68) than the Pack.

As we do following each UNC game, here is an in-depth look at the Tar Heels’ offensive numbers as well as player grades. Many stats and all grades are provided by PFF.

*Grades (only those who played 10 or more snaps and graded out at 60.0 or higher are noted): British Brooks 85.7; Joshua Ezeudu 79.4; Sam Howell 77.1; Quiron Johnson 75.1; Marcus McKethan 74.9; Josh Downs 74.7; Jordan Tucker 72.6; Ed Montilus 67.6; Ty chandler 77.8; Kamari Morales 64.1; Justin Olson 62.2.

*Only 20 players saw action on offense, including Beau Corrales, who played five snaps. It was his first game action since the loss at Florida State last season.

*Overall, UNC’s run blocking grade as a team was a season-best 90.7, which was slightly higher than its 88.1 grade in the win over Virginia.

*UNC was credited with 41 runs for 297 yards, which is an average of 7.2 per attempt. But if you remove the five sacks for 23 yards, and the numbers for more conventional runs were 36 attempts for 320 yards, which is 8.9 yards per run.

*Brooks ran the ball 15 times for 124 yards, Howell ran it 18 times for 98 yards (13 runs for 121 yards without the sacks, Chandler 6 runs for 59 yards, and Garrett Walston was credited with an 18-yard run after picking up a blocked punt and running for a first down.

*UNC had seven runs of 15 or more yards (Brooks 3, Howell 2, Chandler 2), and 11 that went for 10 or more yards (Howell 5, Brooks 4, Chandler 2).

*Of Carolina 297 rushing yards, 212 came after contact: Howell 87 of 98; Brooks 79 of 124; and Chandler 46 of 59.

Rushing Direction

*Left end: 3 attempts for 32 yards (10.7 ave), 1 first down, one 10-plus run, long of 23 yards.

*Left tackle: 6 attempts for 19 yards (3.2 ave), 1 first down, one 10-plus run, long of 11 yards.

*Left guard: 1 attempt for 5 yards.

*Between LG&C: 4 attempts for 66 yards (16.5 ave), 2 first downs, two 10-plus runs, long of 40 yards.

*Between C&RG: 2 attempts for 14 yards (7.0 ave), long of 9 yards.

*Right guard: 2 attempts for 55 yards (27.5 ave), 2 first downs, two 10-plus runs, long of 35 yards.

*Right tackle: 6 attempts for 26 yards (4.3 ave), 1 first down, one 10-plus run, long of 16 yards.

*Right end: 4 attempts for 37 yards (9.3 ave), 2 first downs, two 10-plus runs, long of 24 yards.

*QB sneak: 1 attempt for minus-2 yards.

*QB scramble: 5 attempts for 45 yards (9.0 ave), 2 TDs, 3 first downs, two 10-plus runs, long of 24 yards.

THI’s Take

The Tar Heels were outstanding on the ground and they needed it. The pass protection struggled again, and State did a nice job in coverage, so Carolina turned to its improved running game and it nearly delivered a victory. And that the Heels had success running through just about every hole is a testament to how well they played up front and in running the ball.

*Howell was 14-for-26 with 147 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT on the night. He was also sacked five times, scrambled five times, also had one pass dropped, had two throwaways, picked up 11 first downs when dropping back, made three “Big Time Throws,” and had an NFL rating of 64.9.

*Howell dropped back 23 times when he was “kept clean” and was 1-for-20 with 121 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 2 BTTs, 3 scrambles, 9 first downs, and an NFL rating of 73.1.

*Howell dropped back 14 times when under pressure and was sacked 5 times, scrambled 2 times, had 2 throwaways, piked up 2 first downs, 1 drop, and 1 BTT.

*Howell was 4-for-5 with 29 yards on passes thrown behind the line of scrimmage.

*Howell was 4-for-7 with 27 yards on passes thrown between 0-9 yards downfield.

*Howell was 5-for-6 with 74 yards on passes thrown between 10-19 yards downfield.

*Howell was 1-for-6 with 17 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT on passes thrown 20 or more yards downfield.

THI’s Take

Howell just didn’t have a lot of time to go through his progressions Friday night, and he missed on a few balls, too. PFF charged the Heels with just one drop, but it appeared the number should have been perhaps three, and had those other two balls been caught, the game could have turned out different than it did.

*Josh Downs was targeted 11 times with 8 receptions for 75 yards, 4 first downs, and a long of 19 yards.

*Antoine Green was targeted 6 times with 1 reception for 11 yards and a first down.

*Justin Olson was targeted 3 times with 2 receptions for 28 yards, a TD, 2 first downs, and a long of 17 yards

*Kamari Morales was targeted 3 times with 2 receptions for 26 yards, 1 first down, 1 pass was intercepted, and a long of 20 yards.

*Ty Chandler was targeted 1 time with 1 reception for 7 tards.

Carolina did enough offensively to win the game. The pass protection remains a major problem, as Howell finished the regular season having bee sacked 44 times in the 11 games he played, but the run game was outstanding, and has been a positive over the last month for this team.

The Heels botched an opportunity to score more points after running into the red zone in the fourth quarter, passing five straight times and settling for a field goal. A touchdown there could have been the difference in how the game eventually played out. Overall, UNC was good enough on offense to win against an outstanding defense.