Subscribe to THI for one year at just $8.33 per month and get access to everything we do. We are all over football & basketball recruiting & we go where the Tar Heels go.

North Carolina’s offense sputtered some in the first half of the Tar Heels’ 59-17 victory over Georgia State on Saturday night at Kenan Stadium, but it came together in the second half as UNC pulled away for the easy win.

Here is a deeper look into how the Heels performed on the offensive side of the ball:

Note: All grades and many stats are courtesy of PFF.

*UNC gained 607 total yards on 71 offensive plays, which is an average of 8.5 yards per snap.

*Carolina scored on its first six possessions of the second half, and in the third quarter scored 21 points while gaining 279 yards.

*Grades, only those who played 10 or more players are noted: Sam Howell 94.0; Kamari Morales 83.6; Antoine Green 72.5; Emery Simmons 72.3; Asim Richards 68.5; Jordan Tucker 68.0; Josh Downs 67.8; Ed Montilus 67.1; Cayden Baker 66.9; Quiron Johnson 64.0; Ty Chandler 63.4; Marcus McKethan 61.1.

*Every offensive lineman that played 10 or more snaps graded higher than 60.0 in pass blocking with the exception of Brian Anderson and Montilus.

*Carolina was credited with 40 rushing attempts for 201 yards, with Howell accumulating 104 yards on 11 attempts, which includes his two sacks. UNC was 29 attempts for 97 yards on its conventional runs.

*UNC had six runs that went 10 or more yards: Howell with four, and one each for Chandler and Caleb Hood.

*Of UNC’s 201 rushing yards, 106 came after contact: Howell 46 of 104; Chandler 37 of 58; British Brooks 8 of 10; Josh Henderson 4 of 5; Elijah Green 4 of 9; and Jacolby Criswell 1 of 1.

*The Tar Heels accumulated 28 first downs on the night with 10 of them coming on the ground: Howell 5; Chandler 3; Brooks 1; Hood 1.

Rushing Direction

*Left end: 5 attempts for 17 yards (3.4 average), with 1 TD, 1 first down, and a long of 5 yards.

*Left tackle: 4 attempts for 15 yards (3.8 ave), 1 TD, 1 first down, long of 8 yards.

*Left guard: 4 attempts for 10 yards (2.5 ave), long of 4 yards.

*Between LG & C: 5 attempts for 32 yards (6.4 ave), 2 first downs, two 10-plus runs, long of 16 yards.

*Between C & RG: 2 attempts for 2 yards (1.0 ave), long of 2 yards.

*Right guard: 5 attempts for 12 yards (2.4 ave), 1 first down, long of 4 yards.

*Right tackle: 3 attempts for 8 yards (2.7 ave), long of 7 yards.

*Right end: 4 attempts for 84 yards (21.0 ave), 1 TD, 2 first downs, two 10-plus runs long of 62 yards.

*QB scramble: 5 attempts for 41 yards (8.2 ave), 1 TD, 3 first downs, two 10-plus yards, long of 22 yards.

THI’s Take:

Look at how UNC struggled with its inside running. Those are the conventional runs that simply didn’t work against GSU just like it didn’t much work versus Virginia Tech. This is a huge issue that must dramatically improve for this team to approach reaching its goals. The big runs on the right side were Howell turning plays into something with his legs. UNC’s 0-line and all run blocking needs a ton of work.

*Howell was 21-for-29 with 352 yards and three touchdowns. Jacolby Criswell was 2-for-2 with 54 yards and a score. Drake Maye played but did not attempt a pass.

*Howell was sacked three times, was pressured six times when he dropped back to pass, threw the ball away twice, his receivers dropped one pass (Khafre Brown), 18 of UNC’s first downs came through the air, and Howell had an NFL rating of 147.5.

*When under no pressure, Howell was 20-for-26 with 347 yards, 2 TDs, 17 first downs, and a drop.

*Howell was under pressure when he dropped back to pass six times and was 1-for-3 with 5 yards, two throwaways and a first down.

*Howell was 3-for-3 with 22 yards on passes thrown behind the line of scrimmage.

*Howell was 9-for-10 with 87 yards and a TD on passes thrown between 0-9 yards downfield.

*Howell was 5-for-8 with 85 yards and a TD on passes thrown between 10-19 yards downfield.

*Howell was 4-for-6 with 158 yards and a TD on passes thrown 20 or more yards downfield.

THI’s Take:

Sam was really good Saturday night, that is obvious, and his ability to move actually kept the pressure numbers down. A QB moving left or right isn’t always because of a pressure, and it’s certainly not applied that way statistically. So his quickness and alertness gave him some more time to find receivers and actually helped the o-line’s blocking grades some.

*Josh Downs was targeted 11 times with eight receptions for 73 yards, a TD, and 32 yards after the catch.

*Kamari Morales was targeted four times with four receptions for 42 yards, 26 of which came after the catch.

*Emery Simmons was targeted four times with three receptions for 73 yards, a TD, and 23 yards after the catch.

*Antoine Green was targeted three times with three receptions for 117 yards, a TD, and four yards after the catch.

*All other intended receivers were targeted just one time each.

The best way to look at this performance is there are things the Heels must fix, clearly, especially up front. The conventional ground game is a legitimate concern, but the offense still managed to score 59 points, and the explosiveness of the receivers aside from Downs was a big and important development. Getting 607 yards and 59 points on a night many watching UNC leaves concerned is an indication this could be an extremely potent unit. Next week will be a much stuffer test, though.