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Michael Carter and Javonte Williams accomplished something that no teammates in major college football history had previously done. The Orange Bowl, where North Carolina has never been, might be their reward. Carter and Williams set a Football Bowl Subdivision record by combining for 544 yards rushing, and No. 20 North Carolina embarrassed No. 9 Miami 62-26 on Saturday in the regular-season finale for both teams. Carter ran for 308 yards and two touchdowns, while Williams had 236 yards and three touchdowns for the Tar Heels (8-3, 7-3 Atlantic Coast Conference). Per the NCAA, it was the seventh time that two teammates each ran for at least 200 yards, the first since 2016 and the first such instance in ACC history. North Carolina finished with 778 yards - the most ever yielded by Miami and a Tar Heels record - and 554 yards rushing, also the most allowed in Hurricanes history. Sam Howell threw for a score, ran for a score and caught a TD pass for the Tar Heels. It was the first instance of a North Carolina player doing that since 2014, and it almost became an ancillary note given how Carter and Williams played. It added up to North Carolina's first win against a top-10 team since 2004 - also against then-No. 4 Miami.
2020 Bowl Games: College football bowl games were set on Sunday for the 2020-21 postseason slate. The wild process of college football bowl game selections went down all day long on Sunday as FBS teams filled slots in the postseason. It all started with the announcement of the four College Football Playoff teams, and it continued with the release of the final CFP Rankings and rest of the New Year's Six games before culminating late in the afternoon once every one of the bowl games is announced.
RB Javonte Williams to skip Orange Bowl, enter NFL draft
North Carolina star running back Javonte Williams is opting out of the Orange Bowl and will enter the 2021 NFL draft, he said Saturday. Williams rushed for 1,140 yards on 157 carries with 19 touchdowns this season. He made history with teammate Michael Carter earlier this month as the pair combined for 544 rushing yards against Miami, an NCAA record for two teammates.Williams is ranked as the No. 3 running back on ESPN' Mel Kiper Jr.'s latest Big Board. Carter announced on Monday that he would also forgo UNC's bowl game and enter the draft.
Orange Bowl preview: Key players and matchups for Texas A&M-North Carolina
Two college football programs on the rise, two national championship-winning coaches, two top-15 teams: all a recipe for a quality bowl matchup. The Capital One Orange Bowl (8 p.m. ET on Jan. 2 on ESPN and the ESPN App) will pit two familiar names who have reached the pinnacle this century: North Carolina coach Mack Brown and Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher. Both coaches won their titles elsewhere -- Brown at Texas and Fisher at Florida State -- and both are in new situations. Brown, after leaving Texas following the 2013 season, spent time out of coaching before returning to Chapel Hill for a second go-round leading the Tar Heels in 2019. Fisher left Florida State following the 2017 season and is in his third year with the Aggies. Fisher's squad hoped to make the College Football Playoff but just missed, finishing No. 5 in the rankings, a strong rise in a short time. Brown, who took over the program following a two-win season, has the Tar Heels in a New Year's Six bowl after winning a combined 15 games in the past two seasons.
Texas A&M runs past North Carolina in Orange Bowl, 41-27
Devon Achane had two touchdowns in the final 3:44, including a 76-yarder that put Texas A&M ahead to stay, and the fifth-ranked Aggies beat No. 14 North Carolina 41-27 on Saturday night, capping a winless bowl season for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Kellen Mond passed for 232 yards and ran for a score for the Aggies (9-1), who were in the Orange Bowl for the first time since 1944 and were one spot away from making the College Football Playoff field. Fisher improved to 3-0 in Orange Bowls, winning two previous ones at Florida State. Sam Howell passed for 234 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Josh Downs, for the Tar Heels (8-4). North Carolina was without leading rushers Javonte Williams and Michael Carter, leading receiver Dyami Brown and top tackler Chazz Surratt, all of whom opted out of the bowl game. The ACC sent two teams to the playoff but went 0-6 in bowls, four of those losses by two touchdowns or more.