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USATSI

No. 17 North Carolina absolutely steamrolled No. 10 Miami in a resounding 62-26 win on Saturday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium, running the ball right at, around and through the Hurricanes defense in a historic fashion. 

The game had the billing of a showdown between two of the top quarterbacks in the ACC with Sam Howell and D'Eriq King, but it was North Carolina's one-two punch at running back of Javonte Williams and Michael Carter that stole the show. 

Williams ran for 236 yards on 23 attempts with three touchdowns while Carter topped that with 308 yards on 24 attempts and two scores. Williams and Carter have been some of the top teammates on the national rushing lists throughout the season, but Saturday's performance, a combined 544 rushing yards, is the most in a single game by a pair of teammates in FBS history. 

Those 544 rushing yards anchored a 778-yard showing from the North Carolina offense while Miami totaled just 314 yards. That's the second-worst output from Miami's offense this season, trailing the 210-yard total in the loss to Clemson earlier this season. Making even more of a historic mark for the wrong reasons, Miami's 778 yards of offense allowed is the most ever in the Hurricanes' storied history.  

"The opening statement is that we got our ass kicked," Miami coach Manny Diaz said after the game, adding that it's was a "humiliating performance." 

"I didn't recognize the football team I saw on the field tonight," Diaz said. "I bear the responsibility for that."

Since that loss to Clemson, Miami was finding ways to win against teams like Pitt, Virginia, NC State and Virginia Tech, barely getting out of the last three games with one-score victories. But throughout that time, much of the weight from any shortcomings could be tied to widespread player availability issues because of COVID-19 protocols. Miami wasn't full strength on Saturday, but it had a team that was good enough to win or at least do a better job of getting stops and having answers for North Carolina's touchdowns. 

But it wasn't just key third down or red zone opportunities that decided this game. Miami's defense was getting gashed for big gains all afternoon, and it never looked like they had the adjustments in place to limit the combination of Williams and Carter. This game was 7-3 early on and 14-3 late in the first quarter when Carter really broke the game open with a career-long 65-yard touchdown run one play after the Tar Heels had recovered a Miami fumble. 

The game holds particular significance for the ACC and New Year's Six as the season winds down for the conference. Miami has a better conference record than North Carolina with just two losses to the Tar Heels' three, but if the College Football Playoff Selection Committee decides to drop the Hurricanes based on this decisive result, it could disrupt the pecking order for the Orange Bowl. If the ACC only gets one team in the College Football Playoff, then either Clemson or Notre Dame (the loser of the ACC Championship Game) will end up in the Orange Bowl. However, if both are in the top four, then the "next team up" from the ACC will get the bid. If North Carolina is ranked ahead of Miami, it will have an argument for the committee to consider when it comes to seeding those elite bowl games outside of the national semifinals. 

Of course even if Miami or neither team goes to the Orange Bowl, this was still a monumental day for North Carolina football. It's the program's first win against a top-10 opponent since 2004, when the Tar Heels beat Miami in Chapel Hill on a walk-off field goal by then-freshman Connor Barth. 

Mack Brown has repeatedly talked about the steps to success and how beating ranked teams on the road, and now beating a top-10 team on the road, are the ways to earn long-lasting respect in the sport. Teams can spike in the rankings, as North Carolina did earlier this year reaching No. 5 in the AP Top 25 poll, but the way you establish longevity as a top-25 or top-20 program is to win these ranked-on-ranked games consistently. That hasn't been the case for much of North Carolina football's history in the 21st century, and maybe Saturday afternoon in Miami Gardens is the beginning of that narrative turning around. 

That kind of win makes Brown proud, and inspires some locker room dancing for the 69-year old Hall of Fame coach.