Marquise Williams did not get any accolades and was often overlooked. The Russell Athletic Bowl gives him a chance to be on the stage his play deserved.
North Carolina spent its season seeking notice.
Clemson was always the darling team of the ACC. Florida State the power team. North Carolina had the stain of a loss to rival South Carolina (eventually a three-win team) in the opening week. Not to mention the lack of that star power as a program — and a basketball team that constantly and deservedly overshadows the football team.
This Tar Heel team quietly rose in the polls. It quietly checked off everyone else remaining, going unbeaten into the ACC Championship Game.
There was no College Football Playoff talk. There was no Heisman buzz for its best player. There was seemingly only dismissal of this team.
The Tar Heels did not have any marquee wins for sure. The best team they may have defeated was Miami or Virginia Tech. The conference schedule set up in North Carolina’s favor.
Still something needs to be said about a team able to win all of its games. Few teams are able to do that every year regardless of the schedule. And there is something to be said about the quarterback who guided them there.
“He’s really good,” Baylor coach Art Briles said of Marquise Williams. “And they do a really good job offensively. [North Carolina coach Larry Fedora] has been around good offenses his entire career. He has done it and done it his way. He has mixed in a lot of things he has picked up over his career. They have a good thing going. They are a really good football team.”
That is high praise for an offense coming from Briles, who has installed a unique and revolutionary offensive system that seemingly plugs and plays new quarterbacks and receivers with relative ease.
Marquise Williams has been the quarterback no one has seemed to talk about throughout the nation. He has put up incredible numbers both through the air and on the ground in leading one of the top offenses in the country — No. 22 offense per S&P+ with the 15th best rushing attack and 23rd best passing attack by the same metric.
Williams tallied 2,829 passing yards with 21 touchdowns against nine interceptions. He completed 61.4 percent of his passes. Then throw on top the 867 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns he accumulated too and that is a dangerous dual threat quarterback.
He along with Elijah Hood (1,345 yards and 17 touchdowns) made a dangerous rushing attack that helped pace the offense to 40.9 points per game and 486.9 yards of total offense. Like Baylor, this is a team with multiple weapons that spreads out the defense and runs them ragged.
The Tar Heels also have a defense to match as they kept teams to less than 20 points seven times in 13 games and have the 65th best defense in the country according to Football Outsiders’ S&P+. They have scored 40 or more points seven times too.
The Tar Heels are something of that classic team that can score a lot of points and play just enough defense to win the game.
Unlike Baylor’s revolving door of quarterbacks thanks to injury, Williams has been a rock. The senior has stepped in after a rough 2013 and became the unquestioned starter in 2014 with a similar 3,068 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
There was no buzz about him because his team was not particularly strong — going 6-7 last year. There was little expectation placed on the Tar Heels entering this season on the back of that and it got worse with the loss to the Gamecocks.
That did not come to define their season though.
Williams kept up his play and the defense stepped things up. North Carolina found balance and played with the lead in most games.
North Carolina defied those odds by sticking to their system and trusting their talent on the roster. Williams played a big role in that, silencing doubters along the way and turning heads to those who watched him.
The nation did not quite get the chance to see him. The Russell Athletic Bowl is one last chance for the nation to do so.
[…] The quiet brilliance of Marquise Williams […]