College football season is finally here – and the North Carolina Tar Heels are eager to showcase their offseason improvements.
UNC begins its 2024 campaign on Thursday, Aug. 29 against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. North Carolina beat Minnesota last year in Chapel Hill, 31-13, in what marked the inaugural matchup between both programs.
The Tar Heels’ 2023 victory over the Golden Gophers was part of their 6-0 start, only for dreams of a College Football Playoff appearance to quickly disappear with consecutive losses to Virginia and Georgia Tech. UNC is hoping that with a fresh slate in 2024, it can jump out to another hot start – but actually finish strong and win a bowl game.
Speaking of, in early-season bowl projections, The Athletic mocks North Carolina to the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Tex. against new Big 10 school USC.
This is not the Tar Heels’ first projection to the Sun Bowl, as Action Network had the exact same pick this offseason.
UNC is no stranger to playing in the Sun Bowl, as it carries a 2-3 record in previous appearances, with its most recent outing a 25-23 loss to new ACC school Stanford in 2016. This game was largely defined by Cardinal defensive lineman Solomon Thomas causing problems at the line of scrimmage.
North Carolina’s ultimate goal is to win a bowl game, but it first has to conquer the regular season with a variety of new starters.
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