No matter who the North Carolina Tar Heels beat in any given football season, there’s one opponent in recent years who they can’t seem to get past: NC State, their in-state rivals from just 30 minutes down the road in Raleigh.
Last year, UNC (6-3, 3-3 ACC) started 6-0 before its epic collapse put it back in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. The Wolfpack (5-5, 2-4 ACC) were part of North Carolina’s late-season slide, stomping the boys in Carolina Blue by a 39-20 mark in Raleigh.
It’s now State’s turn to play in Chapel Hill this season – and you can bet it’ll be a loud, chippy game.
Earlier on Monday, we learned that the Tar Heels and Wolfpack will kick their regular-season finale off at 3:30 p.m. ET.
This is just late enough to have a nighttime atmosphere (it starts getting dark at 5:30 p.m.), but early enough as to where fans – and players – can celebrate afterwards.
If you remember NC State coach Dave Doeren’s infamous words about UNC after last year’s game, he said, “those pieces of **** haven’t beaten us in 1,460 days.” I have no issue with Doeren firing his players up and taking friendly jabs at North Carolina, but saying this about kids is crossing the line.
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The Tar Heels are playing their best football of 2024, winning their past three games behind a combination of Omarion Hampton and strong defense, to climb back into bowl contention. This comes after UNC’s coldest stretch, in which four consecutive losses had fans questioning how much longer Mack Brown would be coaching.
The Wolfpack, ranked in the preseason, are sitting at .500 overall after a quarterback switch and inconsistent play. They will travel to Georgia Tech on Saturday, Nov. 21 before heading up to Kenan.
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