Tar Heels 10 days out from football opener

College football fans can smell the start of the season. For UNC, that start is on Saturday, Sept. 2 against South Carolina in Charlotte.

You can practically smell it – college football is almost here.

In just three days, Navy and Notre Dame officially kick off the regular season with a matchup across the pond (2:30 p.m., NBC). Five-and-a-half hours later, 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams and the USC Trojans begin their quest for a College Football Playoff spot against San José State.

Tar Heel fans – get ready. The boys in baby blue begin gameplay in just 10 days. UNC will face off against one of their largest out-of-state rivals, South Carolina, on Saturday, Sept. 2 at Bank of America Stadium (7:30 p.m., ABC).

The Heels rank 21st in the AP Preseason Poll, while South Carolina is just on the outside.

Outside of UNC-South Carolina being a primetime matchup in the Carolina Panthers’ stadium, one of the largest storylines surrounding this clash will be the quarterback battle. Carolina’s quarterback, Heisman Trophy candidate Drake Maye, will face off against the Gamecocks’ Spencer Rattler, a former Heisman candidate who transfered from Oklahoma before last season.

The quarterbacks both have a flair for the dramatic. Drake Maye joked that people who attend N.C. State are those who can’t get into Carolina, while Spencer Rattler is set out to prove everyone why he’s one of the country’s best himself.

Maye is coming off his best season – one in which he was named First-Team All-ACC, led the Heels to a 9-1 start and finished with 4,321 yards (4th-most in FBS behind Williams), 38 touchdowns (tied-first in ACC with Sam Hartman) and a UNC-leading 698 rushing yards.

Rattler had an up-and-down year. He threw for 3,026 yards, just five of his carrer-high set in the 2020-2021 season at Oklahoma, plus 18 touchdowns, but threw double-digit interceptions (12) for the first time in his career.

The Tar Heels have grand expectations with Maye, their entire running back and tight end groups, plus one of the country’s best linebacker trios in NFL Draft prospect Cedric Gray, Power Echols and Kaimon Rucker. They were ranked 12th last year before losing four straight.

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