How to watch UNC Tar Heels football vs. Appalachian State on Saturday
Every college coach has their dark days.
For North Carolina’s Gene Chizik, one of the darkest came Sept. 3, 2022.
The Tar Heels went to Boone to play Appalachian State. The offense scored 63 points, enough to win. The defense allowed 61, App State igniting for 40 points in the fourth quarter.
Defensive coordinators don’t forget those kinds of days. Or the bus ride home. Or the hours poring over the game video, rewatching a football horror show.
“Last year was tough to watch,” Chizik, UNC’s assistant head coach for defense, said this week. ”The fourth quarter was the main issue and we obviously had a lot of things to clean up from that game.
“But I will say this, when you have a performance like that, you look for guys to step up. You look for how guys are going to respond in the face of adversity. We won the game but we weren’t proud of the product we put on the field. With those type of games, you have to look in the mirror, coaches and players, and say ‘Where do we go from here?’”
The specter of the ASU game and that nightmarish fourth quarter would linger with the UNC defense throughout the season. The “product” was good at times, not so good at other times.
Where do we go from here? The Heels’ defensive product was very good in the first game of 2023 as the No. 17 Tar Heels smacked South Carolina 31-17 in a game controlled more by the UNC defense than Drake Maye and the offense.
Now, as if almost scripted, Appalachian State is the opponent again.
It was inevitable the UNC defensive coaches and players would be asked about 2022 and the Boone debacle, and about making amends against this App State team this season.
“You can’t ever forget performances like that, right? Although you’d like to,” Chizik said. “They’ll relive that in their minds some this week, for sure. We won’t be hyper-focused on it or hyper-aware of how that day unfolded. But overall they’ll be excited to play in a game like this simply because we didn’t play well last year.”
The UNC defense played well Saturday. The question now: can the Heels stack another good defensive performance on to the first.
South Carolina could not generate a running game – UNC did not allow it.
“South Carolina gave up on the run,” UNC coach Mack Brown said. “App State is not going to give up on the run.”
The Apps rushed for 288 yards against UNC last year while passing for 361 as quarterback Chase Brice – a former two-time transfer now in the Canadian Football League – had six TD throws.
App State was a 45-24 winner over Gardner-Webb in its opener last week as running back Nate Noel had 117 yards on 24 carries. Noel, a 5-10 junior from Miami, was one of the App State stars last season against the Heels, rushing for 116 yards and scoring twice.
“They’re still a powerful team in the run game,” UNC linebacker Kaimon Rucker said Tuesday.
One concern for App State: quarterback Ryan Burger injured a finger in the opener. If he can’t go, junior-college transfer Joey Aguilar will be the guy UNC is chasing after sacking South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler nine times last week.
“We understand we put on a great display of what our defense is capable of doing last week, and we’re aiming to replicate that,” Rucker said. “I feel the first game definitely set the tone for ‘OK, we might need to keep an eye out for UNC’s defense’ but we know we’ve got a lot to go.”
It could be an emotional day Saturday at Kenan Stadium in the Heels’ first home game -- for everyone.
There was the tragedy of a week ago, when faculty member Zijie Yan was shot and killed and the campus put into a lockdown. A vigil later was held for Yan, an associate professor. And while not the same, Saturday’s football game at Kenan offers the chance for the UNC community to come together, be together again.
“We had a tragedy and it was a horrific day on campus,” UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham said Wednesday. “I think the campus responded to it really well and now we’re starting to recover.
“I think going down and playing in Charlotte last week was one of the best things to help unify our community. That’s what sports does.”
How to watch UNC vs App State
Gov. Roy Cooper has jumped in the fray, urging Spectrum and Disney to end their dispute and get back to showing the college football games people want to see..
The UNC game will be carried on the ACC Network, and those without cable or Spectrum can stream it on such services as DIRECTV, fuboTB, Hulu + Live TV, SlingTV and YouTube TV.
North Carolina (1-0) vs Appalachian State (1-0)
When: Saturday, 5:15 p.m.
Where: Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill.
TV: ACC Network.
Series history: UNC and App State have played twice, the Apps winning 34-31 in Chapel Hill in 2019 and the Heels winning 63-61 in 2022 in Boone.
This story was originally published September 7, 2023 at 9:20 AM.
