How to watch a UNC-NC State rivalry game with plenty to see amid Mack Brown’s departure
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UNC football moves on from Mack Brown
North Carolina fired head football coach Mack Brown on Tuesday, Nov. 26, just four days before the team’s final regular-season game, against rival N.C. State.
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All eyes will be on North Carolina’s Mack Brown.
All eyes.
Those at Kenan Stadium on Saturday or watching on the ACC Network figure to be tracking the every move of the Tar Heels coach — before, during and after the rivalry game against N.C. State.
Mack Brown has been fired. UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham, some 4,700 miles away in Maui with the men’s basketball team, made that call Monday. The Tar Heels are shopping for a new head coach to replace the Hall of Fame coach.
But Brown was allowed to coach the final game of the 2024 regular season, likely his last college game before the retirement he has been putting off for years.
The storylines and questions surrounding Saturday’s game are many:
▪ How will Brown be received at Kenan Stadium when he first takes the field?
▪ What’s the over/under on how long Brown will chat with the Pack’s Dave Doeren at midfield during pregame warmups?
▪ How emotional will Brown be during the Senior Day ceremony that will include a tribute to the late Tylee Craft?
▪ How animated will Brown be during the game?
▪ What will be the reception for Brown as he makes his last walk toward the Kenan Football Center, for a man whose football legacy will include more wins than any UNC football coach?
▪ Finally, what will Brown have to say when he addresses the media after the game in what should be a standing-room-only setting in the football center lobby?
On Monday, Brown smiled a lot at his weekly press conference. He said he intended to return in 2025 for the seventh season of his second run as UNC’s coach. He tried to put aside any other retirement questions and noted he would speak with Cunningham after the season to assess the program and his future, the normal procedure.
A few hours later, Brown spoke to Cunningham, who informed him he was being fired. Brown was told he would not coach the Tar Heels in a bowl game – whenever or wherever – but would be allowed to coach the N.C. State game on Saturday.
What to expect? It’s a 6-5 UNC team playing a 5-6 N.C. State team. The Pack needs to win to qualify for a bowl and the Tar Heels want to send Brown out a winner.
Brown’s first game as the UNC coach at Kenan was Sept. 10, 1988 against Oklahoma and his former boss, Sooners coach Barry Switzer. Oklahoma, ranked No. 4, won 28-0.
Brown’s first win at Kenan came Oct. 22, 1988, against Georgia Tech. The Heels, after losing the first six games of the season, took a 20-17 victory.
Brown, ever quotable, said after the Georgia Tech game that he told the team in preseason it would celebrate the first win with a steak and lobster dinner.
“We’ve got a lot saved up, so I guess they’ll be getting double portions,” he quipped after that 1988 game.
Brown would win 112 more games at North Carolina. He’d like to leave with one more victory, with one last double portion of joy and celebration that winning a rivalry game can bring, before dealing with the reality of retirement.
How to watch
The 3:30 p.m. game will be shown on the ACC Network.
Streaming options include fubo TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV Stream, Sling TV
Betting odds
The Tar Heels were 5.5-point favorites in the early lines this week, according to the DraftKings and FanDuel sports books.
Then, Brown was fired. DraftKings and FanDuel have UNC a 3.5-point favorite and the over/under set at 55.5,
UNC (6-5, 3-4 ACC) vs N.C. State (5-6, 2-5)
When: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.
Where: Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill Date:
TV: ACC Network.
Series history: The Tar Heels lead the all-time series, 68-39-6, but the Wolfpack has won three in a row. N.C. State defeated UNC, 39-20, last season in Raleigh. The last time n Chapel Hill, the Pack earned a 30-27 victory in double overtime in 2022.
