UNC hasn’t done well in season openers vs. Power 5 teams. Will the trend be reversed?
You have to go back more than two decades — before most college players were even born — to find the last time North Carolina’s football team beat a Power 5 opponent in a season opener.
It hasn’t been pretty.
UNC has faced 10 Power 5 opponents in season openers during the past 20 years.
Its record in those 10 games: 0-10.
UNC’s last win against a Power 5 opponent in a season opener was in 1997 against Indiana. The Tar Heels beat the Hoosiers 23-6 in Chapel Hill.
“That’s been too long,” said UNC coach Mack Brown, who was head coach of the Tar Heels in 1997. “We need to fix that.”
The Tar Heels have a chance to buck that trend on Saturday when they face South Carolina in the Belk Bowl at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
Brown, who returned to coaching after spending five years as an ESPN analyst, will be tasked with cracking that code.
Against South Carolina, the Tar Heels will start true freshman Sam Howell, who won the starting quarterback job over redshirt freshmen Jace Ruder and Cade Fortin. Howell will be the first true freshman to start a season opener for UNC.
“I’m not scared or anything like that,” Howell said Tuesday. “It is a big stage. It’s a stage I really haven’t been on before, but I’m confident in myself, I’m confident in my team, and I know my teammates got my back.”
UNC and USC will meet for the 58th time in school history in a series that has been dubbed “The Battle of the Carolinas.” UNC leads the series 34-19-4, but USC has won six of the past seven.
The Gamecocks have had the Tar Heels’ number even when the Tar Heels were perhaps the better team. The Gamecocks beat the Tar Heels 27-10 in the 2013 season opener, and 17-13 in the 2015 season opener.
Still in 2015, the Tar Heels would go on to win the Coastal Division, while the Gamecocks finished 3-9. USC’s head coach, Steve Spurrier, quit before the end of the season.
How UNC plays on Saturday could set the tone and provide a confidence boost for the rest of the season.
It’s also a chance for the Tar Heels to prove themselves after two consecutive embarrassing seasons, where they finished 3-9 in 2017 and 2-9 in 2018. UNC lost the season openers both years.
A mind-set
Defensive backs coach Dré Bly, who was a sophomore All-American cornerback at UNC during the 1997 season, still remembers the 23-6 win against Indiana.
It was at Kenan Stadium with 57,800 fans in attendance. The Tar Heels entered the game ranked No. 7 in the country after coming off an 10-2 season in 1996.
“The way we were in ‘97, it didn’t matter who we were playing,” Bly said. “But at the same time, whenever we stepped on the field, we always thought we had a chance to win, and that’s what I try to tell the guys.”
The Tar Heels finished the 1997 season 11-1 and ranked No. 4 in the country. It also marked Brown’s 10th and final season at UNC before leaving for Texas. Indiana finished the 1997 season 2-9.
Bly said winning the high-profile games comes with having the mind-set to work hard and the confidence to win. He said the players have done that this offseason.
“Obviously, we want to win the opener, but we want to break the curse,” Bly said. “We want to change the culture. And everything that I’m used to, everything the coaches are used to, we’re used to having success.”
Learning to win
In the spring, Brown asked his players to write down things they wanted him to change. Most of the requests were material things, such as renovating the players’ lounge and locker rooms, and building a weight room.
Those things got done.
Then there was another request.
Someone wrote that they wanted Brown to help them win.
Before UNC’s losing streak began 20 years ago, Brown was 5-2 in season openers against Power 5 opponents.
But UNC has five wins in the past two seasons. Only three — against Old Dominion and Pittsburgh twice — have come against FBS opponents. Saturday’s game presents the first opportunity to reverse the trend.
“I think that’s going to change,” UNC safety Myles Dorn said of losing. “And I think a lot is going to change just because I’ve seen the differences in the program and I’ve seen how close we’ve come.
“We’ve done enough to close that gap, and I think we’re going to do it.”
UNC in season openers
1988 South Carolina L 10-31 *
1989 VMI L 49-7
1990 Miami (OH) W 34-0
1991 Cincinnati W 51-16
1992 Wake Forest W 35-17
1993 USC W 31-9
1994 TCU W 27-17
1995 Syracuse L 9-20
1996 Clemson W 45-0
1997 Indiana W 23-6 **
1998 Miami (OH) L 10-13
1999 Virginia L 17-20
2000 Tulsa W 30-9
2001 No. 3 Oklahoma L 27-41
2002 Miami (OH.) L 21-27
2003 FSU L 0-37
2004 William & Mary W 38-49
2005 Georgia Tech L 21-27
2006 Rutgers L 16-21
2007 James Madison W 37-14
2008 McNese State W 35-27 (Vacated)
2009 The Citadel W 40-6 (Vacated)
2010 LSU L 24-30
2011 James Madison W 42-10
2012 Elon W 62-0
2013 South Carolina L 10-27
2014 Liberty W 56-29
2015 South Carolina L 13-17
2016 Georgia L 24-33
2017 California L 30-35
2018 California L 17-24
- Bold means games against Power 5 opponents.
* Mack Brown’s first season
** Mack Brown’s final season of first tenure at UNC
UNC vs. South Carolina
When: 3:30 p.m., Saturday
Where: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte
Watch: ESPN
This story was originally published August 28, 2019 at 4:06 PM.
