The Tar Heels can make a good season GREAT by beating South Carolina.

Of course it’s a 12-game schedule and of course it’s too early to say one game can make or break Carolina’s 2015 team. But the opener against South Carolina Thursday night in Charlotte can certainly springboard the Tar Heels to a great year. A loss would leave them having to make up for lost ground with three soft opponents to follow in order to win those eight, nine or 10 games that define good and great seasons. Simply, this is one they can’t get back if they lose.

And this is a winnable game, not like Larry Fedora’s debut as UNC’s coach at South Carolina four years ago. These are not the Gamecocks that won 11 games for three straight seasons; they are the Gamecocks that had to win a bowl game to finish 7-6 in 2014; the Tar Heels lost their bowl game and wound up 6-7.

We will find out how much of a difference coaching makes on defense. The hiring of Gene Chizik got mixed reviews because he had sterling recommendations from almost everyone but, after all, he did leave Auburn with lots of rumors flying. And Auburn is synonymous with the kind of football program Carolina no longer wants to be. Chizik may have changed the scheme back to a traditional 4-3, but he has mostly the same players who ranked near the bottom of college football in several defensive categories.

Even if Steve Spurrier’s team puts up, say, 28 points, Fedora’s offense has the experience and talent to outscore that. Ten starters return and the backfield is loaded from Marquise to T.J. to Elijah and on the flanks with Switzer, Quinshad and big Bug. Carolina has to run the ball and control the clock, but take the quick strike when it’s there, and do not settle for field goals in the red zone. Anxious to see freshman Corbin Daly punt the ball and whether he can leave Spurrier’s offense with long fields to navigate.

In 25 years of coaching, Spurrier has a 226-85 record, averaging better than 9 wins per season. But this South Carolina team is lacking for star power beyond junior scat back Pharaoh Cooper, a North Carolinian who went south of the border. The Gamecocks’ starting quarterback is red-shirt freshman Connor Mitch, who played at Wakefield in Raleigh, and how the Tar Heel defense gets after him and contains Cooper will be too big keys to the game . . .and taking that first step toward a GREAT season.

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