Art Chansky’s Sports Notebook is presented by The Casual Pint. YOUR place for delicious pub food paired with local beer. Choose among 35 rotating taps and 200+ beers in the cooler.
Georgia Tech and Carolina have a topsy-turvy history.
The 4-2 Ramblin’ Wreck, which rolls into town for Saturday’s nooner at Kenan Stadium, is one of five past-present ACC members to have a winning record against the Tar Heels. The other three of the Big Four don’t, and it’s not even close.
UNC dominated the team now known as the Yellow Jackets all the way back to the leather helmet days, going 9-3-2 from 1915 until the ACC was formed in 1953. After the Jackets joined the conference in 1980, the Tar Heels went 13-4-1 before Georgia Tech rebounded and won 19 of the next 23 games in the series.
Included was 1990 when Carolina led 13-10 late in the game before the Jackets kicked a field goal to leave town with a tie and went on to win one of two national championships awarded then.
And Mack Brown often reminds us, “They tied us, we didn’t tie them” in his first winning season at UNC with a 6-4-1 record and had to decline a bowl bid when then-Chancellor Paul Hardin said it conflicted with final exams.
Fast forward to Brown 2.0 and Tech is still wrecking us in one form or another. They have beaten Carolina three straight, each time turning a potential great season into something less.
After Brown’s first encore meeting in 2019, a rare win in Atlanta was one of six victories that qualified UNC for its first bowl bid in three years. When COVID forced the ACC to shuffle games around in 2020, Tech did not visit Kenan as originally scheduled.
Going back to Atlanta the next year and playing in the Mercedes Benz Dome, Carolina was 2-1 and heavily favored against 1-2 Tech before back-up quarterback Jeff Sims came off the bench and engineered a 45-15 blowout over the last three quarters.
With Drake Maye succeeding Sam Howell under center in 2022, the Heels were 9-1 before Georgia Tech blew up the Tar Heels season that ended 9-5 with a loss to Oregon in the Holiday Bowl. Carolina easily could have escaped the heat when sure-handed Josh Downs dropped Maye’s touchdown pass in the front right corner of the end zone and the Jackets buzzed home with a 21-17 upset that could have instead been that elusive 10-win season.
Last year Tech won a 46-42 shootout at Grant Field, with Maye completing 17 of 25 for 310 yards and two touchdowns. But he was matched by unknown Tech QB Haynes King, who threw for four touchdowns as the Jackets roared back to win with a 22-point fourth quarter.
Now, with the Tar Heels in a tailspin, Georgia Tech is a 10-point favorite behind King, who has blossomed into a star – sixth in a close ACC total offense race with 281 yards per game and 12 touchdowns. The Jackets have a top-12 running back and top-six receiver. Against that, Carolina has the ACC’s 15th best defense.
Audio Player
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines