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Will it be another high or another low against South Carolina?
The Tar Heels and Gamecocks own every reason to be bitter rivals. They have always been border rivals between state universities. They were members of the same conference (ACC) for 18 years. And for even more reasons, there has never been any love loss between them.
And now they are playing for the third time in five years in the biggest city in North Carolina, which is closer to Columbia than Chapel Hill. So who will have the euphoria of victory and the agony of defeat by midnight on Saturday?
They opened the 2019 season at Bank of America Stadium, Mack Brown’s return to UNC with a true freshman quarterback and few expectations versus what was supposed to be Will Muschamp’s best season at the other Carolina.
After three quarters, the Heels had nine points on three field goals, the ‘Cocks 20 points behind veteran QB Jake Bentley. Flip the switch. Bentley had one completion for the rest of the game and two interceptions by UNC safety Myles Wolfolk. Sam Howell came alive with TD passes to Dyami Brown and Beau Corrales on great catches. The shocked Heels went home 24-20 winners.
Two years later, Brown’s third team of his second stint had suffered the impossible 34-30 loss at N.C. State and accepted a bid to the Mayo Bowl in Charlotte against guess who? Muschamp had been replaced by Shane Beamer who knew the 70-year-old Brown since growing up with dad and coaching legend Frank Beamer. The Heels were routed 38-20, a loss Brown has never gotten over. About half of Brown’s current team that trudged to the locker room will play the Gamecocks again in the same stadium.
He has barely mentioned it. “They know, they were there,” Brown said. “It was one of the worst games I’ve ever seen. We coached poorly and played poorly. I threw all my bowl stuff away after the game. I felt awful for North Carolina, our fans and for these kids. I felt like we let everybody down and it was one of the more disappointing games I’ve ever coached.”
The Tar Heels enter this every-other-year game as a slight favorite, mostly because Drake Maye is a Heisman Trophy candidate. But South Carolina has quarterback Spencer Rattler who used to be – before he transferred from Oklahoma. Brown respects Beamer as much as his Hall of Fame dad because he knows the family bloodlines.
One of the teams will bus home happy, the other team with a first-game loss that will be hard to forget.
Featured image via USA Today Sports
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