Remember the Carolina game that was postponed and the one that wasn’t?

With Hurricane Florence bearing down on the Carolinas, cancelling or at least postponing Saturday’s home opener against Central Florida, along with all the other Tar Heel events scheduled for the weekend, was the right move and brought back memories of a couple of other games in this century.

In 2001, in the wake of 9/11, UNC’s home opener against SMU was postponed until the end of the regular season. John Bunting’s first Tar Heel team had debuted with three road games – all losses at Oklahoma, Maryland and Texas. They were finally going to get their first win.

When the SMU game was called off, Carolina instead faced national power Florida State the next week to kick off the Bunting era in Kenan Stadium. All pundits and most of the fans were predicting a fourth straight loss, and the stadium was far from filled to capacity when the game started.

With both teams wearing American flags on their helmets, the sixth-ranked Seminoles led 9-7 at the half. But, shockingly, the Tar Heels outscored FSU 34-0 in the second half behind back-up quarterback Darian Durant to win 41-9. As word spread across the campus and town, Kenan began filling up.

Two years ago, when torrential rains swamped Chapel Hill and the Triangle over the weekend, all three local schools decided to go ahead and play their scheduled home games. Carolina, the defending ACC Coastal Division champs, was hosting always-tough Virginia Tech, whose strengths were running the football, playing defense and excelling on special teams.

The Tar Heels mostly passed the ball behind Mitch Trubisky, and as soon as the game started in a downpour it was evident the kickoff should have been delayed until Saturday night or Sunday. The Hokies ran and defended like they normally did under Frank Beamer, and Trubisky could never get the passing game going. Final score, Virginia Tech 34, UNC 3.

Carolina was favored, but in the monsoon it was no contest, and the Heels lost their chance to defend their Coastal crown. At least this Saturday, after failing to win at Cal and ECU, they can’t lose.

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