UNC Football Hoping to End 2021 On a High Note in Duke's Mayo Bowl

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The Queen City will host a border war Thursday, with the two Carolinas fighting for regional supremacy in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. This will be the 59th all-time meeting between North and South Carolina in football, but it’s the first time the Tar Heels and Gamecocks have played in the postseason.

Though UNC’s 6-6 record is certainly not what fans expected after the Tar Heels began the season ranked in the top 10 of the AP poll, head coach Mack Brown said he is still happy with the opportunity at hand: Carolina has a chance to clinch its third straight winning season in front of a sizable contingent of Tar Heel fans.

“This is a good time for our program,” Brown told reporters earlier this month. “It’s the third straight bowl for the first time since 2016. It’ll showcase high school coaches and high school football in the states of South Carolina and North Carolina. The players will have an easy trip, and at the same time, all their families can come, which is tough in modern-day bowl games. And our fans can be there.”

The 70-year-old Brown may be reminded of his age when he looks across the sideline. Shane Beamer is the Gamecocks’ first-year head coach, and the son of Brown’s good friend and former Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer. South Carolina is back in a bowl game for the first time since 2018, and Brown said he projects Shane Beamer as a future star.

“We didn’t meet our expectations this year, and South Carolina did,” Brown said. “Because a lot of people were talking about the struggles they were gonna have. They had some quarterbacks hurt. He beat Florida and he beat Auburn, so I’m very, very proud of Shane, and look forward to competing against him in this bowl game.”

South Carolina’s starting quarterback for most of the season has already entered the transfer portal, meaning the Gamecocks will have to rely on backups Thursday. But the team’s strength is its defense: the Gamecocks have picked off 15 passes this season, which is tied for the 10th-best mark in the country. Three of those picks have turned into touchdowns.

“I think schematically, we have been fortunate enough the last two times that I’ve coached against South Carolina, it was against the old regime,” said UNC offensive coordinator Phil Longo. “And we had two really, really good offensive days. This is a new scheme and a new defensive coordinator, so it’s been a different approach from a scheme standpoint. But after these past seven, eight practices, I feel good about where we are preparing for this last game.”

Longo will be happy to have his starting quarterback at his disposal. Junior Sam Howell, fresh off graduating from UNC this month, will play potentially his last game as a Tar Heel against the Gamecocks. Should it indeed be Howell’s UNC finale, it’s a poetic one: his first-ever start also came against South Carolina in Charlotte.

“The reality of it is, I am here for my team,” Howell said. “I’m not doing this just because I want to show people that that’s what I’m about. That’s just truly who I am. I pride myself on being a good teammate, and always being here for these guys. It just wouldn’t sit right for me, giving up on the season.”

Howell has set multiple offensive records during his time at Carolina, and led a program resurgence which has dragged the Tar Heels back up from the bottom of the ACC. And a bowl win in Charlotte, Howell’s hometown, would certainly be a good way for the quarterback to go out.

Featured image via Associated Press/Karl B. DeBlaker

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UNC Football Hoping to End 2021 On a High Note in Duke’s Mayo Bowl

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