North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Clemson Tigers

The Charlotte native had been looking forward to playing in his hometown, looking forward to helping steer a new course for North Carolina football, perhaps too much that night, forcing the ball into the end zone instead of letting the game come to him. Upsetting the Tigers may not be enough to put the Tar Heels in the playoff picture but who knows? The only thing is that I used to work for Roy Williams and you don’t like going against coaches or people that you care about greatly.

Jump to the present, and Maryland has – for the moment – caught up.

“It’s a good feeling”. We’re a different team. That sets up for a rowdy and hostile crowd awaiting to test the Tar Heels’ focus on North Carolina State’s Senior Day. The Terrapins are 57-122 against the Heels all-time.

Carolina has one week to get it right, one week to heal, one week to figure out the turnovers and the drops and make the most of its best opportunity to win its first ACC championship since 1980.

It should be noted, however, that the line opened at 7 points and has since moved a whole point in favor of the Terps.

“This is the best offense we have faced this year”, Fedora said of Clemson.

North Carolina has been rolling over teams with explosive pass plays, but the running game was at the forefront this week. The Tarheels used a three-point play and four free-throws to seal the win.

Trimble has never faced Carolina, but he won an AAU under-15 game on the Dean Dome floor years ago. UNC shoots 38% in the first half, well they weren’t tough. “They kind of took it to us for sure”. “It’s going to be exciting”. A great environment, the game of the night, the late game.

“It should be fun”, Turgeon said. By landing the job before the Pac-12 title game against Stanford this Saturday, the second-guessing could begin in the stands nearly immediately if the Trojans come out flat …

“It’s what the fans want”, Layman added.

Senior middle hitter Victoria McPherson said the Tar Heels failed to grab a share of the championship when they had the chance. “Guys are definitely excited and stuff”, Williams said, “but we still have a lot of season left to play”.

Chris: The one thing I hate about the “toughness” talk is when it is used as an absolute, because that completely ignores how tough one actually has to be to earn a DI scholarship. Those numbers are close to Tar Heels quarterback Marquise Williams (2,431 yards, 17 TDs, 7 INTs.). Justin Jackson, Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks are likely locked into their spots as regular starters (for now), and Paige has experience both on and off the ball in his three years at UNC. For Maryland’s frontcourt of Diamond Stone, Robert Carter Jr., Michal Cekovsky and Damonte Dodd, Turgeon thinks it’ll even help.

It’s easy to forget now, but keep in mind that Rivera and his staff had to get by without defensive leader Luke Kuechly for a couple games, lost wide-out Kelvin Benjamin to a knee injury in preseason and has excelled with a largely rebuilt secondary.