Kenan Stadium will be filled to the rafters Saturday night when North Carolina hosts Miami among the pines.

Tar Heels’ fans have been excited for the return of Mack Brown to Chapel Hill for some time, which was only heightened with last weekend’s season-opening victory over South Carolina in Charlotte. Brown led UNC to three 10-plus win seasons and top-10 final rankings in his last two seasons in 1996 and 1997 before leaving for the job at Texas.

He returned last winter to resurrect a program that had won just five games over the previous two seasons.

It’s also the home opener and is at night. And if history is the slightest indicator, night games at Carolina are usually when Kenan is at its best. In the 21 seasons since Brown left, Kenan has been more on the ho-hum side than raucous, but there have been times when the old stadium has been electric.

So let’s take a quick trip down recent memory lane and recognize the five best night game atmospheres at Kenan Stadium over the 21 years Mack Brown was away.

Here they are:

The return of Mack Brown to UNC as Texas’ head coach was a huge story in the state and also in college football. The Tar Heels were 1-1 and coming off a good first season under John Bunting that included wins over Florida State, Clemson and Auburn. UNC fans didn’t give Brown a very welcoming embrace when he ran out onto the field with his team and before long it was clear he was going to leave Kenan Stadium with a resounding victory.

But the atmosphere was amazing early on and the crowd was exceptional. The only crowd bigger before that game was in 1997 when UNC hosted FSU in Brown’s last season in Chapel Hill, which the Heels lost. He said the following after the game:

“I'm proud to be part of the two biggest crowds in school history - I was just on the wrong side for one of them.”

The first ever night game between these rivals in Chapel Hill was an absolute thriller. The Tar Heels entered with just a 2-3 record and the Wolfpack was 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the ACC. Carolina won when defensive tackle Khalif Mitchell forced a fumble by State running back T.A. McLendon at the goal line with 12 seconds left to secure the victory for John Bunting’s team.

UNC fullback Madison Hedgecock rambled 69 yards on 10 carries including a couple of bruising runs that infused his teammates. After the game, Hedgecock said he was playing for much more than himself and his teammates”

“Late in the game, I was thinking about all the players who have played with me, all the alumni, thinking `We've just got to win this for them.' We want to beat everybody in the state.”

Just a week after beating State, the Tar Heels were crushed at Utah preceding a visit by No. 4 Miami. Another night game, this time on ESPN, and somehow the Tar Heels pulled it off, winning on a 42-yard field goal by Connor Barth as time expired.

Wide receiver Jesse Holley was thrilled beyond words afterward:

“I was speakless, in tears, just happy. Speakless, I couldn't...my yell wouldn't even come out. I was trying to yell, wasn't nothing coming out. I mean, it was just..oh man, like, man, I can't talk about it now. Wow. Way to go Connor Barth."

In the first Thursday night game ever played at Kenan Stadium and the first time UNC had ever worn all Navy blue uniforms, the Tar Heels erupted out of the gate to take a 17-3 lead and owned a 24-6 lead midway through the third quarter before the Seminoles roared back notch the victory. The logistics of UNC hosting a Thursday night game are very difficult, which is why it took so long for the program to do so. The atmosphere was outstanding, especially when the Heels were rolling early on.

UNC Coach Butch Davis said after the game:

“I think everybody certainly feels bad about it. I was so proud of the way our players came out and the way we started. We got off to a great start. We were playing well in basically all three phases of the game.”

Wearing all black for the first time ever, the Tar Heels hosted the No. 10 Hurricanes for a very rare Thursday night game at Kenan Stadium. UNC owned a 23-13 lead early in the fourth quarter but lost when Miami scored with 16 seconds left to earn the victory dropping Larry Fedora’s team to 1-5.

UNC tight end Eric Ebron out on a show that night catching eight passes for 199 yards.

“We have a bunch of guys hurting in that locker room down there,” UNC Coach Larry Fedora said. “A bunch of guys that played their tails off and gave everything they had… Give Miami credit for what they did tonight. They made the plays when they had to make them, and won the game; it's a tough one to swallow.”