Florida A&M Week Is Here
The formal start to the 2022 football season is just five days away, and North Carolina is one of a handful of teams across the nation taking the field in what is dubbed “Week Zero,” as the Tar Heels host Florida A&M on Saturday night.
The weekend of September 3 is considered “Week One,” hence the zero tag on this week's games. And the ninth of 11 contests scheduled that day involving at least one FBS team is the Tar Heels and Rattlers kicking off at 8 PM inside Kenan Stadium. The game will air on the ACC Network.
**************************************************************************************
Remember, for just $8.33 a month, YOU CAN BE A TAR HEELS INSIDER, TOO!!!
***************************************************************************************
In addition to Carolina facing FCS member FAMU in what UNC is calling the "HBCU Celebration game,” honoring HBCUs, which are Historically Black Colleges and Universities. FAMU is brining its famed marching band. The Marching 100, which will perform on the field before the game.
The Rattlers finished last season with a 9-3 record participating in the FCS playoffs. In their only game versus an FBS program, FAMU fell at South Florida, 38-17.
"I'm really excited about Florida A&M at home and celebrating HBCUs,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said. “We've got Coach Bill Hayes (longtime A&T coach) and Rod Broadway (former Central & A&T coach) as our honorary captains. Florida A&M has Coach Rudy Hubbard coming in for their honorary captain, and they may have some more as they go.
"We are going to honor their bands. We're going to honor the black fraternities and sororities on our campus. There will be a lot of different ceremonies going on before the game, and it will be a highlighted game on the ACC Network at eight o'clock at night, so I'm really excited to start the season in that fashion."
Broadway played defensive line at UNC in the 1970s and was an assistant with the Tar Heels in the early 2000s.
As for the game, the Tar Heels are coming off a 6-7 season that led to Brown making a change atop the defense, moving out Jay Bateman and bringing in Gene Chizik, who was Brown’s defensive coordinator when they won a national championship together at Texas in 2005.
Additionally, Chizik spent two years at UNC in 2015-16 after taking over a defensive unit that struggled even more in 2014 than Bateman’s did last season. All Carolina did in year one was go from 6-7 to 11-3 and an ACC Coastal Division title in 2015.
The Tar Heels return only two productive offensive skill players from last season. Josh Downs set UNC single-season records with 101 receptions for 1,335 yards, and tight end Kamari Morales had five receiving touchdowns. Senior receiver Antoine Green had 31 catches for 612 yards and five scores last fall, but he is out at least UNC’s first three games with an upper body injury.
Asim Richards is back at left tackle, but otherwise, Carolina’s offense is new and mostly inexperienced, including a quarterback. Brown is expected to announce a starter during his weekly press conference Monday morning.
Chizik’s unit returns a number of experienced players in every position group, especially along the defensive line. In fact, 21 of UNC’s defensive Heels were either 4-star or 5-star prospects coming out of high school, with eight of them along the defensive front.
“I think they can be as good as they want to be,” Chizik said about his defensive line. “I think they have a lot of talent, they have big frames. I think that they’ll just keep pressing and learning not being okay with being okay.
“They have a chance to be real good. There’s some great leaders being developed down there. But it’s all about out-working the opponent.”
The Tar Heels have not opened a season versus an FCS school since Liberty visited Kenan Stadium at the outset of the 2014 campaign. That was four years before the Flames were full-fledged FBS members. UNC has opened seasons in the 2000s versus FCS teams seven times, winning each contest by an average score of 45.9-to-17.7.
The closest call came in 2008, when the Tar Heels escaped an upset bid by McNeese State with a 35-27 victory. The most lopsided outcomes was UNC’s 62-0 romp over Elon in 2012.
UNC hits the road for games at Appalachian State and Georgi State before an open date is followed by a home game versus Notre Dame on September 24.