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CHAPEL HILL – A football season with plenty of potential and cautious optimism for North Carolina commences Saturday night on a big stage versus a quality opponent in a contest some believe may serve as a fork-in-the-road for the Tar Heels and their starting quarterback.

If UNC is to make a push toward national attention this season, it cannot do so without taking care of the Gamecocks at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. If Drake Maye is to find himself in the thick of the Heisman race well into November, doing so after losing the opener will be an enormous challenge.

It already is a steep uphill climb for Maye, given that he plays in a program not often on the national radar, and that hasn’t had anyone finish higher than 10th in the Heisman voting since 1976 when Mike Voight was eighth in receiving votes. Maye finished last season tenth in votes.

Maye’s talent and numbers speak for themselves, but to win the most prestigious award in American sports, his team must win games, and that comes before any personal stuff inside the Kenan Football Center. And truth be told, the vibe there is quite positive.

“Every coach in America is telling, on 130-plus teams, is standing there telling them, ‘you can win a championship,’ UNC Coach Mack Brown said earlier this month. “Really and truly, most of those can’t. So, they’re not telling them the truth. We can.

“We’ve got good enough players, we’ve got good enough coaches. We’ve got good enough staff, so the challenge for us it to all do what we’re supposed to do.”

And the Tar Heels have a good enough schedule that if they can effectively navigate it, respect should come their way.

In addition to facing the Gamecocks on ABC primetime Saturday night, after ESPN GameDay is on hand earlier in the day, the Tar Heels host dangerous Appalachian State, a Minnesota team from the Big Ten that won nine games last season, and then UNC heads to Pittsburgh before an open date.

The Panthers and Heels are regarded the two teams most likely to contend for an ACC championship game spot if Clemson or Florida State don’t face each other. So that game will carry significant importance.

But none of that matters right now. The Tar Heels are knee-deep into South Carolina prep, as this is the program’s biggest opener probably since 2016, when coming off an 11-win campaign, UNC opened up versus Georgia in the old Georgia Dome in Mitch Trubisky’s first start at Carolina.

The opener versus South Carolina in 2019, also at Bank of America Stadium, was also very big because it was Brown’s first back at UNC, but was a blip on the national radar. This game is being billed as the best of the day and second best of the weekend, behind the FSU-LSU game slated for Sunday night.

One of UNC’s slogans is “Nine isn’t enough,” as in last season’s win total of nine games. Beating the Gamecocks will serve as a giant step toward achieving that mission, and it takes place this weekend.

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