The football season is finally here.
Actually, for the media and diehard fans, it’s been here for nearly a month, as North Carolina’s fall camp opened Aug. 3. But this is game week, and Saturday the Tar Heels visit California, their first game on the West Coast since 1998.
In one respect, this can be viewed as an opportunity for payback of sorts, as Cal left Kenan Stadium in last season’s opener with a 35-30 victory. It was a surprise win for the Bears and a more-than-surprising loss for the Tar Heels. Perhaps, had Chazz Surratt played every snap at quarterback, instead of splitting reps with graduate transfer Brandon Harris, the Heels would have won.
But they didn’t and losing to Cal in consecutive seasons wouldn’t be a good look for a UNC program that has had significantly more success over the last 40 years. That, and Carolina coming off an injury-riddled 3-9 campaign with some offseason embarrassment, including the criticized CTE comments by head coach Larry Fedora to the suspension of 13 players – 11 for the Cal game – make this an incredibly important game for the Tar Heels.
It's big for Fedora, too. He needs a win to steer conversation in a different direction, but most of all the team and fan base need a victory.
Morale likely is fragile for this team, and losing another opener versus a Power 5 program with games versus UCF, Miami and Virginia Tech among their next five contests means the Tar Heels can’t afford to hit the mid-point of the season with a losing record.
Considering they enter this week’s opener having gone 4-12 dating back to a loss at Duke on a Thursday night in November 2016, with the wins coming over The Citadel, Old Dominion, Pittsburgh and Western Carolina, UNC must get off to at least a decent start.
The talent is there but it’s mostly young and unproven. Thus, nobody really knows what will happen in Berkeley. But, it’s still a huge game, some say the biggest Fedora has ever coached given the many variables at play.
The Bears, under then-first year coach Justin Wilcox, started out last season 3-0 but dropped seven of their last nine games. They started UNC prep last Friday, wide receiver Jeremiah Hawkins told the media after Saturday’s practice.
“We’ve been really focusing on our opponents’ film watching their games from last year and just trying to get ahead of them,” he said. “Knowing what they’re going to do if we line up in this, if we move this way what their tendencies are. We’ve been watching film looking at the little things.”
Kickoff is at 4:00 pm Saturday and the game will air nationally on FOX, not FOX Sports, but the main FOX network.
