**************************************************************************************
***************************************************************************************
North Carolina’s 2022 football schedule was formally released by the ACC on Monday night, and it includes six home games and six road games for the Tar Heels.
Carolina’s four nonconference opponents, as previously reported, are Florida A&M and Notre Dame at home, and Georgia State and Appalachian State on the road. UNC’s ACC breakdown is as follows: Home games versus Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, and NC State; and its league road games are at Duke, Miami, Wake Forest, and Virginia.
Nine of UNC’s 12 games will be played in the state of North Carolina. One will be in Virginia, one in Georgia, and one in Florida. The game versus the Hurricanes is Carolina’s only contest that is more than a six-hour drive from Chapel Hill. UNC has two opens dates on Sept. 17 and Oct. 22.
Due to COVID changing the 2020 schedule, ACC Coastal Division foes Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech will be inside Kenan Stadium this fall for the first time since the 2018 season. So, UNC has not yet hosted either during Mack Brown’s second stint at the helm.
The Tar Heels’ crossover opponents from the Atlantic Division are NC State, as always, and Wake Forest. UNC and Wake have also played a home-and-home nonconference series in recent years, with the Demon Deacons winning in Winston-Salem in 2019 and UNC winning the game last November in Chapel Hill.
Carolina and Wake played in a league matchup in 2020, as the conference put together an ACC slate late in the process, after the regular schedules were scrambled due to COVID issues.
UNC will open the season with all four of its nonconference games, hosting Florida A&M on Aug. 27 before consecutive road games at Appalachian State on Sept. 3 and at Georgia State on Sept 10. The Tar Heels are open the weekend of Sept. 17 before hosting Notre Dame on Sept. 24.
Carolina dives into ACC play by welcoming Virginia Tech on Oct. 1, and from that point on, it’s all conference games for the Tar Heels. Noteworthy: UNC travels to Duke on Oct. 15 and hosts NC State on Nov. 25.
As for the nonconference games, the Tar Heels have never met FAMU before, and this will be UNC’s third meeting with App State. Carolina won the first matchup in 1940, but the in-state schools didn’t meet again until 2019, when the Mountaineers claimed a 34-31 victory in Chapel Hill. This will be UNC’s first ever trip to Boone.
Carolina clobbered Georgia State a year ago, 59-17, and will make the trip to GSU this season for the first time. The Panthers play in Center Parc Stadium, formerly known as Ted Turner Field, which was the home of the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball team from 1997-2016. It also served host Olympic stadium for the 1996 summer Olympic games.
The Tar Heels and Fighting Irish have met each of the last two seasons and three of the last five, with Notre Dame winning each contest. The Irish also visited Chapel Hill in 2008, a game won by the Tar Heels. In addition, UNC visited South Bend in 2006 and 2014, and before that, the programs hadn’t played since 1975.
Interestingly, after opening at home Aug. 27, UNC plays just three games at Kenan Stadium over the next 82 days, and between hosting Virginia Tech on Oct. 1 and Georgia Tech on Nov. 19, a span of 49 days, the Tar Heels have just one home game.
UNC is coming off a 6-7 season that included the Tar Heels finishing 3-5 in the ACC and losing the Duke’s Mayo Bowl to South Carolina.
UNC's 2022 Football Schedule
Aug. 27 – Florida A&M
Sept. 3 - @ Appalachian State
Sept. 10 - @ Georgia State
Sept. 17 - Open
Sept. 24 – Notre Dame
Oct. 1 – Virginia Tech
Oct. 8 - @ Miami
Oct. 15 - @ Duke
Oct. 22 – Open
Oct. 29 – Pittsburgh
Nov. 5 - @ Virginia
Nov. 12 - @ Wake Forest
Nov. 19 – Georgia Tech
Nov. 25 – NC State (Friday)
