Opener at Minnesota an Opportunity to Continue New Course

In the week leading up to Mack Brown’s first game back as North Carolina’s football coach, much of the narrative focused on UNC’s inability to beat power conference teams in season openers.

The Tar Heels had dropped 11 consecutive games opening seasons against opponents from power leagues, a stretch that started in 1999 with a home loss to Virginia. It ended 20 years later, when true freshman quarterback Sam Howell led the Tar Heels to a come-from-behind win over South Carolina in Charlotte.

Since, the Heels are 2-1 in openers against power programs, making them 3-1 in Brown part two. Not so coincidentally, his last two teams in stint number one also opened their seasons with wins over Clemson (45-0) and Indiana (23-6) at home. So, he is 5-1 in his last six Carolina openers versus programs from power conferences.

This will be put to test against August 29 when Carolina visits Minnesota to kick off the 2024 campaign. The Tar Heels beat the Golden Gophers 31-13 last season in Chapel Hill, and face a solid challenge this time around, as PFF ranks the Gophers 47th overall to start the season, projecting they will win seven games and reach a bowl game.

Incidentally, this is the first time Carolina has opened a season at a Big Ten program, though it has hosted Indiana (1997) and Michigan (1965) in season openers. Interestingly, a week after entertaining the Wolverines in 1965, UNC traveled to Ohio State.

So, Carolina’s game in Minneapolis is a big one on numerous levels, including notching a rare season-opening win over a power conference opponent, doing so on the road, and getting a win over a Big Ten team, against which UNC is currently 17-13 all time. Note, that doesn’t include when the Tar Heels played current Big Ten members before they were in that conference, such as Maryland, Rutgers, Nebraska, and USC.

Here is a list of UNC’s 11 consecutive losses to power conference teams followed by the four openers against power clubs in Brown part two:

1999 – L – Home to UVA 20-17

2001 – L – 41-27 at Oklahoma

2003 – L – Home to FSU 37-0

2005 – L – 27-21 at GT

2006 – L – Home to Rutgers 21-16

2010 – L – Vs. LSU 30-24

2013 – L – 27-10 at South Carolina

2015 – L – Vs. South Carolina 17-13

2016 – L – Vs. Georgia 33-24

2017 – L – Home to Cal 35-30

2018 – L – 24-17 at Cal

2019 – W – Vs. South Carolina 24-20

2020 – W – Home over Syracuse 31-6

2021 – L – At VT 17-10

2023 – W- Vs. South Carolina 31-17