North Carolina will play in its first major bowl game in 71 years when the No. 13 Tar Heels face Texas A&M in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Jan. 2, 2021.

At 8-3 and coming off a 62-26 rout at then-No. 10 Miami on Dec. 12, UNC went into this weekend’s ACC championship game pulling for Clemson to knock off Notre Dame, in which conventional wisdom suggested would get both the Tigers and Fighting Irish in the College Football Playoff.

Carolina may have had to sweat it out a little, though, as Clemson routed Notre Dame, 34-10, triggering national conversation that the Irish didn’t belong in the CFP. But, both ACC teams got in freeing up UNC for the Orange Bowl, which went to the next highest rated ACC team in the CFP poll.

For UNC, the last time it played in a major bowl game was in legendary Tar Heel Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice’s senior year, as the 1949 Heels fell to Rice in the 1950 Cotton Bowl.

Since, Carolina has played in 31 bowls, with seven trips to the Gator Bowl and five trips to the Peach Bowl being the most prestigious games in which the Tar Heels have participated.

UNC will face an Aggies team that just missed making the CFP. At 8-1, A&M’s only loss was 52-24 at Alabama in its second game of the season. Since, the Aggies have won seven consecutive games, including victories over Florida, which lost a competitive game to No. 1 Alabama in the SEC championship Saturday, and at 6-4 Auburn by 11 points.

UNC Coach Mack Brown led UNC to consecutive Gator Bowls in his final two seasons in Chapel Hill in 1996 and 1997, and then in 16 seasons at Texas, he led the Longhorns to seven major bowls, winning one national championship and losing in another title game.

A&M is coached by former Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher, who lost his last two meetings versus UNC when he was with the Seminoles in 2010 and 2016.

The Orange Bowl is played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL, site of UNC’s thrashing of the Hurricanes just last week. The game will kick off at 8 pm.