By R.L. Bynum
Carolina’s football season will end right where it started, at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium.
The Tar Heels (8–4) will play in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 27, (ESPN) against West Virginia (8–4), after opening the season with a 31–17 victory over South Carolina in Charlotte.
It’s the second time in three seasons that UNC has played in that bowl after losing 38–21 to South Carolina in 2021.
“We’re excited to be headed to Charlotte to play in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl,” Carolina coach Mack Brown said. “The good people with the Charlotte Sports Foundation do a great job with the game and all the events during the week. We’re looking forward to diving into bowl practice, heading to Charlotte, and taking on a tough West Virginia team later this month.”
Now that UNC, in a bowl for the fifth consecutive seaosn, knows its bowl destination, the question is whether players opt out of the game and who decides to skip the game.
The Duke’s Mayo Bowl is supposed to match an ACC team and an SEC team. But because the SEC doesn’t have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all its slots, the game bartered a deal to bring West Virginia out of the Big 12 Conference to Charlotte.
This will be the third meeting between the Tar Heels and the Mountaineers, with the teams splitting two earlier bowl matchups, including West Virginia’s 31–30 victory in 2009 at the Charlotte bowl. UNC won in the Gator Bowl on New Year’s Day after the 1995 season 20–13.
West Virginia, who went 6–3 in the Big 12 to finish in a three-way time for fourth place, played a tough schedule, losing at Penn State 38–15 in its season opener and 59–20 at Oklahoma.
West Virginia and UNC beat Pittsburgh in successive weeks. The Mountaineers won 17–6 at home on Sept. 16 against the Panthers, then the Tar Heels earned a 41–24 victory on Sept. 23 in Pittsburgh.
Mountaineers junior quarterback Garrett Greene, 5–11, 202 pounds, was 135 of 254 for 2,178 yards, 15 touchdowns and only four interceptions. His top passing targets are redshirt senior wide receiver Devin Carter (27 catches, 501 yards, two TDs), an N.C. State transfer from Clayton, and junior tight end Kole Taylor (33 catches, 411 yards, four TDs), who made second-team All-Big 12.
Sophomore running back C.J. Donaldson Jr. had 171 carries for 820 yards and 11 touchdowns.
The only Mountaineers to make first-team All-Big 12 were junior offensive lineman Zach Frazier and senior defensive back Beanie Bishop Jr. Making second team in addition to Taylor was junior offensive lineman Wyatt Milum.
Head coach Neal Brown is in his fifth season at West Virginia after coaching for four seasons at Troy. His Mountaineers teams are 1–1 in bowls, beating Army 24–21 in the 2020 Liberty Bowl and losing 18–6 to Minnesota in the 2021 Guaranteed Rate Bowl. The Mountaineers rebounded after going 5–7 in 2022.
UNC is 1–4 in the Charlotte bowl that has had several corporate names. In addition to the 2021 loss to South Carolina and 2008 loss to West Virginia, the Tar Heels played in that game in 2013 (39–17 win over Cincinnati), 2009 (19–17 loss to Pittsburgh) and 2004 (37–24 loss to Boston College).
Carolina is 15–22 in bowl games. This will be the 27th bowl game for Brown, who is 15–11 in postseason games.
The ACC matched a league-high with 11 teams going to bowls that it set in 2018.
The game doesn’t conflict with any games in other sports, with the only other game that week being the 8 p.m. Friday night home men’s basketball game against Charleston Southern.
Rams Club members and season-ticket holders will receive an email Sunday night from the UNC Athletic Ticket Office with information on requesting tickets. Ticket requests must be made by 5 p.m. Friday. If tickets in UNC’s allotment remain after the request period, those will go on sale to the public.
UNC vs. West Virginia
Jan. 1, 1996, at Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla.: North Carolina 20, West Virginia 13
Dec. 27, 2008, at Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte: West Virginia 31, North Carolina 30
ACC bowl schedule
UNC schedule
| Month/ date | Opponent/event | 2023 record | UNC record in series |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | |||
| 20 | Spring game, 3 p.m. | — | — |
| August | |||
| 29 (Thurs.) | at Minnesota | 6–7 | 1–0 |
| September | |||
| 7 | Charlotte | 3–9 | 0–0 |
| 14 | N.C. Central | 9–3 | 0–0 |
| 21 | James Madison | 11–2 | 3–0 |
| 28 | at Duke | 8–5 | 65–40–4 |
| October | |||
| 5 | Pittsburgh | 3–9 | 12–5 |
| 12 | Georgia Tech | 7–6 | 22–33–3 |
| 26 | at Virginia | 3–9 | 66–58–4 |
| November | |||
| 2 | at Florida State | 13–1 | 3–17–1 |
| 16 | Wake Forest | 4–8 | 72–36–2 |
| 23 | at Boston College | 7–6 | 6–2 |
| 30 | N.C. State | 9–4 | 68–39–6 |
Photo via @UNCFootball
tarheeltribune.com 
