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You’re likely frustrated if you are a Spectrum cable customer who can’t make it to Kenan Stadium for Saturday’s 5:15 UNC home football opener against Appalachian State. ACC Network, one of the 26 channels currently off Spectrum’s menu because of a carriage dispute between Charter Communications and Disney, will televise the game.
After an impressive defensive performance in an opening-game victory in Charlotte over South Carolina, North Carolina jumped four spots to No. 17 in the latest AP Top 25 football poll to continue the Tar Heels’ best early-season ranking stretch in 40 years.
In the first Top 20 NFHCA poll since North Carolina garnered the top preseason ranking, the Tar Heels fell to No. 2 in the poll released Tuesday morning. The Tar Heels rebounded from a 3–2 Aug. 27 home overtime loss to Iowa, their first setback since 2021, to sweep a pair of games last weekend at the ACC-Ivy Challenge in Philadelphia. UNC beat Penn 4–0, then knocked off Princeton 2–1 in overtime, dropping the Tigers from No. 10 to No. 15.
Mack Brown says college sports decision-makers make big moves with an eye on money, with little consideration of the other effects of the changes. The veteran North Carolina coach says that one of those times was Friday, when the ACC college presidents voted to add Stanford, Cal and SMU to the league over the objections of his school’s leadership.
Well, that was a pleasant surprise. UNC built a 17-point, third-quarter lead and then turned away their brethren from Lesser Carolina multiple times in the 4th quarter to leave Charlotte with a season-opening 31–17 win.
Coach Mack Brown and quarterback Drake Maye comment on UNC’s victory over South Carolina.
CHARLOTTE — Even without his best two wide receivers, talented redshirt sophomore quarterback Drake Maye still found a way. And UNC finally found a way to keep pressure on an opposing quarterback. Showing elusiveness and poise in the opener of likely his final college season, Maye led No. 21 North Carolina to a 31–17 opening-game victory Saturday for Coach Mack Brown’s 100th win as UNC’s head coach.
With Carolina’s opener with South Carolina in Charlotte coming up on Saturday night, Coach Mack Brown says they are still waiting to hear back from the NCAA about the status of wide receiver Tez Walker. It’s a tremendous source of frustration for Walker, a transfer from Kent State, and the entire program.
Remember the glory days of the classic ACC when it was eight teams, the league played a double round-robin in the regular season in basketball and the tournament lasted three days? Those days ended when the league raided the Big East in 2013. But that seems like ancient history after the ACC added Stanford, Cal and SMU on Friday for the 2024–25 school year.
CHAPEL HILL — Still grieving about Monday’s tragic campus shooting and processing the week’s events, the No. 4 North Carolina women’s soccer team tried to find joy on the pitch the evening after classes resumed. If only for two hours, Thursday night’s match against Gardner-Webb offered the Tar Heels players a distraction from the mental fatigue of what happened. Most of the players wore black wristbands in memory of professor Zijie Yan.
As ACC adds Stanford and Cal beginning in the 2024–25 school year, the first concern should be for the athletes who must routinely take cross-country flights while also being students. The travel sounds daunting because it is. But there are scheduling models that could make it easier.
With no news yet on Carolina’s appeal to the NCAA on Tez Walker’s status, Mack Brown says his coaching staff is preparing two game plans. With Walker, the Tar Heels would have one of the best wide receivers in the country with game-changing ability. UNC must adjust its approach if the Kent State transfer can’t play in Saturday’s 7:30 opener in Charlotte against South Carolina (ABC).
CHAPEL HILL — No. 3 Carolina continued its unyielding defensive ways and turned up the offense to match Sunday, thanks to one of the heralded members of the Tar Heels’ No. 1-ranked freshman class. Midfielder Evelyn Shores, playing in only her second game since recovering from an injury, came off the bench to earn a brace with two second-half goals in less than 2½ minutes and spark the Tar Heels’ 4–0 rout of No. 24 USC on a hot afternoon at Dorrance Field.
CHAPEL HILL — The transition from Erin Matson, one the best college field hockey players in the sport’s history, to Coach Erin is complete. As she leads many of her former teammates — including one who is older — the team calls the 23-year-old first-year head coach Erin. But there’s plenty of respect for Matson, whose top-ranked team beat No. 4 Michigan 3–2 Friday night in her coaching debut at Karen Shelton Stadium in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge before a record crowd.
CHAPEL HILL — The scoring chances kept coming for No. 3 Carolina down the stretch. But a player wearing light blue denied the Tar Heels repeatedly. The Tar Heels played well and were unrelenting on defense. But Wisconsin fifth-year goalkeeper Erin McKinney, clad in shorts and a jersey that were light blue, made terrific saves all afternoon as the teams played to a scoreless draw on a steamy Thursday afternoon at Dorrance Field.
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