One of the three ACC-SEC clashes during the first weekend of the college football season is a neutral site border war between the South Carolina Gamecocks and North Carolina Tar Heels. Kickoff is set for 3:30 EST on Saturday, August 31, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Oddsmakers view South Carolina as 7.5-point favorites with an over/under of 63 points. Be sure to check out all of this week’s college football betting odds.
At North Carolina, Mack is back! Over 20 years after leaving North Carolina to take the job at Texas, Mack Brown is back with the Tar Heels. Brown coached at UNC from 1988 to 1997 and has decided to leave the broadcast booth and return to Chappel Hill to get back into coaching at age 67.
Of course, he inherits a program in disarray. Larry Fedora took the Tar Heels to four bowl games in his first five seasons at Chapel Hill, including an ACC Coastal division title in 2015. But North Carolina has fallen on hard times, going 5-18 over the past two seasons, leaving it up to Brown to resurrect the program.
Meanwhile, South Carolina remains stable under Will Muschamp. The Gamecocks have been to a bowl game in all three of Muschamp’s seasons, going 22-17 during that span. However, after finishing second in the SEC East in 2017, the Gamecocks took a slight step back last season, finishing 7-6 and only managing one win over a team that went to a bowl game. But now that Muschamp has brought stability to South Carolina, it might be time for him to take them to the next level and starting competing for SEC championships.
The Battle of the Carolinas is not a yearly occurrence, enduring a long hiatus from 2007 to 2013. However, the teams have met three times since 2007 and are set to meet both this year and again in 2023 in Charlotte. While the Tar Heels own the series lead, the Gamecocks have won six of the last seven meetings, including a 17-13 win in Charlotte in 2015, which is the most recent meeting between the two schools.
A spread that’s half a point higher than a touchdown is just begging you to take the underdog. But I’m going to lean the opposite direction toward South Carolina. The Tar Heels probably aren’t ready to play a borderline top-25 team in their season opener. They’ll be a little out of their depth, and I think the Gamecocks will pull away in the second half and win by double digits. When in doubt, pick the SEC, right?
There are some interesting questions facing the UNC offense heading into the season. The strength of the unit is undoubtedly the running back tandem of Antonio Williams and Michael Carter. They shared duties last season, both rushing for over 500 yards and averaging over five yards per carry.
However, Brown wants to run a pass-heavy air raid offense, which could leave those two running backs underutilized. The Tar Heels will also be going with true freshman Sam Howell as the starting quarterback. Howell is no doubt talented, but facing an SEC defense in an NFL stadium for his first start could be a little daunting. More importantly, the Tar Heels are lacking bonafide stars at wide receiver, which isn’t going to help Howell in his debut.
Meanwhile, South Carolina might have their best defense of the Muschamp era. The Gamecocks have two stars at cornerback in Israel Mukuamu and Jaycee Horn, who will make it even more difficult for North Carolina to get the passing game going. The Gamecocks also have potential game-changers on the defensive line in D.J. Wonnum and Javon Kinlaw. The Tar Heels have a talented but inexperienced offensive line that might not be ready for the physicality the South Carolina defense will bring at the line of scrimmage.
On the other side of the ball, the Gamecocks have no questions at quarterback with senior Jake Bentley. To be fair, Bentley has struggled at times to protect the ball and face quality defensive teams. But North Carolina hardly qualifies as a quality defensive team. The Tar Heels may have some promise on that side of the ball, but it’s the kind of defense that Bentley should excel against.
The Gamecocks also have some capable skill players despite losing Deebo Samuel to the NFL. Leading rusher Rico Dowdle is back and has over 1,500 career rushing yards, so the South Carolina rushing attack should be reliable. Wide receivers Bryan Edwards and Shi Smith are also ready to help fill the void left by Samuel. The two combined for 100 catches and over 1,500 yards in 2018, so there’s no question that Bentley will be comfortable throwing to them.
Admittedly, this game is a little tough to call. There’s no telling what kind of impact Brown might have right away. The Tar Heels were also a little better last year than their record indicates. UNC was young and should see some improvement this season. But I don’t think they’re at South Carolina’s level, so I’ll look for the Gamecocks to cover the modest 7.5-point spread.