Tar Heel Football looks to finish season on "High Note"

Tar Heel Football looks to finish season on “High Note”

NC State v North Carolina

by Sharon Thorsland

It’s been a weird year for North Carolina football. The Tar Heels lost their starting quarterback in week one, endured a four game losing streak that included a 70–pound beat down by JMU, and saw Coach Mack Brown fired ahead of a season ending loss to rival NC State that dropped them to 6–6 on the year. Somehow the Tar Heels ended up hiring NFL legend Bill Belichick. He won’t coach UNC in their matchup with Connecticut in the Fenway Bowl, instead it will be interim/now assistant Freddie Kitchens running the show. Kick–off is set for 11am Saturday on WBT.

The Huskies have had a great season by their standards, finishing 8–4 on the year. They like to run the ball, although they’ll be down one of their top backs for this game. Durrell Robinson has entered the transfer portal, so sophomore Cam Ward will carry the load in this one. Ward has 756 yards and seven touchdowns on the season and has averaged over six yards per carry in each of the last three games.Mel Brown will take over for Robinson, he has 577 yards and two touchdowns on the year.The Huskies have used two quarterbacks this season, with senior Joe Fagnano and Wisconsin Nick Evers both playing on a regular basis. Fagnano is expected to start in this game, he’s thrown for 1,480yards and 18 touchdowns with just four interceptions. T.J. Sheffield leads the Huskies with 49 catches,and Skyler Bell is a big play threat, he’s averaging nearly 17 yards a catch with 783 yards and four touchdowns.While the Huskies have their team pretty much intact for this one, the Tar Heels will be missing plenty of players. Starting linebacker Amare Campbell (who has eight sacks on the season) and three starting offensive lineman have all opted out of the game. But the biggest name is still a question mark: running back Omarion Hampton has declared for the NFL draft but has not officially opted out of the game.Hampton basically is UNC’s offense, with 1,660 yards and 15 touchdowns on the season, he also leadsthe Tar Heels in receptions. If he doesn’t play, this could be a long day for UNC, as UConn’s defense has a talented front seven and has held nine of their opponents to under 28 points.UNC has won all three previous match ups with the Huskies, most recently in 2009, and on paper is favored once again, especially if Hampton plays. All four of UConn’s losses this season were to Power4 schools (Duke, Wake Forest, Syracuse and Maryland), and UNC should make it five.