UNC Football vs Western Carolina: Game preview, info, prediction & more
UNC football program takes on Western Carolina Catamounts in penultimate regular season game
Mack Brown and the North Carolina football program welcome the Western Carolina Catamounts to town on Saturday afternoon with an outside shot at earning an invite to the Capital One Orange Bowl on January 2. That will, of course, require the Tar Heels to beat each of their two remaining opponents, and get some help along the way.
For the time being, though, the Tar Heels face an opponent that has played just two games this season, and enters the game as a 50-point underdog. The line is one of the largest in ACC football history, but it makes sense considering that the Catamounts have lost their first two games by a combined 76 points.
The Tar Heels, on the other hand, have won six of nine games this season, and just narrowly lost to the No. 2-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish last week. They’ve lost a couple of games this season that they’d hoped to win, and probably should have, but the program’s trajectory is undoubtedly trending up. A win against Western Carolina this weekend will get them one step closer to where they aim to be: in position to reach one of college football’s most coveted bowl games with a victory over the Miami Hurricanes.
Key to victory for UNC
The Tar Heels will have a much greater margin for error against the Catamounts than they did when they played the Irish last week. They should be able to do just about whatever they want on offense with the likes of Sam Howell, Michael Carter Jr., Javonte Williams, Dyami Brown and Dazz Newsome, among others. Howell is one of the nation’s best passers, Carter and Williams are both on pace to surpass 1,000 yards rushing this season, while Brown and Newsome have combined for nearly 1,500 yards and a dozen touchdowns in 2020.
They should be able to use a balanced attack of passing and rushing to keep the Catamounts off balance, and drive down the field for scores. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Tar Heels put three or four touchdowns on the board in the first quarter en route to a blowout victory over the winless Catamounts.
Something to watch for
Javonte Williams is just 104 yards away from 1,000 on the season, and has 18 total touchdowns. This is the kind of game that we could see Williams pad those stats, and strengthen his case for the Heisman Trophy. Not only that, but Williams continues to boost his stock for the 2021 NFL Draft, which we suspect the junior will put his name in at the completion of the season.
What you need to know
WHAT? Western Carolina Catamounts (0-2, 0-0 Southern) @ No. 17 North Carolina Tar Heels (6-3, 6-3 ACC)
WHEN? Saturday, December 5 at 12:00 p.m. EST
WHERE? Kenan Memorial Stadium – Chapel Hill, North Carolina
TV? ACC Network
RADIO? Tar Heels Sports Network
WEATHER? Partly cloudy with a chance of rain and 60 degrees
LINE? UNC -50
PREDICTION? UNC 56, Western Carolina 10
Next. Tar Heels schedule series with Big 10 program. dark
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