UNC confirmed Middle Tennessee State this AM:

At South Carolina (Aug. 29)
MTSU (Sept. 7)
ECU (Sept. 28)
ODU (Oct. 12)

MTSU will be a good game. They ran all over Ga Tech last year.

Not sure how that makes it a good game for us.

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--- goheels7777 wrote:

MTSU will be a good game. They ran all over Ga Tech last year.

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My point is, I like when we play decent teams instead of playing Elon, or Idaho.


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--- bartholemew wrote:

Not sure how that makes it a good game for us.

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--- goheels7777 wrote:

MTSU will be a good game. They ran all over Ga Tech last year.

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Repayment by Fedora for the OC job he had there.

So we are still calling game at Columbia East a Thursday game? Any confirm from ESPN?

We could be 4-0 with the non-conference schedule but definitely 2-2. Since MTSU gave Ga.Tech some problems and Ga.Tech outscored us. I would error on the side of caution that we would be 3-1.

Middle Tennessee also lost to McNeese State. This is NOT a good home schedule this year--probably the worst I can ever remember. I understand that this schedule was out of Bubba's hands given the timing of his hiring and the stipulation that he had to get a 7th home game, but going forward, more planning can prevent back to back years of crappy OOC schedules at home. You can already foresee this in 2015. I hope someone is on it.

IMO, it's okay in even years to have a crappy home OOC schedule because we will always get State, GT and VT at home which are three good contests that our fanbase cares about. However, in odd years, there is really only Miami that anyone cares about and when they are down (dook and UVa are the other Coastal matchups at home in odd years), you had better have a Notre Dame or an Ohio State or someone to offset the crappy ACC slate to sell season tickets. I would like to see us add Notre Dame in 2015 at home if possible or land FSU in the Atlantic rotation or else we are going to have the same issue in 2015 as well...

Scheduling is all about balance. No one should be advocating playing three OOC juggernauts because there is no advantage in doing so and no one should be playing four cupcakes because we won't sell 30K season tickets if we do...

When does the OSU series start?

Originally it was at Ohio State in 2015 and in BKS in 2017, but the game in Columbus got moved to 2018. IMO, this was not a good move for the realization of these games, but I do like to see the home game in an odd year. My guess is Fedora and/or Meyer saw little benefit to playing such a game OOC in 2015 which kind of begs the question why 2018 would be any better. This series was crafted by Butch, Tressel, Baddour, and whoever Ohio State's AD is so with new guys in at least three of those four critical positions, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the three felt that his program would be better served to get OUT Of the series. Just guessing, but it's not that hard to do that especially if there is mutual agreement and there is no financial obligation to do so. New staffs have different goals and for UNC to play someone like an Ohio State while still on probation could have been something that Fedora wasn't too keen on. Maybe Meyer felt the same way?

I like to play good teams, but only if they are perceived as good teams. If you play non-BCS teams that beats you or makes it close, then it hurts you A LOT perception-wise. Much better to play an Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa State or Colorado (who may actually be easier games and are at least BCS level) or just step up and play a decent BCS team IMO.

Beating MTSU doesn't win you much more acclaim than beating Idaho, but losing to them hurts a ton and even winning a close game hurts you.

That said, not sure we had a lot of options here (and I'm not sure that MTSU is actually that good as much as GT is just inconsistent and very bad when the option isn't clicking for them... plus this is next year).

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--- goheels7777 wrote:

My point is, I like when we play decent teams instead of playing Elon, or Idaho.


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--- bartholemew wrote:

Not sure how that makes it a good game for us.

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--- goheels7777 wrote:

MTSU will be a good game. They ran all over Ga Tech last year.

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I agree, give me a home and home with IU or UK any day.

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--- CornbreadandCollards wrote:

...I understand that this schedule was out of Bubba's hands given the timing of his hiring and the stipulation that he had to get a 7th home game, but going forward, more planning can prevent back to back years of crappy OOC schedules at home...

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I may be wrong, but iirc Larry Gallo has been the one doing the leg-work on scheduling for quite a few years. Certainly, Bubba and Larry Fedora have final say on football schedules, but since Gallo has been here for years doing this, I'd guess that Bubba's hiring was NOT the reason for any lack of planning for 2013.

And I also recall that with the ACC expanding to 14 next year, the initial plan was to go to 9 conference games. So at the time they were in discussions about the Minnesota series going away, they probably weren't thinking they needed an extra game as a replacement.

MTSU may be decent, but that isn't the perception. Attendance will be poor (especially being a noon start in early September million degree weather) and we will be in a no-win situation. Win a blowout and it was expected. Win a close game and we look bad. Lose and we look really bad.

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--- goheels7777 wrote:

My point is, I like when we play decent teams instead of playing Elon, or Idaho.


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--- bartholemew wrote:

Not sure how that makes it a good game for us.

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--- goheels7777 wrote:

MTSU will be a good game. They ran all over Ga Tech last year.

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Heck, as long as we feel we need to schedule a "sure win" (not that those all work out), let's play Yale.

Our all-time record vs. Yale is 0-7. Time to get revenge.

Granted, it's been a while. All seven games were in New Haven, 1919-24, and 1944. They owe us a return game in Chapel Hill, right?

We will go 3-1 out of conference barring a total complete let down. This to me is not nearly as important as winning the Coastal Division. VT will be back and very upset, and motivated. 7-1 wins the Coastal next season. 6-2 will need help with tie breakers. Miami, @GT, @NCSU, and @VT will all be crucial.

If we can block Clowney next season I think we can beat Souther Clumbus. They are going to have a tough time on defense if we block them. If our quick passing game turns into more time for Bryn later in the game, it will be tough for the hens. It could prove to be a good thing playing them early or a bad thing.. Can we be fluid on offense in game 1? I think this game won't showcase a lot. I think it could be ugly. Not a pretty game to watch... Maybe im wrong and theres a long way to go before the game. I just hope we win.. Be nice to win that game. Huge statement win. ESPN would slobber all over us

Worst home schedule ever I agree

Won't help attendance one iota.

Thats okay-it is better than many SEC OOC schedules


GO HEELS

This completely sux. We pay good money for tickets to these games and ODU and MTSU are complete wastes of games. You wont be able to get $10 if you try and sell these. And with bad games we will get early kick off times and roast in Kenan for MTSU. ECU is ok IMO because of local flavor and actually, the Pyrats should be pretty decent this fall.

But, please schedule the SEC and Big 10 (not Minn either) or Big 12.

play the early crappy games at night. good times in kenan.

SC's site still has that game on Aug. 31

This disagreement over the SC game date is odd. Either it's been set or it has not. Which us it?

This is why I hated us playing the MAC teams and Navy back in the '80's...the win means nothing, but a loss is catastrophic. The loss of a player for the season makes it even worse!

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--- ProfessorSmith wrote:

I like to play good teams, but only if they are perceived as good teams. If you play non-BCS teams that beats you or makes it close, then it hurts you A LOT perception-wise. Much better to play an Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa State or Colorado (who may actually be easier games and are at least BCS level) or just step up and play a decent BCS team IMO.

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--- goheels7777 wrote:

My point is, I like when we play decent teams instead of playing Elon, or Idaho.


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--- bartholemew wrote:

Not sure how that makes it a good game for us.

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--- goheels7777 wrote:

MTSU will be a good game. They ran all over Ga Tech last year.

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The interest in playing UNC has to be reciprocated also. We have had teams in the past dodge us because they didn't want to play an opponent who was good but was not perceived to be good (Tennessee) and there are probably schools who have no desire whatsoever to play a home and home series with us. I agree with the mid to low-level BCS opponents that we could play in these kinds of series, but for the other kind of series with 1-A opponents (that don't require a trip at their place), the schools really need to come from CUSA, Sun Belt or the MAC. We got lucky with Idaho, but I am betting the travel cost of Ohio or Middle Tennessee is low enough to justify a pay day game in Kenan.

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--- UNCbiz wrote:

This disagreement over the SC game date is odd. Either it's been set or it has not. Which us it?

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Three parties in on the decision making: SCar, UNC, and ESPN.

ESPN assured SCar in 2010 when they wanted UNC to play LSU in the Kickoff Classic that they would feature a rescheduled UNC-SCar game on a Thursday night.

I think SCAR since then have changed their mind, and are not interested in hosting a Thursday night game- and would rather play it on Saturday.

ESPN owns the rights to the game, and it will ultimately some down to what they want. I still expect ESPN is going to showcase this game on Thursday night to kick off its schedule.

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--- MFC Heel wrote:



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--- UNCbiz wrote:

This disagreement over the SC game date is odd. Either it's been set or it has not. Which us it?

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Three parties in on the decision making: SCar, UNC, and ESPN.

ESPN assured SCar in 2010 when they wanted UNC to play LSU in the Kickoff Classic that they would feature a rescheduled UNC-SCar game on a Thursday night.

I think SCAR since then have changed their mind, and are not interested in hosting a Thursday night game- and would rather play it on Saturday.

ESPN owns the rights to the game, and it will ultimately some down to what they want. I still expect ESPN is going to showcase this game on Thursday night to kick off its schedule.

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That is my read on the situation as well. With big games already on the docket for that Saturday and specifically Saturday night (VT/Alabama?, maybe another?), it would be in ESPN's best interest to have it on another night. SCar probably views it as being JV Thursday (I have heard some SEC folks call ACC games on Thursday night as "JV Thursday" or something like that). Honestly, I'd probably prefer it to be on Thursday so I don't waste my entire weekend in Columbia, SC no less. Gotta be at night though or I'm probably going to sit this one out. If there is a hell, Columbia, SC in late August is it at least during the daytime. Give me a night time kickoff and allow me to drink a few adult beverages beforehand and I'll be good to go.

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--- CornbreadandCollards wrote:



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--- MFC Heel wrote:



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--- UNCbiz wrote:

This disagreement over the SC game date is odd. Either it's been set or it has not. Which us it?

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Three parties in on the decision making: SCar, UNC, and ESPN.

ESPN assured SCar in 2010 when they wanted UNC to play LSU in the Kickoff Classic that they would feature a rescheduled UNC-SCar game on a Thursday night.

I think SCAR since then have changed their mind, and are not interested in hosting a Thursday night game- and would rather play it on Saturday.

ESPN owns the rights to the game, and it will ultimately some down to what they want. I still expect ESPN is going to showcase this game on Thursday night to kick off its schedule.

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That is my read on the situation as well. With big games already on the docket for that Saturday and specifically Saturday night (VT/Alabama?, maybe another?), it would be in ESPN's best interest to have it on another night. SCar probably views it as being JV Thursday (I have heard some SEC folks call ACC games on Thursday night as "JV Thursday" or something like that). Honestly, I'd probably prefer it to be on Thursday so I don't waste my entire weekend in Columbia, SC no less. Gotta be at night though or I'm probably going to sit this one out. If there is a hell, Columbia, SC in late August is it at least during the daytime. Give me a night time kickoff and allow me to drink a few adult beverages beforehand and I'll be good to go.

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Supposedly when the SEC schedule was released a couple of weeks ago, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt had expressed interest in moving their season opener to Thursday night, so I'm guessing ESPN is weighing their options at the moment. As for Saturday's slate, VT/Alabama will probably end up on ABC, and LSU/TCU at Cowboys Stadium will end up on one of the ESPN channels at night as well. Miss. St. vs. Okla. St. in Houston is a candidate for primetime, as is the Georgia/Clemson game, so that 1st weekend is loaded with big matchups.

Further complicating matters is the fact that espn2 usually is showing a Nascar Nationwide series race in primetime on that Saturday, taking away one time slot. A couple of those games are going to have to get shifted to the afternoon....cross your fingers that the game in Houston (with their retractable roof) is one of them, and not UNC's (or Clemson's, those folks have been railing about a disparity in home/road night games for the past 5 years)