Tar Heels Open 2015 Thursday In Charlotte

September 3, 2015 | Football

By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHARLOTTE, N.C. --- North Carolina began training camp on Aug. 3 and after logging close to 30 practices in Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels are set to face border-rival South Carolina in college football's season opener on Thursday, Sept. 3. The contest will be televised by ESPN with a 6:01 p.m. kickoff from Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium, home of the NFL's Carolina Panthers.

The Tar Heels are led by record-setting signal caller Marquise Williams, who enters the season as a candidate for all the major quarterback awards. He set 18 school records last season and was one of just seven QBs in the country to lead his team in rushing and passing. The Charlotte native, who played at Mallard Creek High School, already owns the UNC career record for rushing yards by a quarterback, rushing touchdowns by a quarterback and is fifth all-time in career passing yards. He is surrounding by a deep receiving corps, a talented group of running backs and an experienced offensive line.

The Tar Heels have averaged more than 425 yards per game since head coach Larry Fedora's arrival in Chapel Hill in 2012 and will look to continue that streak for an unprecedented fourth-consecutive season in 2015.

On the other side of the ball, Carolina changed its entire defensive coaching staff from a year ago. Fedora brought in highly respected Gene Chizik, a two-time national championship coach who has a tremendous pedigree of success as a defensive coordinator. He will look to overhaul a defense that gave up nearly 500 yards and 40 points per game. The Tar Heels' base defense is now a standard 4-3.

AT A GLANCE
Records: North Carolina 0-0, South Carolina 0-0
Rankings: Neither team is ranked.
TV: ESPN. Joe Tessitore (play-by-play), Jesse Palmer (analyst), David Pollack (analyst) and Kaylee Hartung (sideline) have the call. ESPN will also feature a bonus Skycam feed that can be seen here.
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network (click to listen), a division of Learfield Communications. Jones Angell (play-by-play), Ethan Albright (analyst) and Lee Pace (sideline) have the call.
On The Web: GoHeels.com | UNC Notes | GamecocksOnline.com | USC Notes
Twitter: @TarHeelFootball, @CoachFedora | @GamecockFB | @SC_HBC
Fan Information: Tickets | Gameday/Parking Information

QUICK HITS
• The Tar Heels play nine of their 12 regular season games in the state of North Carolina in 2015. The only three games outside the state are at Georgia Tech (Oct. 3), at Pittsburgh (Oct. 29) and at Virginia Tech (Nov. 21). All four non-conference games are in North Carolina, including the season
opener vs. South Carolina on Sept. 3 in Charlotte.
• Marquise Williams is the only ACC quarterback with 35 TDs from last season returning in 2015. Williams threw 21 touchdown passes, rushed for 13 scores and even had a TD reception in 2014. Statistically, he was responsible for 34 touchdowns (the reception is credited to the QB), which tied Florida State's Chris Weinke for the ninth-best single-season mark in ACC history.
• UNC returns four players with at least 400 yards receiving in 2015 – Switzer (757), Hollins (613), Davis (470) and Howard (455). There are only 16 returning players in the ACC with at least 400 receiving yards.
• Carolina is one of just eight Power 5 teams to return all five offensive line starters. The Tar Heels return all-star candidate Landon Turner at right guard (28 career starts), Jon Heck at right tackle (24), Caleb Peterson at left guard (23), Lucas Crowley at center (13) and John Ferranto at left tackle (13).
• In six games with the starting offensive line in 2014, Carolina averaged 519 yards, 225 rushing yards and 42 points.
• Over the last three years, UNC has averaged 163.8 rushing yards per game. That is the best three-year average since 1993-95.
• Over the last three seasons, UNC leads the ACC with 18 non-offensive TDs. In 2014, the Tar Heels were second in the ACC in interception returns for touchdowns.
• Carolina has averaged more than 425 offensive yards per game in three straight seasons.
• Carolina ranked 18th in the country last year with 77.3 plays per game.
• Carolina had five different players throw touchdown passes last fall. No other team had as many. Starting quarterback Marquise Williams led the way with 21, followed by backup QB Mitch Trubisky with five, WR Quinshad Davis with one, WR Ryan Switzer with one and punter Tommy Hibbard with one.
• Carolina ranked 10th in nation in kickoff return defense last season (17.41 yards per return). Kickoff specialist Nick Weiler was second nationally in average kickoff distance.
• Carolina returns 99.5 percent of its total offense from a year ago.

SOUTH CAROLINA SERIES NOTES
• This is the third meeting in the last nine years between the Carolina schools with the Gamecocks riding a two-game win streak. The Tar Heels lead the overall series, 34-18-4.
• This is just the third neutral site meeting between the two schools and the first since a 1955 matchup in Norfolk, Va. (a 32-14 UNC victory). The other neutral site meeting came in 1910 in Durham, N.C. (a 27-6 UNC win).
• Once conference rivals in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the two schools met at least twice every decade from 1900-1980, but have met just four times since 1990. While members of the ACC (South Carolina left in 1971), the two schools played every year from 1953-70 with the exception of 1965 and
1966. In those 16 meetings as ACC opponents, North Carolina won nine times.
• Scholarship Tar Heels from South Carolina are senior wide receiver Quinshad Davis from Gaffney, true freshman linebacker Johnathan Sutton from Swansea and true freshman running back Ty'Son Williams of Sumter. Davis is tied with Hakeem Nicks for the UNC career record for touchdown receptions with 21.
• North Carolina reserve wide receiver Jordan Fieulleteau and South Carolina starting quarterback Connor Mitch played on the same Wakefield high school team in Raleigh. Fieulleteau was Mitch's favorite target as a senior catching 111 passes for 1,669 yards and 25 touchdowns.
• This will be Larry Fedora's third game against South Carolina as a head coach. In 2010, Fedora's Southern Miss squad lost 41-13 in the season opener in Columbia. In 2013, the Tar Heels lost in Columbia, 27-10. Fedora went 3-0 against South Carolina as an assistant at Florida (2002-04).
• South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier is 5-0 against the Tar Heels, including three wins as head coach at Duke (1987-89) and two as head coach of the Gamecocks (2007, 2013).
• South Carolina assistant coaches Deke Adams (defensive line) and Joe Robinson (special teams coordinator) have been assistants at North Carolina. Adams came with Larry Fedora from Southern Miss and coached the defensive line for one season before leaving for Columbia. Robinson was on the Tar Heels' 2011 coaching staff.
• North Carolina defensive coordinator Gene Chizik is no stranger to facing Spurrier and the Gamecocks. As head coach at Auburn from 2009-12, Chizik was 3-0 against South Carolina, including a 56-17 win in the 2010 SEC Championship Game.