Following the loss to TCU Monday night, the Tar Heels had to regroup quickly so that they could prepare for their second game this week. They have arrived in Charlotte to face off against the 49ers in hopes of winning their first game of the season, but undoubtedly this game will have its challenges. Conner Harrell is a familiar quarterback that the team will go up against, but also he may not be very familiar to a number of players because of how many new guys UNC has, coaches included. Will Harrell win against his former
team, or will the Heels put away the 49ers in hopes of getting everything back on track? We will find out soon enough.
At the time of writing, it is worth mentioning that weather is delaying the game to 7:30PM/ET so long as there are no more lightning strikes. After a lot of pleasant, cooler weather in North Carolina, Mother Nature decided that a weekend full of football needed a rather obnoxious interruption. The radar doesn’t look great, but hopefully there will be more lightning within the next hour so that we can get this show on the road.
The big question for the Tar Heels is whether or not Gio Lopez is healthy enough to go today, and nobody seems to know the answer so far. Charlotte Observer’s Hunter Bailey shared a picture of the depth chart, and it did say that Lopez is listed as the starter, so it could be that he will suit up tonight.
It’s also notable that Lopez was spotted warming up a few moments ago:
Hopefully we get to see more of Lopez tonight because we really didn’t get a solid feel for what he is able to do as a quarterback against TCU. I’ll refrain from getting too deep into that bag, but let’s just say that I hope that Freddie Kitchens doesn’t call this game the same way that he called the one Monday night. The predictability of the play-calling certainly felt like part of why they struggled against the Horned Frogs, and it would make for a very frustrating night if we saw more of the same playbook. It’s always important to win the line of scrimmage, but at some point you just have to start attacking through the air. Hopefully they have learned that lesson.
As always, we will be back after the game with post-game analysis and takes. Until then, Go Heels!
