Whether you are ready or not, the Tar Heels are back in action tonight to face off against Cal. While this game is starting at 7:30 PM Pacific time, which is a great local time for a football game, us here in North Carolina will likely be up until almost 1 AM watching this game. This would be more bearable if we knew that it would be worth it, but at the time of writing, we have no clue. Such is life.
Getting back on track, the Tar Heels are coming off their second bye week of the season, and media
members on social media are saying that Gio Lopez is allegedly returning to action. I haven’t been able to confirm this at the time of writing, but it does track with the fact that he has been practicing this week. His return is welcome to the Carolina faithful, but of course the hope is that he will be able to bring some kind of spark back with him. Things didn’t improve or get worse with Max Johnson in his place, it just felt like we were watching someone different is really all it felt like. Hopefully Lopez finds a way to separate himself, because it seems like Bill Belichick refuses to play Bryce Baker or one of the other young guys no matter how bad the quarterback situation gets.
What could play in Carolina’s favor is the fact that Cal isn’t exactly a premier ACC opponent to this point in the season. They currently have a 4-2 record, but their wins haven’t been against anybody special. This obviously doesn’t mean that they are as bad as the Heels have been, but it does mean that maybe Carolina stands a bit more of a chance in this one. What was fascinating is that the betting line for this game tilted two points in UNC’s favor, and why that happened is anybody’s guess. Maybe Vegas saw that Lopez could be returning? Who knows.
For those of you that are willing to stay up late to watch this game, you deserve a medal. Hopefully you all will hang out with us for this one so that we can either rage or celebrate together. As always, we will be back after the game with post-game analysis and takes. Until then, Go Heels!
