And because I am in no way willing to give Meineke free advertising this bowl will henceforth be called the Car Bowl on THF.
My initial response? It’s a bowl game and if the Heels win it will be a good finish to a strong second season under Butch Davis. Yes, the fortnight of missed opportunity which cost UNC a shot at the ACC title still sucks but I am satisfied with the place the program is at looking forward.
As much as there were still hopes the Heels would get a shot at a higher tier bowl it obvious the folks who run these bowls would rather take local teams available or in the case of the Gator Bowl, a team in Clemson who is not that terribly far away and known to travel. UNC is also a plum pickup for the Car Bowl since it is in Charlotte and attendance should be good.
UNC’s opponent will be West Virginia and mark the 3rd time this season UNC has played a Big East school having already dispatched Rutgers and UConn. It should be a good matchup. It is also important to remember that getting a bowl game means another extra month of practice other teams might not get. So winning the bowl game is nice but the key aspect is the ability to work with the underclassmen a little while longer looking towards next season.
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Don’t know which sounds worse, Meineke Car Care Bowl or the Continental Tire Bowl. In Butch’s second year, I’ll take any bowl, plus the three extra weeks of practice we have not had in years. P.S. Congrats to the Lady Tar Heels, NCAA women’s soccer champs yet again.
What is the Place/date/time of the bowl game?
Looking forward to the Car Bowl.
I’m trapped in the Charlotte airport todayand decided to read Charlotte Observer to burn some time. Two just great quotes from the sports page that I will share here for everyone, one from an article on the bowl games for North Carolina teams and another from Tom Sorensen’s column “my opinion”:
“The bowl will match two of the hottest teams in the nation.” – search your heart and it will answer, you want pepperoni on that?
“Major college football in the Carolinas is a swamp, and the candidate most likely to lead us to solid ground is not North Carolina’s Butch Davis, N.C. State’s Tom O’Brien or even Clemson’s Dabo. And as superb as Jim Grobe has been, he can’t take the Deacons any further than he has.
Despite being saddled with South Carolina, Spurrier is the only hope. But he won’t get there without imaginative play-calling and lots of points.” – Tom Sorensen
I just have no idea where Tom is coming from but clealy it is only his opinion without fact or analysis. I’m just lost on false Spurrier praise and how he saddled himself with South Carolina. Saddled himself, I didn’t see him step it up and head back to Durham. I don’t like Duke in way but if you want to talk about being saddled then I think we have a candidate in Cutclif. I really do dislike the majority of our local media coverage. Do we always have to get the Jerry Springer treatment, I know that controversy sells papers and gets phone calls for AM radio but it just gets old.
There I feel better. I feel even better when I think about how much better off the UNC football program is this season versus last. Go Heels!
Isn’t the Car Bowl better than the Tire Bowl?
All my life I have been waiting for the NCAA to have the guts to allow the one bowl we have all been waiting for, which pits the two most overrated teams of the year: this year maybe Clemson versus Wake Forest in the “Tidy Bowl”.
Will the NCAA ever give the fans what they really want?
Jim Groce, BadBadLeroyBrown. I think not only is this season better than last, but I expect next season to be equal, if not, better than this season. We are headed in the right direction. Up & coming high school kids will start to look at us now as a viable place to be. If we can keep this coach around for a while, I am convinced we will continue this trend.
J, I am convinced of the same. Butch has been an outstanding coach and we are in a great place. It’s exciting to see the players and the team get better and better but it’s even more fun to watch the fans believe in the program and shake the stadium when needed. I think the ND and UCONN games were great examples of the atmosphere we can have every week at UNC.
william,
What a bowl game at Lambeau Field hosted by Kohler… the Toilet Bowl.
My disapointment with the close games we lost and the suck game against State has lessened and I am able to look at “8 AND 4″ with a trip to a good bowl where 50,000 Tar Heel fans will be is pretty good considering where we were two years ago.
I think the additional practices will be beneficial to the young guys and hopefully this is a springboard for better things to come!
My goal for the season was 7-5 with a bowl game. 8-4 and a bowl game in Charlotte is more than satisfactory. However, the State game still leaves a bitter taste and puts a tinge of tarnish on what should otherwise be viewed as a successful 2nd season for Davis and Co.
I think Sorensen’s point is that only South Carolina has a focus that is foremost on football and this has been true since Donnie Walsh was forced out as assistant coach and chief recruiter for Frank Mcguire at USC in the mid-1970′s, up to which point USC’s basketball program was roughly on par with UNC’s. After McGuire lost Walsh the descent began. Bill Foster, hired away from Duke, couldn’t halt it and Eddie Fogler looked to be on track to do it but then either lost interest or simply couldn’t complete the job.
Once South Carolina had entered the SEC, the football focus apparently became permanent as they have hired two big name football coaches, apparently forgetting, that in spite of the fall from the days of McGuire, USC basketball has still been more competitive overall than USC football.
At Wake, State, Carolina and Duke, all of which have either won national titles in basketball or in the case of Wake, been to the Final Four once and Final Eight many times, football will never be as big as basketball. Wake had a football mini-bubble but it is petering out and now their basketball looks to be back.
I’m not thrilled about the Car Bowl. We should have gotten the nod for the Peach or the Gator.
I’m no conspiracy theorist, but a part of me thinks we got screwed out of a New Year’s Day bowl game because the basketball team plays on December 31st, and some bowl people were nervous that the fans would rather travel to Nevada on New Year’s Eve rather than watch the football team play. Maybe they’re right, maybe not.
With that being said, we haven’t had a bowl game in four years, so I’ll be happy. The good news is that my new 47-inch flat screen, hi def TV will be installed on the 16th, so the Mountaineers getting throttled by the Heels will look pretty sweet!
William,
Your points are well made but I think if we look closer at South Carolina there’s little evidence of success in almost any sport. Maybe by proxy that leaves them open to focus on football. That said I do agree they are very focused on football and it is the number one event for BAM members and alumni. I do think that UNC, Duke and NCSU as well as Wake are very focused on football with big commitments and a lot of money in play.
Just in case anyone was wondering, Mr. Fowler could certainly find a home at USC as it appears NCSU has been far more successful than the gamecocks. Amazing, I thought the dollars per victory and achievement at NCSU would be the lowest but nobody can get in front of the gamecocks. Here’s what I found:
“The Gamecocks have won six national team championships: 2002 NCAA championship in women’s track & field, 2005 & 2007 National Championship in women’s equestrian, and 2005-2007 Hunt Seat National Championships in women’s equestrian. Also, the men’s and women’s track & field teams have produced many NCAA individual champions, world championship medalists, and Olympic medalists. The men’s baseball and basketball teams have also produced Olympic medalists. Other significant accomplishments include: 2005 NCAA runner-up in women’s track & field; NCAA runner-up three times in baseball (2002, 1977, 1975); 1993 NCAA runner-up in men’s soccer; and 2005 & 2006 NIT championships in men’s basketball.”
Football – ACC championship in 1969.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Carolina_Gamecocks
Ew. I expected somethign a little better. I’m happy to be in a bowl at all of course but the car bowl? Again EW.