UNC vs. Charlotte canceled: What to watch instead

We all thought we would spend today watching North Carolina take on Charlotte in UNC’s second game of the season, but alas the world had other plans. After a 49ers player tested positive for COVID-19, the game was canceled as announced on Thursday.

While every year has a bye week, we are now sitting here with an unexpected one. Some of you may decide to do something else with your newfound time. However, many of you will just try and find another game to watch. In light of this UNC-less week and as this was supposed to be your weekly “How to watch” post, here is a guide to some other games to watch this week.

12:00 PM ET

The most relevant from a UNC perspective in this time slot is probably the Syracuse-Pitt game. The Panthers are a team the Tar Heels could possibly be jockeying with for position in the ACC. Plus, we can get another data point in how to judge Syracuse and how good UNC’s performance against them was. That game can be watched on the ACC Network.

Another possible game to watch at noon is Oklahoma State-Tulsa as the Cowboys are a spot ahead of UNC in the rankings.

2:30 PM ET

Now we’re getting into games that would’ve been on while the Heels were. Starting at this time is Notre Dame-South Florida. While this is a non-conference game, it includes another team that UNC could battle with for an ACC title slot. Or if it goes like the last time these two met, we could have some fun schadenfreude. That game will air on the USA Network.

3:30 PM ET

After beating one Florida team least week, can Georgia Tech do it again when they take on UCF? We can also see if it’s a bit of good luck or bad luck on whether UNC doesn’t get to play the Golden Knights as originally scheduled. You can watch this on your local ABC affiliate.

6:00 PM ET

There are other games that will air around this time that may get more of you attention, but starting at this time will be a game featuring former UNC assistant Seth Littrell and his North Texas team. You can see them take on SMU on CBS Sports Network.

7:30 PM ET

We’ve already highlighted a lot of ACC games, but we’re going to have to do another one here as this is arguably the biggest game of the week. The lone game between two ranked teams will kick off at this time when Miami travels to Louisville to take on the Cardinals. This game gets the big night time slot on your local ABC affiliate.

After watching those games, you can close things out with a nightcap of UTEP and Abilene Christian on ESPN3, if you’re truly bored.

While UNC has had games canceled for different terrifying reasons in recent years, not seeing them on the field this weekend is going to be a bit of a weird one. Luckily there are some other games to check out this weekend, even if they don’t scratch that Carolina blue itch you have.