UNC will play South Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl

Tar Heel fans won’t have to travel far from Chapel Hill to watch Carolina play in a bowl game this year. The Tar Heels accepted an invitation from the Duke’s Mayo Bowl today. The game will be played on Thursday, December 30th at 11:30 AM in Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium.

It’s easy to lose track of how many names this particular bowl game has had, as Duke’s Mayo is the latest iteration of a game that’s been played in Charlotte since 2002, and Carolina will be playing in this game for the fifth time. They are 1-3 so far, but won the last time they played in it, 2013, defeating Cincinnati in Larry Fedora’s first bowl game for the Tar Heels.

The Tar Heels will face off against the Gamecocks of South Carolina. The Gamecocks surprised to a 6-6 record in the SEC in the first year for coach Shane Beamer, upsetting Auburn and absolutely obliterating Florida that started to spell the end of the Dan Mullen tenure. Beamer has mostly cobbled together a lineup with a multi-tiered rushing attack to get the Gamecocks back to a bowl game, and considering the success others have had running on the Tar Heels it should provide a good test for the front that had started to improve in that area by the end of the season.

If Sam Howell ends up playing the game-at this time the decision hasn’t been announced — it would mark a nice way to put a bow on his career as a Tar Heel. Howell began his Carolina life in Charlotte, against South Carolina, and led the Tar Heels to a thrilling comeback win in Mack Brown’s return to coaching. Even without Howell, the environment in Charlotte should be a good one with fans of both schools not having to travel far to watch.

If you aren’t already, now would also be a good time to follow the @DukesMayoBowl Twitter account, aka, the best Bowl Twitter Account on the web. For example:

The Bowl itself has a history of producing some fun moments. Some moments of the 2012 game appear in SVP’s “Bad Beats” opener, and last season saw Wisconsin celebrate their thrilling win by...breaking the trophy

It’s all good, though, they made another one, and no word that this will be the new look of the trophy this season:

It’s also worth noting that people last year were hoping against hope to see mayo poured on the winning coach. That didn’t happen, and the folks overseeing the Duke’s Mayo Bowl have decided to up the ante:

Info about tickets can be found here, if you’re in the Ram’s Club or a football season ticket hold you should have an email. Any tickets left will go on sale to the general public on Thursday.

As we get closer to the game, Tar Heel Blog will keep you up to date with the players who decide to opt out, and give you a preview of the game!