In most cases, a regular-season finale between two teams with a combined 11 wins wouldn’t be too compelling.
That’s hardly the case on Saturday in Chapel Hill, N.C., where North Carolina’s Mack Brown coaches his final home game against rival North Carolina State.
The university announced Tuesday that Brown, 73, will not return next season, despite Brown telling reporters on Monday he planned to be back in 2025.
“While this was not the perfect time and way in which I imagined going out, no time will ever be the perfect time,” Brown said in a statement. “We’ve had the chance to coach and mentor some great young men, and we’ll miss having the opportunity to do that in the future. … We want to send these seniors out right and I hope our fans will show up Saturday to do the same.”
In addition to the emotionally charged atmosphere at Kenan Stadium for the host Tar Heels (6-5, 3-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), the Wolfpack (5-6, 2-5) desperately need a victory to become bowl eligible.
A loss to North Carolina would mark just the third losing season for the Wolfpack since Dave Doeren took over in 2013. NC State is coming off a 30-29 defeat at Georgia Tech in which the Yellow Jackets regained the lead with 22 seconds left on an 18-yard run by Aaron Philo.
True freshman CJ Bailey has completed 63.7 percent of his passes for 1,941 yards and 12 touchdowns with eight interceptions. Bailey has also rushed for 201 yards and five touchdowns.
With three straight wins over the Tar Heels, Doeren knows how significant a fourth would be, especially considering it would send the Wolfpack to a bowl game and end Brown’s tenure on a sour note.
“I’m a little different,” Doeren said. “I guess I don’t treat it as a normal game. … It’s something that matters deeply. Not just to Dave Doeren. It matters a lot to the former players. It matters a lot to the alumni, to the donors, to the administration. It’s not that the other games don’t matter. They do, but this one runs deeper.”
