North Carolina and N.C. State will both get an early turn in the 2013 college football season in the national spotlight.
In November, the Wolfpack, Tar Heels and Duke will all get a shot at each other on the field.
The ACC released the dates of the football schedule on Monday, it previously released the opponents. UNC will open the season at South Carolina on Aug. 29 on ESPN. The Tar Heels, who went 8-4 in Larry Fedora's first season in 2012, will also host another Thursday night game on ESPN.
Three Points from N.C. State's 76-65 loss at UNC:
1) C.J. Leslie, period.
Mark Gottfried tried benching C.J. Leslie and he tried letting him play through his problems on Saturday at the Smith Center.
Since he was hired 22 months ago, Gottfried has run through just about every option in the coach-player relationship handbook with Leslie. Gottfried calls Leslie "Calvin" instead of C.J., he has made him the primary option of the offense, he has coddled him and he has disciplined him.
For the most part, he has coaxed the best out of Leslie, who has led the team in scoring over the course of Gottfried's 64-game tenure.
Former UNC-Chapel Hill football player Michael McAdoo is asking the state's highest court to take up his claim that the NCAA improperly banned him from the team in 2010.
McAdoo's attorney, Noah Huffstetler, filed papers this week to petition the N.C. Supreme Court to order the case be reinstated for a trial. McAdoo, who now plays for the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL, contends the NCAA and UNC-CH did not follow proper procedures in kicking him off the team for receiving improper help from a tutor. The NCAA, for example, found McAdoo had received improper help in three classes, but the school's honor court found it only happened in one.
The honor court's ruling cost McAdoo his junior year on the team, a penalty he accepted, but he would have been allowed to come back for his senior season. He contends missing out on that season hurt his market value in going pro. He ended up signing with the Ravens as a free agent for the league minimum.
Last month, a three-judge panel with the N.C. Court of Appeals sided with a Superior Court judge's dismissal of McAdoo's case, finding he didn't have a claim because he achieved his goal of making the NFL and UNC-CH had not relinquished his scholarship. McAdoo does not have an automatic right to an appeal because the appellate court's decision was unanimous.
It is a case that could shine more light on the long-running academic fraud scandal at UNC-CH. All three of McAdoo's classes in the NCAA investigation were among the more than 200 that have been found to be lecture classes that never met, in which a paper was assigned and given a good grade with little evidence it was actually read by a professor. There is nothing in the court record to show the NCAA or UNC-CH's honor court were aware of the bogus classes, in which athletes were enrolled in significant numbers.
UNC-CH academic officials say they did not become aware of the bogus classes until after the NCAA had finished its investigation into improper financial benefits to football players from agents and improper help from the tutor and had sent a notice of allegations to the school.
Huffstetler's court papers make note of the academic fraud scandal in contending that the court should take up McAdoo's case.
North Carolina's weekend series against Stony Brook, scheduled to open at 3 p.m. on Friday, has been postponed. The series between the Tar Heels and Seawolves will open on Saturday at 2 p.m. and conclude with a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
North Carolina's weekend series against Stony Brook scheduled to open at 3 p.m. on Friday has been postponed. The series between the Tar Heels and Seawolves will open on Saturday at 2 p.m. and conclude with a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
And the letters keep coming on Gov. Pat McCrory's statements assailing the value of a liberal arts education. Here's a slightly edited batch of more than 20:
In addition to being for a good cause, these Infiniti Coaches' Charity Challenge commercials are actually pretty funny.
This one stars N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried and UNC's Roy Williams, and the voiceover is done by Duke's Mike Krzyzewski.
And unless, there was some serious high-tech editing (which is possible), it also appears that Gottfried and Williams actually got together to film the commercial (unlike the old "Guitar Hero" ad with Krzyzewski and Williams.)
There's more information on the Coaches' Charity Challenge at this web site.
RALEIGH — N.C. State's marketing campaign proclaims, "This is our State."
After Saturday's six-years-in-the-making win over North Carolina, it's at least the Wolfpack's Triangle. N.C. State handled the Tar Heels 91-83 in front of an electric, sold out crowd at PNC Arena.
With 20 points and 11 assists from junior guard Lorenzo Brown, No. 18 N.C. State ended a 13-game losing streak to the Tar Heels (13-6, 3-3 ACC), who had entered the game with 19 wins in 20 games in the series under coach Roy Williams.
N.C. State has lost 13 straight to North Carolina and 19 of 20 since coach Roy Williams replaced Matt Doherty in 2003.
For most of Williams' first nine seasons, UNC's wins have not been close, with the notable exception of the first game — a two-point UNC win in Chapel Hill — and the last one — a two-point UNC win in Atlanta in the ACC tournament.
Only five of the 19 losses have been by single digits, compared nine by 14 points or more. The average margin of victory for UNC in the 19 games is 13.2 points.
N.C. State has a short turn-around for Tuesday's trip to Wake Forest. The Wolfpack lost the back end of both of its two-games-in-three-days sets last season.
The Wolfpack beat Clemson 66-62 on Sunday at home and will play Wake Forest on Tuesday.
Last season, the Wolfpack beat Miami on Jan. 26 and then lost at UNC on Jan. 28. It then lost an emotional game at Duke on Feb. 16 and got flattened at home by Florida State on Feb. 18.
