UNC Tar Heels and Gamecocks to play football series

Posted Thursday, September 8, 2005

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Carolina will host first game in 2007 and play in Columbia in 2010.

Chapel Hill, N.C. - The University of North Carolina has signed a contract to play a home-and-home football series with the University of South Carolina. North Carolina will play host to the Gamecocks on October 13, 2007, in Kenan Stadium and will visit Columbia on September 18, 2010. North Carolina and South Carolina have played 54 times with the Tar Heels holding a 34-16-4 advantage. The last meeting came in 1991 in Chapel Hill.

"Our football program is excited about adding South Carolina to our future schedule," says Director of Athletics Dick Baddour. "The NCAA rule that allows us to play a 12th game gave us an opportunity to get South Carolina back on the schedule. It's been 14 years since we last played in football and both schools agreed that was too long. We anticipate our players, coaches and fans will look forward to playing this series."

"I'm looking forward to the opportunity to play South Carolina in the future," says head coach John Bunting. "This is a game I have wanted on our schedule since I became head coach and I appreciate all the hard work Dick Baddour did to make this a reality. We are going to continue to strive to have a schedule that is both challenging and sensible as we continue to build this program."

North Carolina has also scheduled home games against 2004 Division I-AA national champion James Madison in 2007 and 2011. The Dukes finished 13-2 overall last season and beat Montana in the title game. Carolina will play host to James Madison on September 1, 2007 and September 3, 2011.

The Tar Heels were originally slated to play Colorado in 2007, but Colorado and North Carolina officials mutually agreed to move the game against Colorado in Chapel Hill from 2007 to 2009.

North Carolina's 2004 schedule was considered the most difficult in the country in 2004 by the Sagarin rankings. This past offseason, CBS Sportline ranked the Tar Heels' 2005 schedule as the nation's most difficult.