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Bowl season is underway, and the North Carolina Tar Heels and the South Carolina Gamecocks will compete for postseason bragging rights in the Duke's Mayo Bowl at Bank of America Stadium at 11:30 a.m. ET on Thursday. Given that these two teams suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this game.
UNC was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap four weeks ago as they fell 34-30 to the NC State Wolfpack. A silver lining for the Tar Heels was the play of QB Sam Howell, who passed for one TD and 147 yards on 26 attempts in addition to rushing for two TDs and 98 yards.
The UNC defensive unit accumulated six sacks for a loss of 38 yards. Leading the way was LB Tomon Fox and his 2.5 sacks. Fox now has 6.5 sacks through 12 games.
Meanwhile, the night started off rough for USC four weeks ago, and it ended that way, too. They suffered a grim 30 to nothing defeat to the Clemson Tigers. The Gamecocks were down 20 to nothing at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
The Tar Heels are the favorite in this one, with an expected 9-point margin of victory. Those who got lucky with them against the spread four weeks ago might want to hold off on placing bets this time since the squad has yet to string together back-to-back wins against the spread.
A couple defensive stats to keep an eye on: UNC is 218th worst in the nation in passing touchdowns allowed, with 25 on the season. The Gamecocks have experienced some struggles of their own as they are stumbling into the matchup with the 168th most rushing touchdowns allowed in the nation, having given up 17 on the season. It's possible one of these Achilles' heels will wind up tripping the losing team up.
