Larry's CFB Eye-Opener
(NCAAF) North Carolina vs. Appalachian State, 09/03/2022 12:00 PM, Score: 63 - 61
Point Spread: 1.00 | -107.00 Appalachian State (Home)
Result: Loss
My 9* Eye Opener is on Appalachian St at 12:00 ET.

North Carolina (1-0) comes in off 56-24 home drubbing of FAMU, while Appalachian St will be playing its season opener. Mack Brown did an excellent job making North Carolina 'more than just a basketball school' back in the 1990s but then left for Texas. He would go 158-48 in his 16 years at Austin, leading the Longhorns to 15 bowl games. He posted 10 or more wins in NINE consecutive seasons (from 2001-09), famously winning the 2005 national championship over a great USC team. However, Texas would go just 30-21 from 2010 through 2013 and Brown resigned. He stepped away for five years but returned to North Carolina in 2019. The Tar Heels have gone a disappointing 21-17 in that span, as their explosive offense has been brought down by a leaky defense.

No one will forget Appalachian St's shocking 34-32 road win over Michigan back in 2007, when the Mountaineers were still an FCS team. App St is now an FBS member and doing just fine. The Mountaineers have gone 83-19 (.814) the last seven years (2015-21), winning SIX consecutive bowl games before losing to WKU in last year's Boca Raton Bowl. They've had THREE different head coaches in that span, but the winning has never stopped.

North Carolina QB Drake Maye has big shoes to fill in replacing record-setter Sam Howell. However, he fit into them just fine last Saturday in his debut for the Tar Heels. Maye threw five TD passes in his team's 56-24 win over visiting Florida A&M to become the first Tar Heels QB to accomplish the five-TD feat in his first career start. That said, winning at home vs a mediocre school like FAMU is one thing, winning at App St (38-5 the last seven years), is another. The Mountaineers have their own talented QB Chase Brice, who was just named last week to the watch list for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, a befitting honor for the sixth-year redshirt senior who established a school-record 3,337 passing yards last season. App St also returns the RB duo of Noel (1,128 yards / 5.7 YPC) and Peoples (926 yards / 14 TDs). FOUR of their five starting OL returns.

In-state bragging rights are at stake here and has noted, Appalachian State has repeatedly found itself in the top-25 since moving up to the FBS. Appalachian State defeated North Carolina in 2019 at Chapel Hill, a loss that didn't sit well with Tar Heels fans given the Mountaineers have always been viewed as the little brother. Boone, North Carolina will be 'rocking' for this 12 noon ET start and I say "the little brother" gets a surprisingly comfortable win.

Good luck...Larry