North Carolina vs. South Carolina by the numbers
No. 21 North Carolina vs. South Carolina
6:30 p.m. CDT Saturday (ABC)
Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina
4 Consecutive ranked opponents for South Carolina when the Gamecocks take on No. 21 North Carolina – a first for the program. South Carolina closed the 2022 season by defeating No. 5 Tennessee 63-38 and No. 7 Clemson 31-30 and losing to No. 19 Notre Dame 45-38 in the Gator Bowl.
9 Completions in nine passes for 160 yards and one touchdown along with 64 yards on 10 rushing attempts for Dakereon Joyner as the South Carolina QB in the Gamecocks’ previous meeting with North Carolina, a 38-21 victory in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Dec. 30, 2021. They were his only passes of the 2021 season. Joyner also has played wide receiver in his five seasons at South Carolina and is expected to be the starting running back for the Gamecocks on Saturday. He has 325 yards and four TDs on 64 rushing attempts in his career.
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30 Years since North Carolina played South Carolina as a ranked team. The No. 11 Tar Heels defeated the Gamecocks 24-8 on Sept. 3, 1983. In the nine meetings since, South Carolina has a 7-2 record against the unranked North Carolina teams.
34 Victories, 58 losses and three ties for North Carolina against SEC opponents, including a 30-51-3 regular-season mark. In the past 12 seasons, the Tar Heels have a 1-5 record against SEC opponents, with the victory coming against South Carolina in Charlotte in 2019.
35 Victories for North Carolina, 20 victories for South Carolina and four ties in the Tar Heels-Gamecocks series. The schools squared off annually from 1953 through 1970 as members of the ACC. Their previous three meetings also occurred in Charlotte – the most recent in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, which South Carolina won 38-21 on Dec. 30, 2021. Saturday’s game is called the Duke’s Mayo Classic.
41 Seasons between ACC Player of the Year Award winners for North Carolina. Tar Heels QB Drake Maye won the award for the 2022 campaign, the first for North Carolina since LB Lawrence Taylor in 1980. Maye also was the ACC Rookie of the Year last season, when he set UNC single-season records for total offense and passing yards and tied the school record for TD passes.
65 Victories, 64 losses and two ties for South Carolina against ACC opponents since the Gamecocks left the conference following the 1971 season. South Carolina has played Clemson annually during that time, and the Gamecocks’ 31-30 victory over the Tigers last season put them over .500 against the ACC.
84 Completions on 122 passes for 1,044 yards with 10 TDs and three interceptions for South Carolina QB Spencer Rattler in the final three games of the 2022 season after going 180-of-277 for 1,982 yards with eight TDs and nine interceptions in the first 10 games of the campaign.
99 Victories for Mack Brown at North Carolina. A victory would make Brown the first coach with at least 100 victories at two major-college programs. Entering his 15th season at UNC, Brown has a 99-68-1 record with the Tar Heels. He posted a 158-48 record at Texas from 1998 through 2013. Brown coached North Carolina in the 10 seasons before going to Texas, and he returned to the Tar Heels in 2019 after five seasons out of coaching.
145 Tackles were made by North Carolina LB Cedric Gray last season, the third-most in the nation.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.