On Monday afternoon the ACC announced kickoff times for Week 11 of the college football season.  Louisville heads to Chapel Hill for a 7:00 or 7:30 kickoff against the North Carolina Tar Heels next Saturday night (Nov. 14).  The broadcast will either be picked up by ESPN2 or the ACC Network.  The official designation will be at the conclusion of this coming Saturday’s slate.

The Cards own a 5-3 all time series lead over UNC.  Louisville will be making its first trip to Kenan Stadium since 2017.  Louisville joined the ACC in 2014, but this will only be the second time that the two teams have met as conference rivals.  The Tar Heels are yet to make the trip to Louisville for an intra-conference matchup.  

In that 2017 matchup, reigning Heisman trophy winner Lamar Jackson led Louisville to a 47-35 win, passing for 393 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 132 yards on 19 carries for another three touchdowns.  Louisville trailed 28-27 going to the fourth quarter.  Malik Williams had 149 rushing yards, with Jaylen Smith pulling in nine catches for 183 yards including a 75-yard touchdown. 

Louisville and North Carolina have played two non-conference series since the turn of the millennium as well.  The first series was 2004-2005 between John Bunting and Bobby Petrino.  Petrino’s Cards blanked the Tar Heels 34-0 in Chapel Hill in the first game and poured it on 69-14 in the return game at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium in 2005. 

Petrino is currently in his first season as the offensive coordinator for the Tar Heels alongside fellow former Louisville staffers Garrick McGee, Matt Lombardi and Andrew Blaylock.

After Georgia cancelled a home and home series with Louisville in 2011-2012 for the opportunity to play Boise State at a neutral site, the Cards replaced the Bulldogs with North Carolina.  UNC won an ugly game in one of Teddy Bridgewater’s first start for the Cardinals in Chapel Hill, 14-7 in 2011.  Louisville almost squandered a 25-point lead in 2012, before holding on to beat UNC 39-24 in 2012 en route to a Sugar Bowl Championship. 

The Tar Heels are under the direction of second year head coach Bill Bellichick sporting a 4-4 overall record, including 2-3 in the ACC.  They knocked off TCU in the Aer Lingus Football Classic opener in Dublin, Ireland during Week Zero.  All of Carolina’s losses have been competitive (20-28 @ Clemson, 26-37 vs No. 3 Notre Dame, 30-31 OT Syracuse, 35-38 vs #1 Miami) and they tout wins against Duke and Pitt. 

Louisville is 5-3 overall with a 4-2 ACC record.  The Tar Heels travel to Connecticut for a Saturday night showdown with the Huskies, while Louisville heads to Georgia Tech as a two-score favorite in Atlanta.