Thirty-three hours earlier, two planes on suicide bombing missions had flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, killing thousands, stopping the world in its tracks and ushering the United States into war. College football games for the coming weekend had been postponed, and as John Bunting gathered his Tar Heel football players around him after practice that afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001, he officially moved beyond the previously scheduled game against Southern Methodist University and into the next challenge—Florida State.
The Tar Heels' opponent from Tallahassee ranked No. 6 in the country, had won 71 of 73 ACC games since entering the ACC in 1992, nine in a row over the Tar Heels and collectively over the previous two seasons had lambasted the Heels by a 105-24 margin.