What a difference a year and one quarter of football make.
A year ago in the season finale, NC State came to Chapel Hill and laid the wood to an uninspired Carolina team in a 35-7 drubbing that gave StateFan water cooler ammunition all year long. At the end of the first quarter in Raleigh on Saturday the score was again 35-7, this time in favor of the Tar Heels.
Thank goodness it was a four-score lead because UNC once again took their foot off the gas and went brain dead on offense much like last week at Virginia Tech to turn a blowout into a nail-biter for a 45-34 margin.