On January 2nd, North Carolina will take the field in the Orange Bowl against Texas A&M. It will be the program’s first trip to Miami for an Orange Bowl, and arguably their most high profile bowl appearance since 1950.
It will also be the first time since 1998 that the Tar Heels have appeared in a bowl game after the dawn of a New Year. Their last 12 bowl berths have all come in games that have happened in December. While the BCS and now playoff and just the packed bowl season means lots of games are played in January, getting back into the New Year is a notable achievement for the program.