2023 UNC Football Bowl Projections

It has been a season full of fits and starts for the North Carolina Tar Heels football programs and its backers at North Carolina sports betting sites. Head coach Mack Brown and company have seen two separate three-game win streaks interrupted by a midseason four-game skid.

After knocking off the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, 31-24, last Saturday, UNC enters the stretch run with a 6-4 record overall, 3-3 in ACC play. UNC was 3-4 sat one point but became bowl eligible with victories over Virginia (41-14), Florida State (35-11) and Wake Forest in succession.

BetCarolina.com – tour course for the best North Carolina sportsbook promos – is tracking UNC’s bowl game odds, with this week’s update including potential stops in El Paso, Annapolis, Birmingham, Tampa and San Antonio.

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UNC Football Bowl Projections: Odds For Tar Heels’ 2024-25 Bowl Game

Bowl	Location	Conference Opponent	Odds	Percentage Chance
Sun Bowl	El Paso, TX	vs. TBD (used to be Pac-12)	+325	23.5%
Military Bowl	Annapolis, MD	vs. Group of 5	+350	22.2%
Birmingham Bowl	Birmingham, AL	vs. Group of 5	+500	16.7%
Gasparilla Bowl	Tampa, FL	vs. SEC	+700	12.5%
Alamo Bowl	San Antonio, TX	vs. Group of 5	+700	12.5%
The Field			+1000	9.1%

Now, Brown and company are tasked with closing the season on a high note when UNC heads to Chestnut Hill to play the 5-5 Boston College Eagles at noon Eastern on Saturday, then closing the regular season Nov. 30 in Chapel Hill against North Carolina State at 3:30 p.m.

This weekend, the Tar Heels head to BC as a three-point road favorite on bet365 North Carolina Sportsbook, to go with a -155 moneyline. The Eagles have +130 moneyline odds as the Heels look for a fourth straight win.

Where Tar Heels Might Go For Bowl

Entering UNC’s penultimate regular season contest, our top pick for the Tar Heels this bowl season is El Paso’s Sun Bowl, which comes in at +325 on our chart to host Brown and company for the first time since Larry Fedora was roaming the sidelines in 2016.

That year, UNC capped an 8-5 season with a 25-23 loss to the Stanford Cardinal in El Paso. But we could still see the Heels wind up elsewhere come bowl season.

Some other postseason options to keep an eye on in Chapel Hill include the Military Bowl at Navy’s Navy-Marine Corp Stadium, which is listed at +350 to host UNC for the first time since Brown’s first season back in town in 2019. The Birmingham Bowl (+500), Gasparilla Bowl and Alamo Bowl (+700 each) are longer shots to land North Carolina in 2024.

These odds are exclusive to BetCarolina.com, where North Carolina Tar Heels odds are updated throughout football season.

The Tar Heels have never played a bowl game in Birmingham, San Antonio or Tampa, meaning UNC could be in for a bit of program history this bowl season as fans might get to experience a new city come postseason time.

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UNC Bowl Game History

Year	Bowl	Result
2023	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	Loss, 30-10 vs. West Virginia
2022	Holiday Bowl	Loss, 28-27 vs. Oregon
2021	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	Loss, 38-21 vs. South Carolina
2020	Orange Bowl	Loss, 41-27 vs. Texas A&M
2019	Military Bowl	Win, 55-13 vs. Temple

Over the last half-decade, UNC has played in a bowl game each season, but has posted a 1-4 mark in those contests. The most recent postseason victory for the program was in the 2019 Military Bowl, over Temple, well before the state had legal and regulated NC sports betting apps.

That 2019 game saw the Tar Heels shellack the overmatched Owls, 55-13. But the four most recent bowl trips have been forgettable for UNC, as you can see above.

This fall, Brown and company will look to snap that four-game bowl game losing streak, regardless of where the Tar Heels are sent when the postseason begins in mid-December.

While Tar Heels fans await a destination to make their bowl travel plans, check out our guide to college football betting in North Carolina at BetCarolina.com.

USA Today photo by Ken Ruinard

UNC Football Bowl Q/As:

For the 2024-25 college football season, we currently project UNC to play in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl in El Paso. We list that scenario at +325 odds (a 23.5% implied chance).

There are a few weeks left in the regular season, so UNC is not currently playing in a bowl game. The Tar Heels are bowl eligible, having earned their sixth win on Nov. 16 against Wake Forest. Their most recent bowl game was in the 2023 Duke’s Mayo Bowl loss against West Virginia.

Author

Christopher Boan

@cgboan

Christopher Boan is a lead writer at BetCarolina.com specializing in covering state issues. He has covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.