Year Six of Mack Brown’s second stint in Chapel Hill looked to be off to a good start for North Carolina Tar Heels odds in futures wagering. A 3-0 start included victories over fellow Power Four team Minnesota and two in-state foes, Charlotte and N.C. Central.
Saturday's game against James Madison doused a lot of enthusiasm.
The Dukes, a second-year FBS team from the Sun Belt Conference, rolled into Chapel Hill and hung 70 points on UNC. tied for the most that the Heels have ever surrendered in a game. JMU came out on top 70-50 in a game that Brown called an "embarrassing day, shocking day."
At 3-1, UNC now has +5000 odds to win the ACC at DraftKings Sportsbook North Carolina and, although the JMU loss was out of conference, that performance did not inspire anybody to think that this team is ready to contend for a league title.
All season long, BetCarolina.com will keep you updated on the Tar Heels’ bowl game odds. These odds will correspond with where we see the Tar Heels playing this bowl season. Here’s where we see UNC going right now.
UNC Football Bowl Projections: Odds For Tar Heels’ 2024-25 Bowl Game
Bowl | Location | Conference Opponent | Odds | Percentage Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl | El Paso, TX | vs. TBD (used to be Pac-12) | +350 | 22.2% |
Go Bowling Military Bowl | Annapolis, MD | vs. AAC | +400 | 20.0% |
Wasabi Fenway Bowl | Boston, MA | vs. American Athletic | +500 | 16.7% |
Pop-Tarts Bowl | Orlando, FL | vs. Big 12 | +800 | 11.1% |
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl | Jacksonville, FL | vs. SEC | +800 | 11.1% |
The Field / No Bowl | +600 | 14.3% |
These odds are exclusive to BetCarolina.com and may not be available on NC sports betting apps.
Since Brown’s return to Chapel Hill in 2019, UNC has played in Annapolis, Miami, Charlotte and San Diego, but UNC has yet to experience the natural wonder of West Texas of late.
We see that changing this fall, with El Paso’s Tony the Tiger Bowl being our top bowl game for UNC in 2024, at +350 (or a 22.2% implied chance). That ranks ahead of the Military Bowl in Annapolis, Maryland; the Fenway Bowl in Boston; the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando and the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. See our guide to college football betting in North Carolina.
The last time UNC played in El Paso was under head coach Larry Fedora in 2016, when they lost to No. 16 Stanford, 25-23, capping off an 8-5 campaign. The Tar Heels' last trip to the Gator Bowl was in 1997 (when they beat Virginia Tech, 42-3, in Brown’s last season before heading to Texas).
North Carolina played in the then-Russell Athletic Bowl in 2015, losing to Baylor, 49-38, while the school has never played in the Pinstripe or Wasabi Fenway bowls.
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, with the last victory for the program coming in the 2019 Military Bowl over Temple. Back then there was no legal NC sports betting.
That game saw the Tar Heels shellack the overmatched Owls, 55-13. The past four bowl game trips have been forgettable for UNC, with losses to Texas A&M in the 2020 Orange Bowl (41-27), South Carolina and West Virginia in the 2021 and 2023 Duke’s Mayo Bowl and Oregon in the 2022 Holiday Bowl.
This fall, Brown and company will look to snap that four-game bowl-game losing streak, assuming they become bowl eligible. The good news is, the JMU defeat is only one game and UNC just needs three more wins in the next eight games to become bowl eligible.
Stay with BetCarolina.com as we continue to update these odds and be sure to check out our best North Carolina sportsbook promos to help you on your next wager.
USA Today photo by Ken Ruinard
UNC Football Bowl Q/As:
For the 2024-25 college football season, UNC is currently projected to play in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl in El Paso, TX vs. a TBD team with the odds at +350 (an implied 22.2% chance).
This early in the season, the Tar Heels are not yet bowl eligible. Their most recent bowl game was in the 2023 Duke’s Mayo Bowl loss against West Virginia.
Author
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.
