North Carolina, a prominent college football program, is set to close out its 2024 season in the vibrant city of Boston. The Tar Heels will face off against UConn in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl on December 28th at Fenway Park. This will be a significant event for the team, as it marks their third appearance in the Fenway Bowl. The game will air on ESPN at 11 a.m., attracting the attention of football fans across the nation.

UConn's Season Overview

Jim L. Mora has been at the helm of UConn since 2020. In his time with the Huskies, he has a record of 17-20. This season, UConn finished with an 8-4 regular season record and earned bowl game eligibility for the second time. The team's offense was led by its run game, with three running backs rushing for more than 500 yards. Cam Edwards led the team with 756 yards and seven touchdowns, while Durrell Robinson was second with 731 rushing yards and eight scores. Nick Evers and Joe Fagnano shared quarterback duties, with Fagnano emerging as the more productive player late in the season, throwing for 1,480 yards with a 56.8% completion rate and 18 touchdowns and four interceptions. On defense, the Huskies allowed 23.8 points per game. Jayden McDonald led the team with 119 tackles and 3.5 sacks, while Malik Dixon-Williams had three interceptions.

UNC's 2024 Regular Season Journey

North Carolina started the season with a road victory against Minnesota on a Thursday night. They followed it up with home wins against Charlotte and North Carolina Central. However, a 20-point upset loss to James Madison, where they tied a program record for points allowed with a 70-50 defeat, was a setback. This was followed by four consecutive losses. But the Tar Heels bounced back with three consecutive wins, defeating Virginia, Florida State, and Wake Forest. Unfortunately, they were throttled on the road by Boston College and then lost their regular season finale against N.C. State 35-30, which was Mack Brown's final game as UNC's head coach. After the loss to the Wolfpack, Jacolby Criswell and Kaimon Rucker expressed their desire to play in a postseason bowl. Criswell said, "The guys that are going to be here are going to be here, and they want to be a part of this. We're just going to go out there and win this ball game for Coach Brown. He's not going to be out there with us, but he's going to be on the field with us in our hearts." Rucker added, "We want to play. We got an opportunity to go to a bowl game. We got to finish the season right, especially after what happened tonight. We got to end out on a high. We can't go out with just having this on our back."

Interim Head Coach Freddie Kitchens

After North Carolina's final regular season game against N.C. State, the team hired tight ends coach and run game coordinator Freddie Kitchens as the interim head coach. Kitchens has been on staff since 2023 and has extensive collegiate coaching experience dating back to 1999. He also has 11 seasons of NFL coaching experience in various roles, including one year as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 2019.

North Carolina's Bowl History

This will be North Carolina's 39th all-time bowl appearance. Their last bowl game win came in 2019 when they defeated Temple in the Military Bowl. In 2022, they played in an MLB stadium, losing to Oregon in the Holiday Bowl at Petco Park in San Diego. Last year, they lost the Duke's Mayo Bowl in Charlotte to West Virginia. UNC has a record of 15-23 in its bowl games.