CHARLOTTE – West Virginia and North Carolina meet today in the Duke's Mayo Bowl at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
 
It is West Virginia's third appearance in this bowl, previously known as the Continental Tire Bowl in 2002 and the Meineke Bowl in 2008. The Mountaineers were picked for the game by virtue of its 8-4 regular season record which included a 6-3 mark in Big 12 play.
 
North Carolina is making its second appearance in the years following its 8-4 overall and 4-4 record in ACC action.
 
The Tar Heels are coached by 72-year-old Mack Brown, in his second stint in Chapel Hill after coaching Texas for 16 years from 1998 to 2013. Brown's first stint at North Carolina lasted from 1988 until 1997 and included back-top-back top 10 finishes in 1996 and 1997.
 
This year, North Carolina began the season with a 6-0 record before losing four of its last six games. Twelve starters, including potential top NFL draft picks Drake Maye, Tez Walker and Cedric Gray have opted out of the game while a handful of others have either entered the transfer portal or are recovering from injury.
 
West Virginia's key holdouts include center Zach Frazier and CJ Donaldson Jr.
 
The key participants in today's game are West Virginia quarterback Garrett Greene and North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton.
 
Greene accounted for nearly 3,000 yards and 28 touchdowns from scrimmage while Hampton rushed 234 times for 1,442 yards and 15 touchdowns in 12 games. He had a season-high 234 yards against Appalachian State and had 197 yards against Miami. His streak of six consecutive 100-yard rushing games was stopped by NC State in the regular season finale.
 
Today's game will be the third-ever meeting between West Virginia and North Carolina, the last coming in the 2008 Meineke Bowl a 31-30 Mountaineer victory. The two schools met one other time in the 1997 Gator Bowl when Mack Brown's Tar Heels pulled out a 20-13 victory.
 
Here is today's Countdown to Kickoff:
 
10 – The Mountaineers are ranked TENTH nationally in blocked kicks with three.
 
9 – Over the last NINE seasons, the Mountaineer defense has produced 163 takeaways.
 
8 – West Virginia has produced EIGHT or more victories in a season 14 times since 2000 and 38 times in school history.
 
7 – Mountaineer quarterbacks have thrown just SEVEN interceptions, ranking 22^nd nationally for the fewest thrown this season.
 
6 – West Virginia's defense is averaging better than SIX tackles for losses per game this season, good for 38^thnationally.
 
5 – WVU most recently had a streak of FIVE straight bowl appearances from 2014 until 2018 was snapped in 2019. Its longest streak was 11 straight bowl trips from 2002 to 2012.
 
4 – West Virginia's punt coverage unit ranks FOURTH nationally surrendering no yards on 12 returns.
 
3 – Today's meeting with North Carolina will represent the THIRD time these two schools have met on the gridiron, all in bowl games.
 
2 – The Mountaineers are tied for SECOND nationally in the fewest sacks allowed with just nine this season.
 
1 – West Virginia ranks FIRST among power conference schools in rushing with 2,812 yards this season.
 
ESPN (Matt Barrie, Dan Mullen and Harry Lyles Jr.) is televising today's game, set to kick off at 5:30 p.m. Mountaineer Sports Network Radio coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning begins at 4:30 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.
 
Prior to that, select stations will carry the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Show beginning at 2:30 p.m.