Ex Texas Football HC Mack Brown can make statement vs. Texas A&M

The well-respected former Texas football head coach Mack Brown will be looking to have his North Carolina Tar Heels upset Texas A&M in the Orange Bowl.

Bowl season got here in a hurry. The college football landscape had to rush into the postseason after conference championship weekend wrapped up the regular season on Dec. 19. While the Texas football program was off over the last two weekends, they watched intently to see how the rest of the Group of Five would shake out.

Texas wound up landing in the Alamo Bowl for the second straight year, this time taking on their former Big 12 foe the Colorado Buffaloes. Since the Big 12 faces the PAC-12 in the Alamo Bowl, there wasn’t too many interesting matchups that could be put together for Texas this postseason. That was unless head coach Clay Helton and the USC Trojans landed in the Alamo Bowl.

Moreover, there’s a former renowned Texas head coach that ended up in a very significant postseason game. Former National Championship winning Texas head coach Mack Brown got his 14th ranked North Carolina Tar Heels into the Orange Bowl this year.

In the Orange Bowl, the Tar Heels are tasked with facing a really good team in head coach Jimbo Fisher and the fifth ranked Texas A&M Aggies out of the SEC West. The Longhorns Lone Star Showdown rivals had similar expectations to Texas heading into this season, but nearly made it into the College Football Playoff.

Now Texas A&M will have to try and prove themselves against a really talented and potent offense that UNC will bring to the table in the Orange Bowl. Led by star sophomore quarterback Sam Howell, the Tar Heels registered a record of 8-3 (7-3 ACC) on their way to nearly notching a slot in the ACC Championship Game.

However, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish held the Tar Heels off so that UNC had to sit on the outside looking in over the weekend. UNC still had one of the nation’s most explosive and well-balanced offenses, averaging 43 points per game (seventh in FBS), 557 total yards, and nearly eight yards per play.

Meanwhile, the Aggies come into the Orange Bowl with a record of 8-1 (8-1 SEC). Their lone slip up on the season came in a convincing defeat at the hands of the No. 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide.

According to the ESPN matchup predictor (developed from the Football Power Index), Texas A&M has a 63.7 percent chance to beat UNC in the Orange Bowl. Texas A&M also opened up as about a one-touchdown favorite in the betting line over the Tar Heels.

The Orange Bowl between the Aggies and Tar Heels will take place at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, FL, on Jan. 2, 2021. Kick off time for the Orange Bowl is set for 7 p.m. CT. UNC’s last game resulted in a dismantling of the Miami Hurricanes. And Texas A&M took care of business in convincing fashion last weekend against the Tennessee Volunteers on the road.