Sports

Tar Heels will keep it close

Football expert Phil Steele is the owner and publisher of Phil Steele’s College Football Preview, regarded as the college football bible. Get in-depth coverage of college and pro football 24/7/365 at PhilSteele.com and follow him on Twitter @philsteele042.

We’ll start off the 2013 season by giving you the first and final games of the weekend:

TONIGHT

North Carolina (+12 1/2) over SOUTH CAROLINA: Every team is excited about its opener, but what follows is also important to note. South Carolina has a road game at Georgia on deck, which is basically a quasi-SEC East championship, and North Carolina will play host to Middle Tennessee. Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier has never shown much of his offense in openers, averaging just 332 yards per game, the last four seasons and now they’re laying double digits.

MONDAY

Florida State (-10) over PITTSBURGH: The Panthers are thrilled with the move to the ACC, but they will be shocked at the speed of their new conference foe. Florida State ranks in the top 10 in both my offense and defensive rankings, as well as having my No. 1 projected special teams. I rank nine position/coaching categories and in the ACC Florida St. ranks in the top five in all nine including six No. 1’s while Pittsburgh ranks eighth or worse in six categories.

LAST SEASON: 13-18.