No. 5 Texas A&M headed to the Orange Bowl to face No. 13 North Carolina

The Aggies are taking their talents to South Beach.

On Sunday afternoon, it was announced that No. 5 Texas A&M will play in the 2021 Capital One Orange Bowl vs. No. 13 North Carolina. The Aggies and Tar Heels will do battle on January 2 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL. The announcement came just hours after A&M narrowly missed out on the College Football Playoff’s four-team field.

For the Aggies, this is their first Orange Bowl berth since the 1944 New Year’s Day contest with LSU, in which the Tigers defeated the Maroon & White, 19-14.

It will be Texas A&M’s first appearance in a “New Year’s Six” bowl since that moniker was created in 2014 to consolidate the most prestigious bowl games in accordance with the College Football Playoff semifinal games.

Heading into the postseason, A&M (8-1) is riding a seven-game winning streak and have won their last six contests by double digits, each against Southeastern Conference foes. The only blemish on the Aggies’ record is a week two loss to No. 1 Alabama.

Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher is well-acquainted with this particular bowl destination. While he was the head coach at Florida State from 2010-2017, Fisher was 2-0 in Orange Bowl games. In 2013, Fisher’s Seminoles defeated Northern Illinois, 31-10. Three years later, FSU won a thriller after they scored a touchdown with 36 seconds remaining to beat Michigan, 33-32.

North Carolina finished the regular season with an 8-3 record, 7-3 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. The Tar Heels most recently lit up the scoreboard in their regular-season finale, hanging 62 points on then-No. 10 Miami on Dec. 12. Still, UNC has lost to Florida State (3-6), Virginia (5-5) and No. 4 Notre Dame (10-1) this year.

While the Aggies and Tar Heels have never met on the gridiron, a familiar face will patrol the North Carolina sideline on the first Saturday in January. Mack Brown is in the second year of his second stint as head coach in Chapel Hill. Previously, Brown was the head man of the Texas Longhorns from 1998-2013, and during his tenure in Austin, Brown was 10-4 vs. Texas A&M.

The 2021 Capital One Orange Bowl is scheduled for a 7 p.m. CT kick-off and will be aired on ESPN.