ORANGE BOWL

Here are three story lines to watch when the game kicks off:

JIMBO FISHER’S SUCCESS AT HARD ROCK STADIUM

Give Jimbo Fisher this: He knows how to win football games in Miami. While this is his first time at Hard Rock Stadium with the Aggies, Fisher went a perfect 6-0 as head coach here during his seven-year tenure at Florida State.

That included four wins against the Miami Hurricanes — 20-19 in 2016 (remember the block at Hard Rock?), 30-24 in

2014, 33-20 in 2012 and 45-17 in 2010 — and a pair of Orange Bowl victories over Michigan (33-32 on Dec. 30, 2016) and Northern Illinois (31-10 on Jan. 1, 2013).

Three of those wins — 2010 and 2016 against UM and the Orange Bowl win over Michigan — came with Fisher’s Seminoles as the lower-ranked team, which fittingly leads to our next point.

UPSETS AND CLOSE GAMES HAVE BEEN COMMON LATELY

Excluding the two times the Orange Bowl served as a College Football Playoff semifinal (2018 and 2015 seasons), seven of the past 11 Orange Bowl contests have been won by the lower-ranked team. An eighth, last season’s matchup between then-No. 6 Florida and unranked Virginia, ended as a one-score game following a late rally from the Cavaliers.

North Carolina, 7 1⁄2- point underdog, hopes to join that group on Saturday:

●Dec. 31, 2016: FSU over Michigan— The Seminoles led 20-6 at halftime, Michigan rallied in the second half to take a 30-27 lead with just under two minutes left, and Deondre Francois’ 12-yard touchdown pass to Nyqwan Murray with 36 seconds left finished FSU’s comeback.

●Dec. 31, 2014: Georgia Tech over Mississippi State— A 21-point third quarter put the 10th-ranked Yellow Jackets ahead for good in the 49-34 win over No. 8 Mississippi State. Georgia Tech’s Synjyn Days and Justin Thomas combined for 292 rushing yards and six touchdowns. Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott threw for 453 yards and had four total touchdowns (three passing, one rushing).

●Jan. 3, 2014: Clemson over Ohio State— Tajh Boyd threw for 378 yards and five touchdowns, including the game-winner to Stanton Seckinger with 6:16 left on the clock, to lead 12th-ranked Clemson to a 40-35 win over Ohio State. Sammy Watkins earned MVP honors after catching 16 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns.

●Jan. 4, 2012: West Virginia over

Clemson— Geno Smith threw for 407 yards and six touchdowns to lead No. 23 West Virginia to a 70-33 blowout victory over No. 14 Clemson. The Mountaineers’ 70 points are still the most scored by a single team in Orange Bowl history.

●Jan. 5, 2010: Iowa over Georgia Tech— The 10th-ranked Hawkeyes jumped to a quick twoscore lead and never looked back in their 24-14 win over No. 9 Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets cut Iowa’s lead to 17-14 with 12:30 left in regulation but a 32-yard touchdown run with 1:56 remaining from Brandon Wegher, who finished the game with 116 rushing yards, sealed Iowa’s win.

●Jan. 1, 2009: Virginia Tech over Cincinnati— No. 12 Cincinnati struck first with a 15-yard passing touchdown, but No. 21 Virginia Tech did everything else from there in the 20-7 win. Darren Evans ran for 153 yards and a fourthquarter touchdown that put the game out of reach. The Bearcats turned the ball over four times.

●Jan. 3, 2008: Kansas over Virginia Tech— The eighth-ranked Jayhawks led by 17 early and held off fifth-ranked Virginia Tech’s second-half comeback attempt for a 24-21 victory. Aqib Talib opened scoring by returning an interception 60 yards for a touchdown.

DRAFT PROSPECTS TO WATCH

While many of the big names set to play in the Orange Bowl opted out (for example, UNC running backs Michael Carter and Javonte Williams, wide receiver Dyami Brown), there are still a few players who can help their draft stock on Saturday.

For the Tar Heels, look to receiver Dazz Newsome. He caught 48 passes for

616 yards and five touchdowns this year as UNC’s primary slot receiver and has 2,367 career receiving yards over his four years in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He’s projected as a potential Day 3 NFL Draft pick.

For Texas A&M, look to defensive lineman Bobby Brown. A junior, he might not declare for the 2021 draft, but he will be someone to watch for 2022. Brown has a career 10 1⁄

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tackles for loss and six sacks, with most of that production coming this season (20 tackles, 7 1⁄

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tackles for loss, 5 1⁄ sacks).

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Another good season could catapult his stock.