BY BRIANA GORMAN

bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668

CHAPEL HILL -- When North Carolina takes the field against The Citadel today for its first game of the 2009 season, the Tar Heels hope to make a better statement than in the 2008 opener against McNeese State, another Football Championship Subdivision team.

A year ago, the Tar Heels were leading 14-0 before rain and lightning stopped the game for an hour and 48 minutes.

McNeese State rallied to take the lead in the third quarter, but Brandon Tate's school-record 397 all-purpose yards helped the Tar Heels hold off the Cowboys 35-27 to avoid the upset.

"I think a lot of the scenario of the game had a lot to do with it," UNC coach Butch Davis said. "We didn't really know how to respond, and they did a better job of handling [the weather delay]. It was a good learning experience for our team.

"Hopefully, something like that never comes up again, but I think what it does is it tells the players that you have to prepare to play well against every single opponent."

Senior defensive end E.J. Wilson said the Tar Heels not only are excited about finally playing a game, they also are more focused headed into today's opener considering what happened against McNeese State. Wilson said the Tar Heel's learned that you can never take an opponent lightly.

"You have to treat every game going in as if it's a championship game -- that's the level of importance it has to be," Wilson said. "You can't take a mental [break] or a break in emotion just because you're not playing somebody in your conference or playing a rival or somebody like that."

UNC and The Citadel are meeting for the first time since 1986, and the Tar Heels have won all three meetings between the schools. The Bulldogs are coming off a 4-8 season but are led by quarterback Bart Blanchard, who enters his third season as the starter, and All-American wide receiver Andre Roberts.

"They're not going to lay down," UNC quarterback T.J. Yates said. "They're going to be ready to come at us at full force, and we've got to be prepared for that."

Today's game will also be a chance for Davis and his coaching staff to evaluate the team in game situations after weeks of beating each other up in the preseason. The Tar Heels have many new faces on the offensive line and the receiving corps, and it also will be a chance to see how the team plays under the new stadium lights.

Yates, who enters his third season as UNC's starter, said he won't be holding anything back.

"We want to come out there and dominate as much as we can," Yates said. "We're definitely going to come out there and give it our best and hopefully stay focused the entire game and not have any mishaps like last year."

NOTE -- Wide receiver Dwight Jones had successful arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Friday at UNC Hospitals. The sophomore is expected to be out for 2-3 weeks.