With the football game against UNC-Chapel Hill less than a week away, student leaders are putting the final touches on the Ram Roast this Thursday night. Several events have been planned to get students excited about the game and to gather support for the team.

“Carolina used to come in and paint the tunnel the Thursday before we played them in football or basketball and it would be Carolina Blue on Friday morning when students walked to classes,” Adam Compton, senior class president, said. “The Ram Roast was started by the senior class president a few years ago. It started where you just spent the night and guarded the Free Expression Tunnel. This is our way of taking our tunnel back.”

Since the Ram Roast began, it has evolved into a pep rally to get students excited about the game.

“We actually paint [the tunnel] completely red that night, and it’s also a mix of a pep rally, and we toss around our favorite Carolina jokes, and it’s just been a huge tradition since 2005.”

The event, which is planned by the Alumni Ambassador Association, Student Government and the Senior Class Council, begins with a pep rally which is led by the football coaches and players and is followed by performances from the dance team, cheerleaders and the band.

“We’re having a wing eating contest, a Pig Pickin’, performances from  different student groups and certain prizes such as t-shirts,” Morgan Donnelly, campus community committee chair, said. “People stay all night and they go and paint the tunnel, or tell their best Carolina joke as long as it is in good nature.”

The Alumni Ambassador Association recently suffered a budget cut and couldn’t allocate as much money as normal to the Ram Roast. Student Government and the Senior Class Council increased their budgets for the event so it didn’t suffer.

“The Alumni Association has had to cancel some of the things we have done in the past,” Donnelly said,” such as some of the prizes and the publicity, so they came to student government and we helped them out.”

Compton said they three groups have planned events lasting up to midnight.

“We’re going to have T-shirts, events and prizes, and some student leaders are going to dress in blue and we’re going to have a ‘Pie the Blue Guy’ contest. After midnight it’s going to be a bunch of small things. We want to get everyone hyped up.”

Maggie Reaves, a sophomore in business, said she has never been to a Ram Roast but she looks forward to going to one.

“I think it would be a lot of fun. You get to hear the coaches and the players speak,” Reaves said. “Everyone’s going to be there and it’s an opportunity to meet new people and have a good time and to come together as a campus community.”

Reaves said she wants the University to come together and help the football team win against Carolina.

Jackie Varner, a sophomore in food science, said she’s excited to go to the Ram Roast and show support for her school.

“It’s about everyone coming together to rally support for our team and help them win against Carolina,” Varner said. Carolina is really cocky and they think they’re better than everyone and this is our chance to prove them wrong.”

Varner also said the events are well planned out and help students to get excited about the game.