Fans will again gather tonight at the south entrance of the Free Expression Tunnel on central campus to prevent UNC-Chapel Hill fans from painting the tunnel blue at the Alumni Association Student Ambassador program is once again holding its Ram Roast.

The events begin at 8:15 with a pep rally featuring Tom O’Brien and members of the football team, and while the team’s postseason hopes are over, organizers said the finale against Carolina is just as important to fans as it ever has been.

“It’s always the biggest game of the season,” Said Jai Kumar, chair of Students Today, Alumni Tomorrow’s Traditions committee, said. “No matter how well or how bad were doing, no fan wants to lose this game.”

Chandler Thompson, another organizer of the event, said the team’s lack of a postseason bid has no bearing on what the Carolina game meant to fans.

“It’s disappointing that we don’t have a bowl to look forward to, but we still have this very important game with our rival,” she said. “We have every reason to get excited [tonight] and protect the tunnel all week because winning this game is something a lot of fans care about.”

Kumar said the Roast, which is traditionally held Thursday nights, had to be moved to Monday because of the Thanksgiving holidays

“They would come Thursday before a Saturday game so the students would see it on the way to class Friday,” Kumar said. “This year, the only night they could do it would be Monday night.”

Thompson said rain could factor in to the events tonight, though, as poor weather could prevent organizers from setting up a screen to watch last year’s Carolina-State game, which she said would likely garner a lot of viewers.

“If it’s not raining after 6 p.m. we’ll set up the big screen of the game,” she said. “We thought peple would want to come out and watch us score 41 points on Carolina.”

The event will also feature a 2 a.m. scavenger hunt. Teams will consist of five participants each, and prizes for the winners include autographed footballs.

Thompson said another change will be in the food in an attempt to involve a more diverse audience, especially vegetarians and others who don’t eat the Roast’s traditional barbecue pork. Dominos pizza will deliver after the pep rally, featuring cheese pizzas as well as other toppings so all students can take part in the tradition.