The football Tar Heels face a one-game season in 2016.

North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora

Larry Fedora watches from the sideslines. Photo via Smith Cameron Photography.

The new college football schedules were released this week, and Carolina looks to have a great chance to repeat as Coastal Division champion. The Heels have most of their starters returning on both sides of the ball, and the veteran team will square off against five opponents with new coaches – Georgia, James Madison, Virginia Tech, Miami and Virginia.

Those who blew off the team last year after an opening game loss to South Carolina get another chance to do so when UNC kicks off against Georgia in the Georgia Dome on September 5 on national TV. The Bulldogs are now coached by former Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, and his first game is the best game to get them. The two teams have not met since the 1971 Gator Bowl, when Vince Dooley bested bother Bill Dooley 7-3. Six yards and a cloud dust!

Then comes a trip to Big Ten also-ran Illinois before opening the home schedule against James Madison and Pitt. JMU is one of two FCS foes again this year, and the Dukes are coming off back-to-back 9-win seasons under former Carolina coach Everett Withers, who is now at Texas State. Where is that anyway?

UNC should be 4-0 when it goes to Tallahassee on October 1 for the game that could make up for having the two small-college opponents. The good thing about the Coastal Division of the ACC is you avoid playing Florida State and Clemson in the same season and usually BOTH of them. But the Tar Heels can jump right into the College Football Playoff rankings when they come out by beating the Seminoles on their home turf. Not easy, of course, but doable.

The rest of the schedule is highly manageable: Virginia Tech in Chapel Hill, at Miami and at Virginia – all three teams with new head coaches. The Hurricanes are now led by Mark Richt, who was at Georgia for 15 years before moving to his Alma mater. So the Heels get his old team in the opener and then Richt and his new team.

Tar Heels

Elijah Hood: Human Battering Ram (Photo by Smith Cameron Photography)

Following an open date on October 29, Carolina has four remaining games but only two on Saturday: Home versus Georgia Tech, at Duke on Thursday night for a second straight time, The “FCS” Citadel, and then N.C. State the Friday after Thanksgiving in Kenan Stadium.

It is a schedule conducive to 9 or 10 wins easily and, seriously, 12-0, with an upset win at Florida State. Seriously.

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