Four more good things happened over the weekend for Carolina football.
When Mack Brown first took over the UNC program in 1988, he had some advantages that were going to show up within a few years. He was determined to build dominant relationships with high school coaches in the state, and the competing programs in North Carolina were down or trending down.
Duke, N.C. State and Wake Forest are in better shape now than then, but the New Year’s weekend was a positive harbinger for Brown’s second stint as the Tar Heels’ coach.
It began Friday after Duke blew out Temple in the second half of the Independence Bowl, when star junior quarterback Daniel Jones announced he would enter the NFL draft. Perfect. David Cutcliffe has upgraded the Duke program to perennial bowl status, but losing Jones will hurt the Blue Devils. And he was particularly deadly against Carolina.
On Saturday, Virginia whitewashed South Carolina in the Belk Bowl, 28-0. The Cavaliers turned out much better than the team picked last in the ACC Coastal Division, but such a loss will still give the Gamecock program pause during the off-season before its 2019 opener against Brown’s Tar Heels in Charlotte, which is suddenly a winnable game for North Carolina.
Later that day, Brown’s last official TV stint was serving on the panel that commentated on the national semifinal games on ESPN2. Wearing a Carolina blue pullover and drinking from a UNC coffee mug, Brown was clearly the leader of the group. Good optics for his return to coaching.
Finally, State ended its season getting clobbered by Texas A&M, 52-13 on New Year’s Eve. That was also the last college game for Wolfpack quarterback Ryan Finley, so the Heels will no longer see him as well. The arch rivals will both have unproven QBs while trying to win their fourth straight games against Carolina, losing streaks that must end.
After Brown got his program rolling in the early ‘90s, he won his last eight games against Duke and his last five over State before moving on to Texas. Already off to a great recruiting start and inheriting a far better roster than he did 30 years ago, Brown’s Tar Heels should be able to compete for the so-called state championship right away.
ACC Coastal rivals Miami and Georgia Tech lost bowl games badly and will also have new coaches — more pluses for the future of UNC football.
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