Art Chansky’s Sports Notebook is presented by The Casual Pint. YOUR place for delicious pub food paired with local beer. Choose among 35 rotating taps and 200+ beers in the cooler.
For those who have given up on the Tar Heels, Saturday is a very consequential game.
Who expected Carolina to be 4-4 after 8 games this season and then go to Florida State as a favorite to beat the defending ACC champion in Tallahassee?
The Seminoles are a mind-boggling 1-7 and 16th in the 17-team football conference. That they have only beaten last-place Cal and lost at home to BC, Memphis and Clemson and at Duke, SMU and Miami has 2023 ACC Coach of the Year Mike Norvell on the hottest of seats with the wealthy and wily FSU alumni and fan base.
Since joining the ACC in 1992, Florida State has won 16 of 22 conference championships and six different national titles. For merely the Noles’ long-time resume and rep, this has to be a dangerous game for Carolina.
But after the dominating 41-14 win at Virginia, the current Heels suddenly find themselves in the opposite mental place they have been the last two years, when they were 7-1 and 6-2 after eight games before going 4-7 for the remainder of those seasons.
Their sterling performance in Charlottesville was so overwhelming that it now seems like they could run the table against the last four opponents, none of whom goes into this weekend with winning records.
And if the Heels can avoid an embarrassing and regressive loss at FSU, they would go into a rare second open date on November 9th and finish up the healing process physically and emotionally from what Mack Brown calls the most difficult season he has had as a head coach.
After opening 3-0 that included two wins over FCS teams, Brown’s status became the talking point of the season after losing 70-50 to James Madison and he mentioned quitting to the team in the post-game locker room.
Three more defeats filled with sketchy defense increased the chatter among alumni and fans over whether Carolina would move on from Brown after this season, including rumors that talks about his departure from the sideline had already begun with the university.
Starting 9-1 in 2022 with all kinds of dreams dancing in their heads, the Tar Heels lost the last four to Georgia Tech and N.C. State at home to close the regular season and then to Clemson in the ACC championship game and Oregon in the Holiday Bowl; sitting at 6-2 last season, the Heels beat only Campbell and Duke in overtime before getting crushed at favored Clemson and N.C. State and by West Virginia in the bowl game without Drake Maye.
But Wake Forest at home, going to Boston College and Senior Day against N.C. State (all also 4-4 at this writing) are winnable games. That could make them 8-4 with a chance to win a bowl for a 9-4 finish, which would feel a lot better than the last two years.
“We’ve had all kinds of injuries, played three quarterbacks and then lost Tylee Craft,” Brown said Monday. “I said all along we’d be better at the end of the season.”
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines