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UNC’s new football schedule is a good way to change the narrative.

If you have been a Carolina football fan most of your life, you know the Tar Heels have never won a national championship. And disappointments of the last two seasons make it seem like that will probably never happen.

So after five years with two NFL quarterbacks and never getting to that magical 10-win mark, Mack Brown can use the 2024 schedule to reset some unrealistic expectations. After all, he won 10 games twice in his first stint here and he knows what it takes.

Whether too many players bypassed bowl games or there was not enough depth to handle inevitable late-season injuries, we all know the expectations are different than the 6-time NCAA champ basketball program.

I, for one, would love to win every football game on the schedule. Since that has never happened here in the modern era, I would love to see a well-coached team fight like hell in every game and – win or lose – proudly sing the Alma Mater and leave the field to James Taylor’s Carolina in My Mind.

That’s the macro. The micro is beating Duke and N.C. State every season along with any other in-state opponents, finish with a winning record and go to a representative bowl game. This would make me a contented Tar Heel alum. Anything more in the NIL/transfer portal era is pure gravy.

Last season, Brown warned about the “toughest first four games I’ve ever had as a head coach.” A great win over South Carolina in Charlotte allowed us to think big before the Gamecocks finished at 5-7 and no bowl game. App State, Minnesota and Pitt had a combined 18-21 record.

So, it shouldn’t be surprising that the 2023 Tar Heels won their first six games, considering Syracuse and Miami were .500, but the home stunner to a 3-9 Virginia team and another loss at Georgia Tech all sounded too familiar.

UNC rallied for a thrilling overtime win over Duke but losses at Clemson and at State, plus getting whacked by West Virginia in the bowl game made the final 8-5 a letdown when, as Brown says, “8-5 around here is pretty good.”

When Mack meets the press for the first time this spring, he certainly will say opening at Minnesota with a new quarterback will be a challenge but certainly UNC-Charlotte, NC Central and James Madison are teams we should beat at home. Of the eight ACC dates to follow, the four games in a packed Kenan Stadium will be fun and the road games are daunting.

Presented like that, if Carolina posts another winning record, alumni and fans will likely be more proud than let down.

 

Featured image via UNC


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.

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