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N.C. State and Carolina open training camp too close to call in 2024.
In the first two ACC preseason polls released, the Wolfpack is predicted to finish fourth and sixth while the Tar Heels check in at seventh and ninth. The difference may be the new starting quarterbacks at both schools who all have experience elsewhere.
Either way, they are ranked higher than Duke and Wake Forest in the newly expanded 17-team league. The Blue Devils are picked in the middle and the Deacons at the back end of the standings in the early polls.
The Big Four brethren close the regular season on the same day, November 30. State is at UNC and Duke at Wake Forest with all four in probable contention for one of the 11 bowl invites the ACC could receive.
It is hard to imagine anyone else finishing first and second behind Florida State and Clemson, which play at FSU on October 5, likely setting up a rematch for the ACC championship on December 7.
State has beaten Carolina three straight years in two last-possession games and a blowout in Raleigh. The bitter rivals have combined to lose their last six bowl games to end relatively disappointing seasons. And both will have to count on capable quarterbacks to have a shot at going bowling again.
North Carolina State head coach Dave Doeren enters 2024 as one of the longest tenured coaches in the ACC and the program’s all-time winningest head coach. (Photo via AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker.)
The Wolfpack has fifth-year graduate student Grayson McCall, a three-time Sun Belt Player of the Year who threw for 10,000 yards and 88 TDs for Coastal Carolina, completing just under 70 percent of his passes, with only 14 interceptions in four years of mid-major football. The question is can he replicate on the big stage.
The Tar Heels featured two quarterbacks in the recent spring game, sophomore Conner Harrell and grad transfer Max Johnson, who both attended the ACC Media confab in Charlotte. Johnson played at LSU and Texas A&M and transferred to Carolina with his brother Jake Johnson, a tight end at A&M. A third quarterback, junior Jacolby Criswell, returned to Chapel Hill after a year at Arkansas and could contend for playing time.
The Heels will have their almost-regular challenges along their interior lines, hoping to avoid the injuries that have contributed to the last two late-season swoons. They want to run the ball more but not rely on All-ACC back Omarion Hampton too much, which will put more pressure on the new quarterbacks.
Following the August 29 opener at Minnesota, picked 13th in the Big Ten, Carolina has a soft September of three home games that should send Mack Brown’s sixth Tar Heel team (16th overall) to Duke on September 28 with a 4-0 record and plenty of snaps for the QBs who get them. The schedule only gradually gets harder from there except for a trip to Tallahassee on November 2. Then, it eases up again, giving UNC a chance for that elusive 10-win season that State is also chasing in Dave Doeren’s 11th year. Neither coach has won an ACC championship.
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward.
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.
I’m confused (which is nothing unusual at all these days, in this very confused and confusing world).
Don’t we have a “Hall of Fame” coach in his 6th year back at UNC? Shouldn’t we be in the running for conference championships every year, not winning only 60 percent of our games? Hiring three “great,” “fantastic,” “defensive minded,” “perfect fit” defensive coordinators? Hiring super OC’s? Having the best QB’s, running backs, and wide receivers and tight ends in the conference?
But for some reason, these facts and folks don’t translate into championships, but our head coach (EVERY SINGLE YEAR) says all the right things and says we need to work on the (VERY) same things every year, but for some reason they never get fixed.
Here’s the confusing part: Shouldn’t a “Hall of Fame” coach be able to fix these things?
Or maybe, just maybe, he’s quite simply a great man, a great recruiter, and a great salesman and money-maker, but not a very good coach!
He says 6 fellow coaches have been fired that said he would retire before they left respective schools. That’s dumb on their parts, but not necessarily lies. They just should have known better, that UNC accepts mediocrity and embraces coaches that are nice people, whether they win or lose.
Mack has won only TWO conference championships in all his years of coaching! Let that sink in!