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Mack Brown needs to adjust his scheduling rap for his team and the ACC.
Mr. Optimism always talks about the challenges his football Tar Heels have to overcome before the season and midway through it. For example, last year, he called the first four games tougher than any he has had as a head coach. When his team lost twice after a 6-0 start, he returned to saying the ACC unfairly scheduled road games at Clemson and N.C. State to end the regular season, then wound up 8-5 after another bowl loss.
Based on the early strength-of-schedule polls, Brown can’t play that hand this fall. The 2024 Tar Heels’ slate has been rated No. 15 in the now-17 team football conference, with only Cal and Syracuse facing easier schedules. Eight ACC teams have SOS’s between 35-and 55, which on paper looks harder for No. 66 Carolina.
Carolina opens on Thursday night, August 29, on ESPN at Minnesota, which is picked to finish next-to-next-to-last in the Big Ten. Considering what follows, it could be a must-win opener.
The next three games are at home where it will be interesting to see how many fans show up for all of them against UNC-Charlotte, N.C. Central and James Madison, which could be UNC’s first close game. So, going 4-0 is almost a must-win first chapter. With all eight ACC games ahead. That could be good or bad.
Then comes a return at Duke as Brown gets to share the field again with Manny Diaz, new head coach of the Blue Devils, former HC at Miami and young defensive coordinator at Texas before Brown fired him. Then it’s back to Kenan against Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech (which has the No. 2 SOS in the nation) and a visit to Virginia. With the holes they have to fill, 8-0 still seems attainable.
Carolina will be a decided underdog on November 2 at Florida State, which may be a lame-duck member of the ACC by then. The Top 10 Seminoles replace Clemson as the old Atlantic Division tough-guy opponent. If 8-1 or 7-2 at that point, the Heels would likely be favored at home against Wake Forest and N.C. State around a trip to BC. The 10-win plateau that Brown has talked about but hasn’t reached in his return to Chapel Hill suddenly looks doable if the new QBs are any good.
Brown likes to say “we are this close” as he holds index finger against thumb, supposedly the total margin of victory that has slipped away. But his latest UNC teams have also been “this close” to losing some of the last-minute games they’ve pulled out. Maybe he’ll use coach-speak and say, “We’re going to take them one at a time.”
Featured image via Associated Press/Jacob Kupferman
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.
