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.
Mack Brown is playing every card in a game he has to win.
It seems like a little teenage tit for tat between Brown’s Tar Heels and P.J. Fleck’s Minnesota Gophers prior to their season opener a week from Thursday night.
Brown is not announcing his starting quarterback for now, whether lefty transfer Max Johnson or righties Conner Harrell and Jacolby Criswell will get the nod.
Fleck began what has been called a “chess match” by not revealing his two-deeps on both sides of the ball, which includes his presumed new starting QB. This makes it harder to scout a roster that, as with most Power 4 schools, has so many changes via recruiting and the transfer portal.
Likewise, Fleck would have to go back to find tape on Johnson from his stops at LSU and Texas A&M but hasn’t seen anything on big Max in the Tar Heels’ offense and will need to prepare for the 6-5 southpaw and two other quarterbacks who are run-pass-option threats.
This is an extremely important game for both programs, which begin the season as longshots to make the new 12-team college football playoff.
Carolina has been picked in the middle of the expanded 17-team ACC in most preseason polls. The Tar Heels have drawn one of the easiest early schedules in the country with three home games against underdog mid-majors following the opener in Minneapolis.
After Minnesota, their next Power 4 game is at Duke on September 28, the first of four straight against ACC teams picked to finish behind them in the standings. In all, six of the Heels’ eight conference opponents are rated in the bottom half of the league: Georgia Tech, Duke, Boston College, Pitt, Virginia and Wake Forest.
UNC has a good chance to go 8-0 before visiting Florida State on November 2, which would be Carolina’s third straight fast start under Brown. Finishing the season strong has been Brown’s biggest problem, going 2-9 in their last 11 games in 2022 and ’23.
Minnesota is among three teams in the Big Ten picked to tie for 14th place in the now-18-school league. So beating a high-profile program like Carolina will be the best start imaginable on a schedule that follows with home games against mid-majors Rhode Island and Nevada before playing ranked Iowa, Michigan and new B1G member Southern Cal.
The loser will have a serious setback in trying to build a season worthy of a major bowl invitation, largely because their non-conference schedules are so weak.
So the best opening night game on FOX will have a huge audience for fans thirsting for the football season after a long hot summer, regardless of who is QB1 and the other starters for both teams.
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.
