Having nearly made it through a 10-game ACC gauntlet against a league as strong as any in the country, the 17th-ranked Tar Heels are looking to close the regular season with a bang on Saturday at No. 10 Miami.
UNC enters this weekend’s showdown with a 7-3 record after winning its only non-conference game of the season last week against Western Carolina. Miami, meanwhile, will be putting a five-game winning streak and its 8-1 record on the line.
The Hurricanes boast a defense littered with NFL-caliber talent and a dual-threat quarterback in Houston transfer D’Eriq King that is the kind of player UNC has had trouble containing all season long. Their only loss of the season came against perennial national championship contender Clemson.
With Notre Dame also part of the ACC this season, UNC head coach Mack Brown told reporters on Wednesday that those three teams have separated themselves into a tier of their own.
“I do think right now that we have the best league in the country with the addition of Notre Dame this year,” Brown said. “You look at Notre Dame, you look at Clemson, you look at Miami. We’ve been up and down but have shown the ability to be really good, and there are a lot of other good teams in our league like us.
“But Miami and Clemson and Notre Dame would be considered great teams right now,” he added. “They’re three teams in the top 10, and that’s pretty special.”
The Tar Heels have been right on the cusp of breaking through to that next tier at times during the season, but have been unable to capitalize.
Ranked as high as No. 5 early in the year, UNC struggled under the pressure–falling into huge early deficits on the road against a pair of unranked teams in Florida State and Virginia. Despite nearly completing comebacks in both of those games, each ended in a disappointing loss.
Notre Dame also presented a chance for the Tar Heels to prove they belong among the elite teams in the league, but the Fighting Irish simply had too much talent.
This weekend against Miami will be a similar opportunity, as Clemson and Notre Dame both could end up in the College Football Playoff–meaning this game may determine who represents the ACC in the Orange Bowl.
“We’re playing a game that really matters at the end of the year,” Brown said. “And that’s what you want to be doing. This is championship level stuff because you’re playing for a chance to go to potentially a major bowl. And last year we were trying to get to a bowl on this game, we were just trying to get bowl eligible. So, we’ve put ourselves in a different category right now.”
A berth in the Orange Bowl would be the first in UNC’s program history, and would surely be something to get excited for. Even with the frustrating losses early in the year, making it to a major bowl game like that would represent a clear and obvious step forward for the Tar Heels.
Of course, the team has had multiple chances already to make that kind of statement this season. Talk is cheap at this point. If UNC wants to have a chance at defeating Miami, it’ll have to show up on the field and play its most complete game from start to finish
“I want them to be proud of themselves but I also want them to understand getting here is one thing,” Brown said. “There is a next step by winning the game. And nobody expects us to win. I saw on the College Football Playoff show [on Tuesday] they already got Miami and Texas A&M written in for the Orange Bowl. So I thought that was nice of them to help me with motivation.”
Photo via ACC Media
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