Is the Sam Howell news helping Carolina’s bowl prospects?

This week, every year, it is always fun to read the bowl predictions by all the news outlets. Literally they change every day for various reasons. One of those reasons may be the continued ascension of Carolina freshman quarterback Sam Howell, who has received the following conference accolades:

Third-team All-ACC behind Clemson sophomore Trevor Lawrence and Virginia senior Bryce Perkins; ACC Rookie of the Year and ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year, the first time UNC has produced the Rookie of the Year since current assistant coach Dré Bly in 1996 and Offensive Rookie of the Year since the award began in 2007.

Howell was one of 11 Tar Heels to make the All-ACC team, a quantum leap over the last two years.

The Mack Brown-Sam Howell story is well chronicled. The coach visited the high school star right after being named UNC head coach (again) last November. Howell had committed to Florida State but the kid from Monroe, North Carolina, had apparently grown up dreaming of playing quarterback for the Tar Heels.

With the December early signing period approaching quickly, Brown told Howell that he could reopen his recruiting because things had changed dramatically in Chapel Hill. Howell and his family agreed and he flipped his commitment after another visit to campus.

You can say it was fortuitous because of what happened at FSU, with Willie Taggart getting fired at midseason. Or you could also say that with Howell at quarterback, the Seminoles might have had at least the same success as Carolina did. No one will ever know, but Howell is a Tar Heel and tied to Brown at the hip.

That combination may also be jockeying the bowl bids. Early in the week, the two so-called experts making the predictions for ESPN had Carolina going to either the Military Bowl in Annapolis, Maryland, on December 27 or the Belk Bowl in Charlotte on New Year’s Eve.

Perhaps not coincidentally, after the ACC awards came out, one of those prognosticators had moved Carolina to the Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium, also on December 27. The Belk Bowl is pretty prestigious, playing in Bank of America Stadium, a game the 6-6 Tar Heels won in 2013 by beating Cincinnati.

But there is no question that playing at iconic Yankee Stadium in New York City against a Big Ten opponent will attract more regional media coverage and is an upgrade from the Belk Bowl for Brown’s resurgent program.

Predictions differ with other news outlets and will change again before Sunday, when the bowl bids are announced after the College Football Playoff Final Four is released. But, wherever, Mack and Sam make an attractive pick.

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