We are under 75 days until the start of the 2023 college football season and the excitement continues to grow.
For North Carolina, Mack Brown is hoping to lead his team back to the Atlantic Coast Conference title game as they enter this year behind Clemson and Florida State in terms of favorites to win the conference. With Drake Maye back for another year, that alone should put UNC in the running.
But as we sit here in June, it’s never too early to take a look at bowl projections.
Brad Crawford of 247Sports has the Tar Heels in the Sun Bowl taking on Oregon State:
Can the Tar Heels get back to the ACC Championship Game? It’s going to be a stiff challenge, even with Drake Maye returning at quarterback. Clemson and Florida State are top-10 teams, Miami should be better and there are others in the mid-tier who will be fighting for a spot in the top-half of the league standings. Losing Phil Longo to Wisconsin as Maye’s right-hand man (play-caller) and Josh Downs to the NFL is something to watch. The Tar Heels are hopeful elite transfer wideout Tez Walker is as good as advertised.
The last time UNC was in the Sun Bowl was 2016 when they lost to a Christian McCaffrey-less Stanford team 25-23.
Ideally, UNC gets into a New Year’s Six game as it means they would have found success this season. But also looming is the note that UNC has lost three-straight bowl games.
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