The first week of the 2023 college football season is in the books as we get set to turn the page to week 2. With one week complete, updated bowl projections are being released.
And while it’s very early for projections and these will change, it’s interesting to see the perspective change from a national level after a big win. That’s what happened to the North Carolina Tar Heels after beating South Carolina.
Following the win on Saturday over South Carolina, one analyst has the Tar Heels in a New Year’s Six bowl. Brett McMurphy of Action Network released his updated bowl projections and he has the Tar Heels in the Orange Bowl against Penn State.
My Week 2 bowl projections. @CFBPlayoff: Georgia-Washington, Michigan-Florida State; Orange: Penn State-UNC; Cotton: Texas-Oregon; Fiesta: Alabama-USC; Peach: Ohio State-Tulane; Sun: Colorado-Duke; Music City: Texas A&M-Illinois; Las Vegas: Iowa-UCLAhttps://t.co/zTmQurTgIU pic.twitter.com/esBhJqC0ay
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 5, 2023
The Capital One Orange Bowl has the ACC tie-in, with the top program playing in the game unless that program is in the College Football Playoff which is the case here. With Florida State being in the Rose Bowl game, it opens up a spot for the next best team which would be UNC in this case.
The Tar Heels were last in the Orange Bowl a few years back when they lost to Texas A&M without three of their best offensive players.
These projections will change, but it’s fun to see McMurphy’s thoughts on a Tar Heels team that got the season off to a good start and what a win can do for a program like that.
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