This offseason has been filled with questions for the UNC football program as they enter this season the complete opposite of last year. Gong into 2021, the Tar Heels were the trendy pick to win the ACC Coastal and potentially take down Clemson. Heck, they were even named a darkhorse to for the College Football Playoff.
But this year? The Tar Heels have question marks at key positions and the expectations aren’t as high as they will likely be unranked to start the year.
College football analyst Phil Steele has officially released his annual guide for the upcoming season and the magazine is one of the more respected in the industry. Each year he releases his magazine spotlighting every single team as well as making predictions. As part of that, he also releases his preseason Top 40.
This year, the Tar Heels were left out of that Top 40, missing the cut here in July.
For the ACC, Steele has 6 teams in the Top 40. Clemson is ranked No. 4 followed by No. 11 Pitt, No. 12 Miami, No. 13 NC State, No. 24 Wake Forest and No. 33 Louisville.
UNC can earn some respect by getting off to a good start this season and pulling off some upsets. They currently have four teams of the six teams ranked from the ACC on their schedule this year.
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