When Mack Brown returned for his second stint with the UNC football program, the program needed a boost. They were coming off a two-year stretch from 2017-2018 in which they went 5-19 under Larry Fedora.
Since then, Brown has taken UNC to a bowl game each season including an Orange Bowl. But he hasn’t found much success there either. The Tar Heels are just 1-4 in bowl games under Brown and have yet to win an ACC title.
UNC has had high expectations in the preseason in a few of those years as well, only to come up short. And now, they made a list on 247Sports that they really don’t want to be on.
Brad Crawford of 247Sports named 10 programs that have failed to meet preseason expectations several times over the last decade. And on that list where the Tar Heels:
Unranked finishes since 2010 after being inside preseason top 25: 5
Tar Heels coach Mack Brown warned against eating the “poisoned cheese” last fall after North Carolina started 6-0 for the first time since 1997, but his team ate it anyway. A loss to Virginia was the first of five setbacks over the final seven games as the Tar Heels finished unranked after climbing all the way to No. 10 nationally following a start at No. 21. Two seasons prior in 2021, the Tar Heels were No. 10 in the preseason before losing to Virginia Tech on the road and eventually going 6-7 despite sizable expectations.
The good news for Brown and the Tar Heels this season is that there aren’t high expectations going into 2024. The Tar Heels have some big questions to address including at quarterback.
But oftentimes, the best seasons are ones that don’t come with high expectations.
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