Heisman Trophy candidate and 2022 ACC Player of the Year Drake Maye returns, for what is likely his final season in Carolina Blue. Bryson Nesbit and Kamari Morales return one of the best 1-2 tight end punches in college football. Cedric Gray is an under-the-radar, 2024 NFL Draft prospect.
All are signs pointing to 2023 being a solid season for the University of North Carolina football team.
That’s what we all thought about last year, too, which started great then fell off a cliff with four consecutive losses.
Just over a month away from the season opener against neighboring rival University of South Carolina (Saturday, Sept. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Bank of America Stadium), where does UNC stand to finish in the ACC?
According to NC Football News, the Heels will end the year in third place, behind Florida State and – you guessed it – Clemson.
Carolina is picked to finish third, mostly, because of Maye. They have a new receiving corps, but a solid offensive line. Any success, however, will come from the defense holding up its end of the bargain.
Here’s what Lindy’s Sports had to say about UNC’s chances:
“Good enough to threaten for the ACC title game; not good enough to play in the title game.”
Here’s what sportswriter and college football analyst Phil Steele thinks of UNC’s chances:
“Maye headlines 17 returning starters, and they avoid Florida State in ACC play. They do face both Pitt and Clemson on the road but have a solid shot at the ACC title game.”
Carolina did a solid job of winning the games it was supposed to last season (Florida A&M, Georgia State, Virginia Tech, UVA, Duke) despite all of them being close at some point. If UNC wants a shot at the title game this year, it’ll have to finish top two in the ACC, as the conference is doing away with divisions. The Heels start ACC play on Saturday, Sept. 23 at Pitt, then host Syracuse on Saturday, Oct. 7.
Each of UNC’s first 10 games – even with a neutral-site clash against South Carolina and road tilt with Pitt, are all winnable. That puts them at possibly 10-0 heading in Clemson’s Death Valley on Saturday, Nov. 18.
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