The Preseason Coaches Poll is Out and Thankfully UNC is Not In It - SCACCHoops.com

The Preseason Coaches Poll is Out and Thankfully UNC is Not In It

by Tarheelblog.com

Posted: 7/30/2015 11:35:08 AM


The first of the preseason polls is out today. Let's take a look at the Amway Coaches Poll.

RANK TEAM RECORD POINTS 1ST PLACE VOTES PREV CHANGE HI/LOW
1 Ohio State 14-1 1598 62 NR  
2 TCU 12-1 1487 1 NR  
3 Alabama 12-2 1452 1 NR  
4 Baylor 11-2 1365   NR  
5 Oregon 13-2 1260   NR  
6 Michigan State 11-2 1230   NR  
7 Auburn 8-5 1103   NR  
8 Florida State 13-1 1057   NR  
9 Georgia 10-3 1026   NR  
10 USC 9-4 1014   NR  
11 Notre Dame 8-5 883   NR  
12 Clemson 10-3 838   NR  
13 LSU 8-5 727   NR  
14 UCLA 10-3 697   NR  
15 Ole Miss 9-4 668   NR  
16 Arizona State 10-3 577   NR  
17 Georgia Tech 11-3 573   NR  
18 Wisconsin 11-3 470   NR  
19 Oklahoma 8-5 407   NR  
20 Arkansas 7-6 377   NR  
21 Stanford 8-5 365   NR  
22 Arizona 10-4 299   NR  
23 Missouri 11-3 229   NR  
24 Boise State 12-2 190   NR  
25 Tennessee 7-6 166   NR  

It would appear people have finally received a clue of some sorts about preseason hype and UNC football. The Tar Heels received just two votes and for once will start the season with more reasonable expectations. The constant need for the national media to hype UNC football has become tiresome.

As Patrick Stevens points out, such hype has never been based in reality and stems from a faulty notion.

North Carolina is [an underachiever] because … it is good in a lot of other sports? Chapel Hill is a fantastic college town? Pretty much every other University of (Insert southern state here) has wild-eyed aspirations for its football program, so why not North Carolina?

Here's another argument: North Carolina is an underachiever only in the context that outsiders constantly expect a top-25 program. History suggests that just isn't so; the Tar Heels finished a season ranked five times before 1972, six times between 1972 and 1982 and four times since. To paraphrase Jack Nicholson, maybe 8-5 is as good as it gets (unless Mack Brown's around).

There is very much an "you are what you are historically" element in play here. Historically, UNC has never been a perennial top 25 team unless, as Stevens points out, you get a ten year ride with a coach like Mack Brown at the helm.

At least for this season, the preseason poll has figured out that the 2015 Tar Heels isn't worthy of such hype which is fine. Larry Fedora and his program need to prove they can put together a solid season on both sides of the football. They need to earn a ranking not have it handed to them by poll voters who buy into the "sleeping giant" idiocy bouncing around out there. And the bonus is UNC won't end up on any "most disappointing" lists by mid-October.

Exit question: Which top ten ranked team who will actually end up being mediocre will needlessly inflate the resume of a slightly above average team that will somehow end up in the College Football Playoff discussion before dropping 3 of their last 4 and getting run in the bowl game?

 

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