No one will confuse North Carolina for an ACC contender, but considering that coming into the season there were whispers that UNC could go 2-10 or 3-9 and Bill Belichick would probably be fired, maybe even by mid-season, the Heels have quietly become one of the more surprising ACC teams this year.
Saturday they went on the road and beat a 5-0 Pitt team 21-17. Sure, Pitt was without QB Mason Heintschel, but the Tar Heels trailed most of the game and came through with a surprising win. Suddenly, the Tar Heels sit 3-2 (1-1 ) in the ACC with a P4 over TCU, a road win at Pitt, and a credible performance in a loss to Notre Dame.
This is not a bad team.
Bill Belichek’s style is starting to resonate with his players. The Tar Heels are tough hard nosed defensive minded. The defense ranks 70th, but it seems better than that. They’ve held 3 of their 5 opponents under 20 points, and 4 out of the 5 under 30.
Billy Edwards Jr. isn’t the flashiest QB, but he’s a gamer. Now UNC can start thinking about a bowl game, which is a significant improvement from last year. They need to go 3-4 the rest of the way, and only Miami is probably out of reach.
Actually, with a break here or there, the Heels could finish 5-2 and have an 8-4 regular season. That would be borderline remarkable.
With Miami being an elite team, and Wake Forest getting all the deserved attention as the ACC’s most surprising team, we can forget about a team like UNC.
We shouldn’t, as they have a chance to make some noise in this year’s ACC.
