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North Carolina football got hit with some bad news in its first game of the season against Minnesota. The Tar Heels lost quarterback Max Johnson, due to a devastating leg injury. The injury required surgery, and that essentially ended the quarterback's season.
While that is certainly rough news, hold fast North Carolina football fans. Here are some reasons why the Tar Heels will still go to a bowl game, despite this rough development.
North Carolina football has a great quarterback waiting in the wings
The Tar Heels have a quarterback ready to go in Conner Harrell. Harrell started the team's bowl game last season against West Virginia, after Drake Maye decided to prepare for the NFL Draft. The dual-threat gunslinger Harrell is a solid rusher as well as passer. He finished the Duke's Mayo Bowl last year against the Mountaineers with 199 passing yards and a touchdown. Harrell did throw two interceptions in that game, but the young quarterback was hurried all day. He was sacked seven times in the game, as West Virginia's defense camped in the UNC backfield.
Harrell nearly won the starting job this offseason for North Carolina. He finished the Minnesota game, after Johnson went down. Harrell did what he needed to do, and led the Tar Heels to victory in that contest. In the game, he went 2-for-4 passing for 34 yards. Most importantly, Harrell managed the offense and helped the team earn a 19-17 victory.
“I hate that Max got hurt for him and for us. Conner [has] got to come on,” North Carolina coach Mack Brown said after the game, per ESPN.
The young play caller will now have to step up for North Carolina. With his experience, he is certainly building some confidence. North Carolina has three games coming up against Charlotte, North Carolina Central and James Madison. The Tar Heels will be favored to win all three of those games. For Harrell, that means he has some time to build up his knowledge of the playbook and take the reins of this offense.
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The team's conference schedule is manageable
North Carolina football needs five more wins this year to become bowl eligible, after defeating Minnesota. The next three games, as mentioned, are all likely to be wins. That means the team just needs two wins after September to get to a bowl game.
That's certainly possible. The ACC is completely wide open this year, as Florida State lost to Georgia Tech in Ireland. Stanford lost a non conference game to TCU. There are several teams in the conference who can compete for an ACC championship, due to all this instability. North Carolina could still be one of those teams.
It's won't be easy for the Tar Heels to win games, but they can do it. North Carolina football has remaining home conference games against Pitt, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and North Carolina State. The team goes on the road to play Virginia, Boston College, Duke and Florida State. Are there two wins in that slate? Most definitely.
North Carolina football just needs to protect at home to get those wins. Only two of the games left on the North Carolina schedule are against ranked teams. The Tar Heels miss out on playing Miami and Clemson, who are two of the contenders to win the league. That's good news for a team trying to build up the confidence of Harrell, their young quarterback.
Sit tight and keep the faith, Tar Heels fans. The season isn't over, and neither should be your hopes of making a bowl game. North Carolina football next plays Charlotte on Saturday.
