North Carolina football is looking to rise to the top of the ACC this coming year. The Tar Heels had a solid season in 2023, but got embarrassed in the Duke's Mayo Bowl by West Virginia. Drake Maye is gone, but the Tar Heels have some good weapons ready to take his place. Here are some way-too-early bold predictions for the 2024 North Carolina football season.
North Carolina football will go undefeated at home
North Carolina football is part of a new look and expanded ACC. The conference is welcoming in Stanford, California and SMU. Due to the expanded league, not every conference member plays each other every season. Interestingly, the Tar Heels don't play any of the new teams this season.
This year, the Tar Heels have a fairly favorable schedule. There are some difficult games, but those are mostly road games. North Carolina has home games this season against Charlotte, North Carolina Central, James Madison, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and North Carolina State. The Tar Heels will win all of them.
Three of those contests are non conference contests against teams the Tar Heels should beat. The conference games are against four solid teams, but all of them are rebuilding to some extent. Pitt, for instance, finished 3-9 last season and has a new offensive coordinator.
North Carolina is picked eighth in the ACC this season, per the conference preseason poll. The only team they play at home ahead of them in the preseason rankings is North Carolina State. The Tar Heels will be hyped for that game, and will win it in Chapel Hill.
Conner Harrell will be North Carolina football's starting QB
There's some competition for the starting quarterback position in Chapel Hill this season. Drake Maye is gone, off to lead the New England Patriots. While there are three young gunslingers duking it out for the starting job, only one can take the spot. That person is going to be Conner Harrell.
Harrell is a dual-threat quarterback, who can run as well as any gunslinger in college football. Harrell found some confidence in the Duke's Mayo Bowl last season. Although the Tar Heels lost by 20 points, it wasn't all at the feet of the offense. The team gave up a special teams touchdown, and a passing score on the first play of the game for WVU's offense.
Harrell finished that contest with 199 passing yards, with a touchdown and two interceptions. He seemed quite comfortable at times, despite his mistakes. The young gunslinger finished the 2023 season with 270 total passing yards, as well as 75 rushing yards.
Harrell has the trust of North Carolina football coach Mack Brown. Brown wouldn't have made Harrell the starter in the bowl game if he didn't think he could do the job. With an offseason to prepare and get better, Harrell will be able to show that this is going to be his offense this year.
North Carolina football will go bowling
North Carolina football is going to be a bowl team once again. As stated, the team will find a way to win all of its home games. That will be enough to get the team seven victories, and an opportunity to play in the postseason.
The Tar Heels also have road games at Florida State, Duke, Virginia, Boston College and Minnesota. North Carolina is going to win two of those games, and put themselves in position to get as many as 10 wins this season. Despite the loss of Drake Maye, the Tar Heels won't lose too many steps.
The journey begins for North Carolina football on August 29. The team starts its season on the road at Minnesota.
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