NORTH CAROLINA
Nonconference opponents (with 2011 records)
Trap game: Sept. 22 against East Carolina. Those pesky Pirates always seem to give ACC teams fits.
Snoozer: Sept. 1 vs. Elon. UNC will have one week to get the kinks out under Fedora’s new schemes before travelling to Wake Forest for the first league game of the season.
Defining stretch: Can I just write Oct. 27 again? A defining four quarters? OK, OK … Oct. 6-Oct. 27 (Virginia Tech, at Miami, at Duke, NC State). At the midpoint of the season, the players should be more comfortable with the changes Fedora has made, and they will have a chance to derail the Hokies and beat their in-state rivals. Back-to-back road trips at Miami and Duke look a lot friendlier on paper than they actually will be. These four weeks will provide a good barometer of how quickly the Tar Heels have progressed under Fedora, and where they stand in comparison to the division favorites, Virginia Tech.
Final analysis: The NCAA has taken the postseason away from UNC, so the Tar Heels are playing the role of spoiler this year. They’ve got two of their toughest division opponents at home in Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, and will also have home-field advantage for rival NC State. The nonconference schedule is one of the easiest in the ACC, and a bye week before facing Georgia Tech always helps in defensive preparation. UNC has been trying to get over the eight-win hump, and it couldn’t line up much better for Fedora in his first season. It’s up to him to take advantage of it.
More in this series
Nonconference opponents (with 2011 records)
- Elon (5-6)
- At Louisville (7-6)
- East Carolina (5-7)
- Idaho (2-10)
- Virginia Tech
- NC State
- Georgia Tech
- Maryland
- At Wake Forest
- At Miami
- At Duke
- At Virginia
Trap game: Sept. 22 against East Carolina. Those pesky Pirates always seem to give ACC teams fits.
Snoozer: Sept. 1 vs. Elon. UNC will have one week to get the kinks out under Fedora’s new schemes before travelling to Wake Forest for the first league game of the season.
Defining stretch: Can I just write Oct. 27 again? A defining four quarters? OK, OK … Oct. 6-Oct. 27 (Virginia Tech, at Miami, at Duke, NC State). At the midpoint of the season, the players should be more comfortable with the changes Fedora has made, and they will have a chance to derail the Hokies and beat their in-state rivals. Back-to-back road trips at Miami and Duke look a lot friendlier on paper than they actually will be. These four weeks will provide a good barometer of how quickly the Tar Heels have progressed under Fedora, and where they stand in comparison to the division favorites, Virginia Tech.
Final analysis: The NCAA has taken the postseason away from UNC, so the Tar Heels are playing the role of spoiler this year. They’ve got two of their toughest division opponents at home in Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, and will also have home-field advantage for rival NC State. The nonconference schedule is one of the easiest in the ACC, and a bye week before facing Georgia Tech always helps in defensive preparation. UNC has been trying to get over the eight-win hump, and it couldn’t line up much better for Fedora in his first season. It’s up to him to take advantage of it.
More in this series
Heather Dinich | email
College Football- ESPN.com ACC blogger
- Joined ESPN.com in 2007
- Wrote for The Baltimore Sun
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Heather Dinich
Dinich covered ACC and Big Ten football for five seasons before joining ESPN.com in November 2007. She's an Indiana grad but somehow her favorite day of the week is Saturday.
Andrea Adelson
Adelson joined ESPN.com in 2010 after spending time as a college football columnist at The Orlando Sentinel. She has covered college football since her days as a University of Florida student, and lives in Orlando, Fla.
ACC TEAM COVERAGE
RECRUITING NATION
Florida State: NoleNation
Follow everything Florida State at NoleNation: Florida State Seminoles football, basketball, news, recruiting and more.
• NoleNation | Blog | RecruitingNation
You must be signed in to post a comment