Okay guys, to appease
@WoadBlue (and myself) and get traffic up on this board, let's have at this. You can either rank our 12 opponents comparative to one another i.e. 1-12, or you can rank each opponent's difficulty on a scale of 1 to 10.
This thread is "way too early" because not only do we not know at this point exactly how good these teams will be, we also do not know the complete schedule order. As we all know,
when you play a certain team or stretch of games plays a part in the likelihood of you beating said team(s). Please see
this link here for the listing of schools we play in 2016.
2016 Home opponents
James Madison (9/17)
Georgia Tech
Pitt
Virginia Tech
NC State
The Citadel (11/19)
2016 Away / Neutral opponents
Georgia (in Atlanta, 9/3)
Illinois (9/10)
Duke
Miami
Virginia
Florida State
#1.FSU--The Noles return their starting QB, Cook at RB and a lot of OL along with several WRs....The Defense will also be improved IMO, and the game could be a Thursday Night or Prime Time Saturday affair, so there's that along with a big rowdy crowd...Agree that the Clemson game in Death Valley a couple years ago will be somewhat comparable in terms of the venue, but I hope we have a better result this time around than when we got pounded in Deshawn Watson's debut against the Tar Heels in Death Valley?....
#2.UGA---It's hard to get a gage on the Bulldogs just yet with Kirby Smart returning to his alma-mater, but they do return Chubb and Michel at RB and the Eason kid will likely start from day 1 at QB, which might give us a better shot at beating Georgia in their back yard, since the game will kickoff the 2016 season?....Gonna be tough for sure, but I like our chances on a neutral field, rather than between the hedges....
#3.Miami--The game is in Coral Gables, and Mark Richt is putting together an impressive staff, especially on defense for the Canes, and he's an alumnus who has a bunch of contacts for one of the best recruiting hotbeds in the country....This year's version will hardly resemble last year's version of the Canes with the exception of the returning QB who will likely be much improved under Richt...The Canes could be a very difficult team to handle late in the year, so when this game is scheduled will have a big impact on how the Tar Heels fair in this game IMO..
#4.Illinois---I call this the "Between the Ears" game, meaning how motivated will the team be to play this game after blowing-out the Illini this past season in Chapel Hill?....If there's a game on the schedule where the team may have a letdown, I could see it happening with this game...
#5. Pittsburgh--The Panthers kinda slipped up on a lot of folk last year, but that won't be the case this year...Not to mention, OC Jim Chaney is now at Georgia, while fired NCST OC Matt Canada is the new OC at Pitt....Pitt loses ultra-playmaker Tyler Boyd to the NFL....The Panther D will still be tough, but I like our chances this year more than I did last year...
$6. UVA--Every road game is tough, and the oldest rivalry in the south just got a whole lot tougher with the hiring of Bronco Mendenhall and most of his former BYU coaching staff....Granted he's got his work cut out for himself, but he also knows how to produce a productive QB which is something that the Wahoos have sorely lacked the last several years....Not to mention, the Tidewater recruiting area which can accelerate the growth and improvement of the football program....It was a homerun hire for the Wahoos IMO...
#7.Ga. Tech--It's hard to imagine the Yellowjackets having another year as they had this past season when their team was decimated by early season injuries, especially the backfield....One doesn't have to look very hard to find the one team that has been a big thorn in the side of the Tar Heels for the last decade or so....Hopefully, that comeback in Atlanta last year, and the confidence gained by it, will pay dividends this year in Chapel Hill with most of our Defense returning....It is however concerning that we will be likely breaking-in a couple new starters at LBer, which is tough when you face the option offense of the Yellowjackets...
#8.Va Tech--The Hokies will be tough on defense as usual, but they do lose their all-american Fuller from the secondary to the NFL, which gives the Tar Heels' passing attack an advantage....The biggest difference between this year's Hokies as opposed to last year is new Coach Justin Fuentes who will bring a much different approach to the offense of the Hokies....Glad the game is in Chapel Hill this year....
#9.Duke--Two butt-kickings in a row is not going to sit well with the Bluedevils....It's true that Cash is headed to the NFL, but overall I believe that Duke will be improved on defense next year as they seemed to have been recruiting much better on that side of the ball the last couple of years....They do lose a couple playmakers, but Cutcliffe is a hellava offensive mind that may have a more productive offense this year than last, even though their former OC is now head man at East Carolina?
#10.NCST-State replaces their OC, who Pitt Coach Pat Narduzzi stated on Pantherlair, was actually his first choice for OC when he took the Pitt job before settling on Jim Chaney when Canada stayed with the Wolfpack....Does state have another big mobile QB like Jacoby Brissett in the wings?...I know they return a stable of RBs who were banged-up most of the season, and they do return some talented youngsters on defense, but I still don't believe that the Wolfpack will be able to keep up with the Tar Heels offensively this year in Chapel Hill....Just hope this time when the Tar Heels jump out to a big lead(35-0) on the Wolfpack that they'll just keep pouring it on, and not let them back in the game as they did this past year....
#11.James Madison--The Dukes have a new Coach, and will likely be much- improved over last season...Don't mind at the moment playing one FCS school, but we've got to get two of them off the schedule if we ever expect to get any credit from the playoff selection committee...
#12.The Citadel--The Cadets will have a new coach as former coach Mike Houston is the new man at James Madison, thus the reason I gave the Dukes the edge over the Cadets as being the tougher opponent...
As mentioned by the OP, it's really hard to determine the order of the toughest games until the schedule comes out, and we see what impact the new recruits make, or what kids decide to transfer or leave their respective football programs for some other reason prior to the start of fall practice...
But that's my take for what it's worth!
