TarHeelIllustrated - AJ: Fair Approach Is To Judge UNC Against Its Peer Programs
To be fair, it makes more sense judging UNC football versus its peer programs in the ACC than Notre Dame, so we will.
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AJ: Fair Approach Is To Judge UNC Against Its Peer Programs
- Thread starter andrew jones
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northcarolina.rivals.com
Of course UNC football can be judged alongside Notre Dame. The 2 teams play once every 3 years, which is more than UNC plays Clemson or FSU or Syracuse. More to the point, if you are not going to judge yourself against ND, then you might as well acknowledge that you have no real desire to be truly good - being average is fine.
This year at least as much as any year ever, the Coastal is much weaker than the Atlantic. So even wining the coastal will not by itself mean anything. A team could win the Coastal this year and still be only the 4th best in the ACC.
But to get down to all the real issues: this was not an undefeated Irish team. And it has a 1st year HC who entered the game 1-3 as HC. And the game was in Chapel Hill, with UNC having an extra week to prepare. All those things matter in how anyone should assess the results of the contest.
If this team corrects enough of its weaknesses to finish 10-2, will that be a good sign? You bet. Likewise, if this team keeps stumbling around and finishes no better than 7-5 (without having faced either Clemson or a revived FSU), then that is most definitely not an acceptable sign for the 4th year of a coaching era, especially considering the age of the HC.
This year at least as much as any year ever, the Coastal is much weaker than the Atlantic. So even wining the coastal will not by itself mean anything. A team could win the Coastal this year and still be only the 4th best in the ACC.
But to get down to all the real issues: this was not an undefeated Irish team. And it has a 1st year HC who entered the game 1-3 as HC. And the game was in Chapel Hill, with UNC having an extra week to prepare. All those things matter in how anyone should assess the results of the contest.
If this team corrects enough of its weaknesses to finish 10-2, will that be a good sign? You bet. Likewise, if this team keeps stumbling around and finishes no better than 7-5 (without having faced either Clemson or a revived FSU), then that is most definitely not an acceptable sign for the 4th year of a coaching era, especially considering the age of the HC.
Not at all. You obviously didn't read the piece. You can't be judged against Notre Dame until you can get out of your own neighborhood, which the program hasn't done. Judge them against the ACC, and if they ever get to a psuedo Clemson level, then judge against the Notre Dames of the world. That's my point. You should read it, it will make sense.
Good article. I started a thread a while ago similar to this topic. Fans just can't go into the season expecting greatness on the level of elite programs. You can certainly hope for it, but to expect it is asking for disappointment. Let's get better than the other coastal teams before we expect a national championship.
To me this season has been disappointing. 3-1 is okay but that is a very misleading 3-1. FAMU and Ga. State should not have been close. UNC was fortunate to leave Boone with a W after giving 40 points in a quarter. The Heels have been manhandled at the line all season and on defense have looked completely lost several times per game.
It is year 4 with Brown and he has brought in (on paper) talent that should be competing for a conference title. I think his hope was that a former player would have shown enough by now to be the successor HC but that has not happened. Instead of building on an Orange Bowl appearance a few years back this program has regressed.
It is year 4 with Brown and he has brought in (on paper) talent that should be competing for a conference title. I think his hope was that a former player would have shown enough by now to be the successor HC but that has not happened. Instead of building on an Orange Bowl appearance a few years back this program has regressed.
That’s the issue, we cant get out of our own neighborhood. In year four with the talent we have, we should be playing better. When Mack returned, many said the staff he hired would be critical. It now appears that he let personal friendships skew his choices. Bateman was handcuffed by not getting to pick his own defensive staff. Then he was made the sacrificial lamb versus doing something about Cross and Bly. They appear to be the weakest links in our staff. Just my $.02 worth.
I don't think many expected us to be on Norte Dame’s level, program wise. I do think most thought we would play better than we have defensively. We’ve been atrocious defensively, there’s no sugarcoating it. Our lines have been manhandled, we can’t get pressure, our backs can’t cover or remember assignments, and we can’t tackle. For all those reasons, our defense is one of the very worst in the country.
I did think that we had a chance to possibly win the Coastal, based on the assumption that our defense had to improve. Our DL was “deep and talented”. Is it or isn’t it? Personally, I think they’re poorly coached, just like the secondary. Maybe we will ”get better than the other Coastal teams” and compete for the division but right now I’m very unimpressed with the results in year four of Mack’s tenure.
This board is full of posters that bitch every year about us not being a great program and winning at a higher level. Let's win the coastal at a regular clip before we expect greatness.
I think for most that means having a legitimate chance to win the division on a regular basis. We don’t appear to be anywhere near that.
I’ve been rooting for the Heels since 1960. We’ve had some success in football during that time period but hardly enough for me to ever have great expectations for our program. Most years I don’t expect us to be very good frankly. But I keep hoping to see a decent program. I’m beginning to think even that is not going to happen. Perhaps being very mediocre is our ceiling. I think the tail(sports) is wagging the dog(universities) anyway, so maybe it’s for the best if we get left out of a mega-conference and place less emphasis on sports.
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