Not only is North Carolina debuting in the top-10 of the Coaches’ poll, but the UNC program learned Monday it will start the season as the No. 10 team in the nation in the Associated Press poll.
The Tar Heels received 999 total points in votes cast by 62 members of the media across the nation. This is the first time UNC will open a season in the AP top-10 since 1997, when Carolina opened at No. 7. The Tar Heels finished that season 11-1.
UNC is coming off an 8-4 campaign that included a 62-26 rout of then-No. 10 Miami on the road and a loss to Texas A&M in the Orange Bowl, the program’s first major bowl in 71 years. UNC finished ranked No. 13 in the final CFP poll, and 21 of the 22 starters versus the Aggies are back, and expectations are high for the Tar Heels among the local, regional, and national media.
ACC Media picked Carolina to win the Coastal Division and junior quarterback Sam Howell was tabbed the league’s Preseason Player of the Year. While the Associated Press and coaches’ polls have not yet been released, most other preseason rankings have the Tar Heels in the top 10.
But Carolina, which has 50 scholarship redshirt or true freshmen, is pushing the narrative it must deflect the outside chatter as one of their primary missions.
“We have some great older players that are leaders…,” UNC Coach Brown recently said. “Then we've got a bunch of young guys. The young guys have to grow up. We've been circled by everybody in this league.”
UNC lost its top two running backs and wide receivers, all four of whom are in the NFL, but with so much else back and a talent base that is growing each year, the expectations are high in Chapel Hill.
The players, however, are cautious about taking rankings too seriously, especially when they believe many doubters remain.
“For me personally, I don’t try to pay as much attention to the rankings because I want to focus on football, I want to focus on our team, and just work and develop ourselves and as a team get better,” junior wide receiver Emery Simmons said. “I know that we’ve got the talent to be in the top 10, I know we should be in the top 10 or higher.
“But I just think our main focus now is we’ve got so many non-believes that don’t believe in us, like we shouldn’t be there, or there’s like an ‘if’ factor with us… So we’re just trying to keep our head down and work.”
This is just the sixth time Carolina has started a season in the top 10 of the AP rankings. In addition to 1997, UNC also opened at No. 5 in 1982, No. 10 in 1958, No. 6 in 1949, and No. 2 in 1948. This is just the sixth time since Brown left Chapel Hill following the 1997 campaign that Carolina has started a season anywhere in the AP rankings.
