CHAPEL HILL – The Coaches’ poll is out, and North Carolina will begin the third season of Mack Brown’s second run in Chapel Hill as the No. 9 team in the nation.
Votes by 65 participants were tabulated and released Tuesday, and the Tar Heels will begin the season ranked in the top 10 for the first time since 1997. Carolina returns 21 of its 22 starters from a loss to Texas A&M last January in the Orange Bowl, including quarterback Sam Howell, who last month was voted Preseason ACC Player of the Year by the league’s media.
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.”
The Tar Heels received a total of 999 votes and came in behind Iowa State, which is No. 8 with 1,131 points. Defending national champion Alabama is ranked No. 1 followed by Clemson, Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Georgia rounding out the top five. Texas A&M is No. 6 and Notre Dame is at No. 7. Here are the complete rankings.
Carolina visits the Fighting Irish on Oct. 30 but does not have Clemson on the schedule during the regular season. If the Tar Heels and Tigers play, it would be in the ACC championship game in December.
This is not UNC’s highest ranking in recent years. The Tar Heels rose to No. 5 last October the week they played at Florida State but lost 31-28 in a game they trailed 31-7 at halftime. Junior safety Gio Biggers says the Heels learned a lesson that weekend that should help them this season.
“I think we have a lot more maturity on the team,” he said. “Guys understand what’s at stake this year. I think we understand that this team’s the one that can do it this year. Last year, we were young, we really didn’t understand how big of a moment that could have been for us.”
UNC finished last season 8-4 and ranked No. 13 in the CFP poll. Carolina held its sixth practice of fall camp Tuesday morning and opens its season Sept. 3 at Virginia Tech.
