We are finally here. We made it. The Tar Heels are just moments away from kicking off the Bill Belichick era against TCU after a lot of talking, a lot of roster movement, and a lot of speculation. It’s hard for me to think of another game in Carolina football history that has been as anticipated as this one, and it’s mostly because we do not know what a legendary NFL head coach leading the Heels looks like. It’s happened at other schools to some degree, but not of this caliber.
With that said, I think
it’s important to state for the record that I have no idea what in the world is going to happen tonight. I cannot even begin to guess what we’re about to watch. There are 70 new players on this roster, all of the key positions look completely different, and well, there’s the Belichick factor of it all. In a way, it’s kind of great to go into a game knowing as little as possible, but obviously things could go as poorly as they can good. My hope is that TCU isn’t too big of a challenge for a team that has a lot of guys that have never played a meaningful snap together. We’ll find out if that’s the case in just a few moments.
The number one question that I have about this team is whether or not this year’s defense will be a respectable unit. Why them specifically? Because I feel like during the Mack Brown era they were always able to figure things out offensively one way or another. A lot of that has to do with Sam Howell and Drake Maye, but I also feel like the Jacolby Criswell-led team wasn’t the worst offensively either — it helps that they had Omarion Hampton, who eventually was drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft. Don’t get me wrong, though, I do have a fair share of questions about the offense as well, especially when it comes to whether or not Gio Lopez has the juice. But truly I think the defense will be under my microscope, if for no other reason than they will be able to at least keep things interesting if the offense isn’t clicking on all cylinders yet.
As always, we will be back after the game with post-game analysis and takes. We will also be active in The Feed on the front page of our website, so feel free to interact in that section as well! May the football Gods bless us all, and most importantly, Go Heels!
