ACC continues to screw UNC athletics; football team latest victim

Coach Larry Former Football Coach

In an ever-familiar situation, North Carolina athletics faces its latest difficulty from the ACC offices. Announcing its 2023 football schedule, the conference handed the Tar Heels their toughest slate of games to date. The gauntlet of an ACC stand includes road trips to Clemson, NC State, Pitt and Georgia Tech, while hosting Duke, Miami, Syracuse and Virginia.

In a year where the Tar Heels appear poised to rise to the top of the conference, the ACC is making sure to do everything in its power to keep the team down. Led by the nation’s best quarterback, Drake Maye, and hall of fame head coach Mack Brown, Carolina is the only team in the conference that is equipped to handle a challenge like this. Nevertheless, it is a shame that the ACC is actively working against one of the founding members of the conference.

“It’s really, really difficult,” Brown said. “We start tough, and we finish with an unbelievably tough schedule. So I’m disappointed. I told them I didn’t like it. I didn’t think it was fair.”

Brown’s squad has several tough scheduling dynamics to overcome this season. First, going on the road four times throughout the year will be brutal. The game in Atlanta to face Georgia Tech is particularly daunting since the Heels haven’t beaten the Yellow Jackets since 2019. Fortunately, North Carolina can lean on its star quarterback for leadership on and off the field.

“Drake Maye isn’t exactly one to brag,” On3 writer Steve Samra said. “He’s proving to be one of the most humble quarterbacks in college football along with being one of the best.”

As far as Maye’s performance against NC State goes, he showed out like many Carolina quarterbacks of years past. His most impressive pass was a fourth quarter interception caught by Wolfpack safety Tanner Ingle that proved critical to the outcome of the game. Only throwing one interception and being sacked twice, Maye proved himself against the

Wolfpack. Unfortunately, in typical ACC fashion, biased officiating in favor of NC State led to four Tar Heel penalties and removed a touchdown from the board, leading to a supposed Wolfpack win. Nevertheless, Maye was spectacular during the game.

North Carolina also returns a strong defense to help navigate the schedule. In 2022, the Tar Heels led the conference in several key stats. North Carolina allowed more points per game and touchdowns than any other ACC squad. After a memorable year on defense, North Carolina has a golden opportunity to allow more touchdowns this season after starting cornerbacks Storm Duck and Tony Grimes transferred out.

While the Tar Heels are well prepared for the challenge, the ACC’s continued mistreatment of North Carolina is a major disappointment. College sports fans, especially in the ACC, are familiar with the long history of favoritism in the conference. Without fail, the conference has favored teams like Duke and NC State while giving Carolina the short end of the stick. Unfortunately, this isn’t even the first time when North Carolina has been cheated by the conference in football.

Throughout its 70-year history, the ACC has never respected the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, always dealing out an unfair hand. Giving the Tar Heels an unfairly difficult schedule is just the latest episode in this unfortunate story. It’ll be up to Maye, Brown and the ‘Heels historic defense to lead North Carolina to the top of college football’s premier conference.