12/8/09
When looking for surprise teams in 2010, North Carolina is going to stand out as they make a jump from being unranked to having a Top 15 presence. The upcoming fall will be the fourth season for head coach Butch Davis, the season that all true coaches are measured by their own recruits reaching upperclassmen status. On paper, Davis has passed with flying colors heading into next spring, based primarily on personnel. The Tar Heels now need to take the wealth of athletes and turn them into a 10-win type of program. They were well on their way during the ’09 campaign before getting upset in the last game of the year by rival N.C. State. Such is the nature of the ACC; no one team has risen above its quagmire of inconsistency. Georgia Tech is the favorite to repeat in the Coastal Division, but UNC is right on their "heels". Enough cannot be said about how much star power this team boasts on the defensive side. This is a senior-based group with All-Conference talent everywhere. The offense is quite the opposite – is there enough ‘wow’ factor? Other than losing OT Kyle Jolly, this will likely be the same exact offense as the year before. Coach Davis and his staff need to have this group learn from its prior mistakes. Looking at the depth charts, North Carolina is setting up to make ‘10 their best since the Mack Brown days of the mid-90s.