2015 UNC Football Schedule: Instant Reaction and Predictions

Here are a few instant reactions and predictions to the news of the UNC Football schedule release this morning. 

My first thought when I saw the 2015 UNC Football schedule? Boy, this looks a lot easier than last year. I guess any time you take Notre Dame, Clemson, ECU and San Diego State and replace them with Wake Forest, South Carolina, Delaware and Illinois, the schedule is just going to look a lot easier.

No game on this schedule really scares me that much. I’m not scared of South Carolina in Charlotte in the first game of the season. I think the Heels will rise to the challenge and put up a good fight against the Gamecocks.

Georgia Tech away does scare me, but, anytime you play Georgia Tech, home or away, you are in for a battle. I’m glad that game comes after the Delaware game, but it would have been nice to switch the Wake and GT games around to give the Heels the extra week to prepare.

The three game stretch of Wake Forest, Virginia and Pittsburgh are three tricky games that I think will decide the course of the season. If UNC really wants to take that next step, they have to go 3-0 over that stretch of games and set themselves up well for the second half of the season.

Pitt away is sort of a tough game, but it is more of a good opportunity for the Heels to get a statement win on Thursday night on National T.V.

The last four game stretch of Duke, Miami, @VT and @State will be tough, but even that isn’t that bad. UNC proved they could beat Duke last year and UNC has some extra motivation for the last three opponents, given what happened last season against each of those three teams.

Overall, this is not a very hard schedule. Seven home games are nice, but none of them, besides Duke and Wake, are super big draws for the fans. UNC is going to have to generate excitement at the stadium by winning football games this season to get the students and the fans to show up in full force.

Now it is prediction time…

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This is tricky, because I have a vision of what the 2015 Tar Heels will look like in my head, and who knows if that vision is anywhere close to true. But I see the Heels playing more consistently as the team that beat Duke last year, not as the team that showed up against State and Rutgers in the “bowl game that shall not be named.”

Comparing the “team that showed up against Duke” team to this schedule, I see 9-3. Losses come against GT, against South Carolina or Duke, and one loss in the last three games.

If I was to compare the team that showed up for the bowl game to this schedule, I see 6-6 or 7-5. UNC would start 3-2, head to the bye week, lose one against the Wake, UVA and Pitt group and go 2-2 over the final stretch of the season.

Those are my reactions and predictions to the new schedule. Let us know what you think in the comments below!