Keeping It Heel
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UNC Football: New-look Tar Heels making early bid for bowl game

ByBlake Cockrum|
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 07: Head coach Mack Brown of the North Carolina Tar Heels celebrates with players after a win against the Miami Hurricanes at Kenan Stadium on September 07, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina won 28-25. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 07: Head coach Mack Brown of the North Carolina Tar Heels celebrates with players after a win against the Miami Hurricanes at Kenan Stadium on September 07, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina won 28-25. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

With two wins in the season’s first two weeks, the UNC football program is making an early bid for a bowl game.

The North Carolina Tar Heels have already surpassed the expectations of most this season, nabbing victories over Power 5 teams in each of their first two games of 2019. Those two victories — thrillers against South Carolina and Miami — match the Tar Heels’ win total from a season ago when they went 2-9 in former head coach Larry Fedora’s final year in Chapel Hill.

After their quick start, the Tar Heels are just four wins away from being bowl eligible with 10 games remaining on the season. That’s got North Carolina fans optimistic, and college football pundits talking postseason possibilities for the Tar Heels.

ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach updated their college football bowl projections upon the completion of Week 2, and North Carolina got a nod from both. Bonagura currently has the Tar Heels slated to participate in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl to be played at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. He’s got the Tar Heels set to square off with the Mississippi State Bulldogs, while Schlabach has Wake Forest and South Carolina penciled in to the December 30th game.

Contrary to Bonagura, Schlabach has the Tar Heels set to take on the Florida Gators in the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day. North Carolina and Florida are both 2-0 to start the season, and already share a common victory with their wins over Miami in consecutive weeks. The Hurricanes, on the other hand, begin a season with two straight losses for the first time in more than four decades. After the season’s first two weeks, Bonagura sees Florida taking on the undefeated Wisconsin Badgers in the 2020 Citrus Bowl.

The Tar Heels are set to take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Friday night at BB&T Stadium in Winston-Salem. A win over Wake would put the Tar Heels in position to be undefeated when Clemson travels to Chapel Hill in late September.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the UNC football program this season.

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