UNC Football: Early projection has Tar Heels in New Year’s Six Bowl

Could the UNC Football program land a spot in the Capitol One Orange Bowl this year? One publication makes their early prediction

It’s been a few years since we have seen this much excitement around the North Carolina Tar Heels’ football program going into a season. Following the 2015 campaign, expectations were at near an all-time high for a team that was returning a lot of starters and quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.

But that 2016 team didn’t live up to expectations and failed to win the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division. In the two years after, the team won a combined three games before Mack Brown led them to a 7-6 record and their first bowl win since 2013.

Now as we enter 2020, the Tar Heels are receiving a lot of hype and the latest comes from a national publication.

On Thursday, Sporting News released their first bowl projections for the 2020 season with just a few months until (hopefully) kickoff and they have the Tar Heels in a big bowl game. No, they don’t have them playing in the College Football Playoff but they do have them in a New Year’s Day Six Bowl.

Sporting News projects the Tar Heels to take that big jump and play in the Capitol One Orange Bowl on January 2nd against Penn State. It’s the next biggest bowl game outside of the two College Football Playoff games, a big step for the program.

If the projection is correct, it would be the first time UNC has ever played in the Orange Bowl and would be one of the biggest bowl games in program history.

Now there is a lot of time between now and kickoff and a lot will change. But it’s still nice to see a national outlet giving the Tar Heels some love in the preseason.

For more on the UNC Football program, please check back with Keeping It Heel.