UNC Football: Updated bowl projections for Tar Heels

The UNC Football program entered this season with high expectations. They were ranked No. 10 in the preseason poll and things got off to a bad start with an opening night loss at Virginia Tech.

Mack Brown’s team has had a few ups but the downs have outweighed them this season including losses to Georgia Tech and Florida State early in the year. But Friday’s loss to N.C. State where the Tar Heels blew a nine-point lead with just over two minutes left was the final nail in the coffin for disappointment.

But even with the struggles, UNC found themselves bowl eligible and will play one more game to close out the year.

As for where that game will be and the opponent, there are some mixed predictions but the consensus is that the Tar Heels end up in New York playing in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl. Four different predictions have the Tar Heels in the Bronx for the bowl game against the Big Ten.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach, The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel, College Football News and Athlon Sports has the Tar Heels in the  New Era Pinstripe Bowl. Every prediction for the game has UNC playing Penn State while College Football News has UNC playing Maryland.

The New Era Pinstripe Bowl takes place on December 29th at 2:15 p.m. and is played in Yankee Stadium.

Other bowl projections for UNC include the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte against Auburn from 247Sports, the Wasabi Fenway Bowl against UCF from ESPN, and the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl vs. Arizona State from Sports Illustrated.

It does sound like UNC will either be in New York or Charlotte based on these predictions but we will find out starting next week following conference championship games.

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