Reaction: The 2023 North Carolina Football Schedule

foreign there we go got a lot of people on this screen let me make sure I got all the graphics right I thought we got rid of Taylor good God boy you just blew my ears out Jason was so loud send the bill for your speakers and airpods to Jason Staples care of buck Centers inside Carolina easy now easy now is that any better much better hold on a second I hate how this thing has like the automatic like volume adjustment so it doesn't allow me to locally control it as much I uh I tried to make banners everybody listening to this stream knows the schedule so let's get right into it welcome into inside Carolina special special edition of live uh reaction podcast I guess we'll call it North Carolina's 2023 football schedule was released today and Buck since you are the Emeritus expert here um your thoughts and I'll lead by saying Mack was a little peeve today at the press conference to introduce Jason Jones um and and said basically that it was unfair and that we would see why and if I'm totally honest watching the reveal today um not quite sure I understand it what's your thoughts well I'm totally with you there Tommy the the you know it's true that if you're closing the season with a very improved Duke team we saw last year at Clemson and at NC State that's a tough close to the season I think you got two Rivals and you have a really tough Clemson team they're always going to be tough uh we just pencil that in um those three games the close of season complain about that if you wanted to but really why I mean until uh October 28th when they play at Georgia Tech they will have played one true Road game in that stretch if I'm looking at it correctly is that am I seeing that right uh at Pitt on September 23rd you're right and and then they don't play another true Road game until October 28th um so listen if if uh what you need to do is to have an improving defense over the course of a season having only one away game until October 28th is a good place to start my opinion I I I'm not really sure what Mack was seeing that I don't see um I know at Pitt is no uh you know the day at the beach and you know the start of the season South Carolina in Charlotte Appalachian State Minnesota even the App State and the Minnesota games being at home still tough games I mean it's it's not like they're playing uh our sisters are the poor in those first three games uh out of the gate so um I I don't really see what Max saw but uh you know there there are there are uh pressure points in that schedule that uh North Carolina's gonna have to deal with so um we'll we could take it that way I suppose yeah I mean you figure you got to beat Clemson one way or another to win they see Championship might as well get them on November 18th um and do it there I I don't know at Clemson at state that's a little tough you're right about Duke but Greg I'll get in here first uh we've talked about a lot and we're going to kind of go around the room pick you know and sort of break it down a little bit but we've talked about a lot this past year and in years past Carolina's strength of schedule has been weak overall um at least not as strong as it could be and last year's was certainly not a tough one um where do you see this one in that sort of grand scheme of things that a conference is what it is South Carolina Upstate Minnesota and Campbell but is is this tough is this a tough schedule for North Carolina in your opinion compared to in the recent past uh yes it is and I also think it's it's tough compared to the rest of the ACC just because I think they have two legitimate non-conference opponents uh in South Carolina and Minnesota we can dive into those and of course we know the the local robbery the kind of new rivalry with with App State even though out of state struggled last year um still still a solid team and we know what happened in Boone last September um so I think it is a challenging schedule I I do think the fact that that Carolina gets say a bye week the end of September is nice and then you've got the camp you know the uh Campbell game they're late before that that tough closing stretch against Duke Clemson NC State uh technically not a bi-week but that's essentially a bye week so I think in terms of the breaks uh you have some some pressure release points if you will but in terms of the closing I just want to make this point yes Duke at Clemson that state is tough but let's look at Clemson for example Clemson closes the season at Miami at NC State Notre Dame Georgia Tech Carolina and now South Carolina Duke is NC State at Florida State at Louisville Wake Forest at North Carolina and then Virginia and Pitt so there are a couple of these schedules in the ACC that are really strong at the end and I think that says a couple things uh primarily it says that there were some teams last year that kind of rose up and and Pitt had a good close of the Season Duke is the team everybody's talking about Raleigh Leonard's coming back Mike Elco did a great job uh Louisville looked pretty good they got a new uh solid coach coming in that should help them get even better so I just think you're seeing the league uh should be a little bit better this year than they were last year we still don't know about Miami Miami should be better uh but then when you add in Florida State being tossed around as a top five team and Clemson is going to be Clemson I just think the conference as a whole should be better and that makes some of these closing stretches look that much more difficult what do you think yeah when I saw Max comments because I wasn't at the press conference um his exact comment I copied it was when you see the ACC schedule tonight you'll see they didn't do us any favors it's really really difficult we start tough and we finish on an unbelievably tough schedule so I'm disappointed after after hearing his comments I thought we were gonna get something where like the ACC was going to announce that like the Syracuse game got replaced with like a trip to Tallahassee and North Carolina had a play like Florida State and then the actual schedule comes out and kind of like the point buck mentioned North Carolina doesn't leave the state of North Carolina more than once until week nine five of your first seven games are at home for uh for a team that's going into year five under Mac Brown and you have uh if you have an established quarterback a Heisman caliber quarterback in Drake May the the schedule talk should be like so far below it when like the the ACC is not like the most daunting of of conferences um you still have a game against Campbell uh Minnesota is replacing their star running back I'm pretty sure Chase Bryce is is finally out of Eligibility at App State um and I think I think like when I'm watching Mac Brown's like post uh not post game when I'm watching Mac Brown's press conferences sometimes we talk about the the the program having like a culture problem and I think that almost starts at the top when you have a head coach who's who's kind of getting out ahead of the schedule release saying how disappointed he is with it or it's like you're going to play who you have to play after after what I saw in the ACC Championship game against Clemson like I don't know if you could put a trip to Death Valley anywhere in that schedule for me to feel comfortable about North Carolina's chances in that game and the Gap kind of between those two programs so um I think I think it's kind of kind of status quo when it comes to um the schedule and um it it kind of left me feeling a little um disheartened when I heard when I heard Max comments and then I saw the actual schedule come out yeah I don't disagree with anything you said there and especially um Greg's Point earlier about Campbell is a de facto second Buy um so you know I think that that's a pretty good Shakedown Jason get in uh you know selfishly as somebody that goes to Keenan Stadium all the time I don't like three games jumped up together drummed up together three home games Syracuse Miami and Virginia but otherwise I mean they don't get on a plane but twice I'll season unless they've I guess you could fly to I don't know where you would go If you flew to Clemson be faster to drive down there but I I'm just not seeing the the worry Jason what do you think about Greg VIP Buck's comments I mean I I'm just part of the the chorus at this point uh pretty well agree with with everything that's been said the thing that I suspect that Mac is so upset about is that the Campbell game came before the Duke game right yeah but if I had to guess he would have wanted the Campbell game before the Clemson game and feels like going Duke Clemson NC State is borderline unfair fully unfair because he wants something he wants a break before NC State he doesn't want the you know the toughest team you're playing right before your rival he wants it he wants there to be a buffer there that's my guess if I'm you know looking at his comments the only thing when I looked at this I was like well geez I mean your non-conference is you're non-conference I mean it's where you you've been putting your non-conference up front so okay that's on you and you know app state is a team you should be I mean yeah they played you real close this year but that's your responsibility to knock out the FC the you know the quality FCS or uh uh Power five team sorry the FCS team is uh the 14th uh What uh October 14th um so so I missed that comment I was like no I think it's actually November 4th no no there's one on October 14th too um but that uh that that that's my suspicion is that he would have wanted say the Duke and the in the Clemson game flipped or the the the uh uh Campbell game somewhere a little bit different but again the Campbell game as far as I know was already set there so I mean what are you gonna do there and I did see his comment that like South Carolina app in Minnesota is uh what did he say that uh as tough a non-conference schedule as anybody in the country has that North Carolina's ever played I yeah I heard that as well but yeah I I was like as tough as anybody in the country I mean you're talking about the third the number three SEC East team a group of five team and I mean it's a decent group of five team but okay and then the number four team in arguably the worst division in college football last year in in power five uh college football in in the Big Ten West so how exact I mean look South Carolina's a good team Minnesota is a pretty good team but we're not talking about playing LSU out the gate here I mean this is not you're not playing Bama here so these are games that if you know if you're if if North Carolina is going to be where where Mack Brown wants him to be these are games you've got to win you need to win that opener against South Carolina I mean Tommy I mean I think coming into that game you're gonna declare that a must win aren't you absolutely if you want to be where you want to be as is pro as this program you you need you should not be losing to App State at this phase of of Mac Brown 2.0 and you know Minnesota is a quality program under uh you know all row the boat but at the same point that's a team that that all things being equal you should beat that team so you know I look at this schedule and you get through those and yeah you know you'll then your opener's pit you know maybe he would have wanted the open date before before pit rather than Syracuse I I don't know but I mean that's a game that maybe it maybe make it a coin flip Syracuse Miami I mean at that point I agree where where else are you going to put say the Clemson game and make this a lot easier on yourself you want the Clemson game right before or after Miami I mean is that any worse than State I I don't see a whole lot that's unfair here or a problem but again everybody everybody whenever schedules come out tend to think that their schedules aren't real friendly although I did see uh Clemson uh comment was uh wow 10 games within two two and a half hours of the Clemson campus or no I'm sorry within two and a half hours of Charlotte Clemson placed 10 games within two and a half hours of Charlotte so I mean that's uh that's real local and that's uh you know that doesn't hurt you in terms of both the uh less travel time on your bodies and also in terms of recruiting your biggest area that's that's not not going to hurt you but um yeah I don't think I I don't think that this is an unfriendly draw as it were I think the biggest difference is it it's a harder schedule than what you're generally going to get in the coastal and now that the coastal's not there I mean that's that's going to be a little different Buck I'll bring you in here what are the highlights on this schedule for you um you know it's I kind of like not seeing all the coastal mess all the time um you know Virginia Tech was fun to play and fun to go to but your your personal highlights looking at the schedule book and you muted it wasn't me this time guys I had to say it once uh you know I'd like to push back a little bit against Jason's comment there um if you take Clemson off the schedule and substitute Notre Dame in there how is it any different than any other schedule that North Carolina has played in the Coastal Division the last you know since 2008 or whatever uh you you still got you know NC State Duke Georgia Tech Virginia Miami Pittsburgh and then you got Syracuse instead of Virginia Tech maybe I mean there's not a lot of difference there it's fair enough uh if uh you know North Carolina is playing Notre Dame instead of Clemson and then you know in an odd year uh even when they were playing in the Coastal Division they would pick up Clemson as a uh at a conference team I I don't as far as ACC I don't see a dramatic amount of difference there uh if they were having to play Clemson and Florida State you know then we could talk and and Notre Dame you know maybe but or add Louisville in there maybe yeah uh but uh this year's schedule to me doesn't is not a great departure from the normal uh Coastal Division um schedule the the highlight and and one thing I really like about it is you got Pittsburgh on September 23rd much better situation than going to Pittsburgh in November um and so you know and actually uh True Confession time I've never been in a way game at Pittsburgh mainly because those games are typically played in November and I don't want to go to Pittsburgh in November so there's a chance some chance that I might go to Pittsburgh it's the only venue in uh the ACC I've never been to um so I like that the fact that uh North Carolina plays Pittsburgh in September um you know the Campbell uh game I I don't know how I feel about that I understand that they tried desperately to uh move that game uh and weren't able to move it uh that they were trying to get that you know towards the front of the schedule and uh but they were unsuccessful in doing that not sure how I feel about that I would prefer for the for it to be Duke um Clemson Campbell at home and then NC State if that that would be my preference rather than uh have uh have it Duke Clemson and NC State that's again you know you do can you know and for North Carolina this is going to be an incredible test of whether they improve their physicality because whether you anybody realize it or not the Duke UNC game is always extremely physical uh it's it's considered to be one of the dirtiest games in his EA uh it is I mean that uh I forget who it was uh they've written articles about it right you know and uh you know as far as like if you're engaging it by you know personal foul calls and those kinds of things the Duke UNC game is one of the dirtiest in the NCAA Clemson's going to be extremely physical game as we know NC State's going to be extremely physical game as We Know so that closed to the season it you know the whole all the time we talk about the lack of physicality and with UNC and and uh that that three-game stretch there close of the year is really going to test whether or not they're have stepped up that physicality piece of uh the program the culture uh so we'll see I don't mind the bye week being after uh the Pittsburgh game at Mark's next to me as far as where they put that is it's after four games and then you got the Campbell game on November 4th as Greg said that's sort of a uh de facto bite in itself so I mean those those are what stick out to me in in terms of looking at schedule yeah Excel to me is four away games yeah two Road games only you know four true Road games four games outside four games if you think about it this way you only have three games outside the state of North Carolina well and then Clemson's right there yeah I mean you got two games outside the Carolinas period and that's you know Georgia Tech and Pitt those are the only games you play outside of the Carolinas that that's if I'm if I'm looking at that I'm going you know I it makes the travel budget for NCAA for UIC in South Carolina much easier to handle just just saying don't forget there's an Atlantis trip to cover some basketball in there too Buck around that Thanksgiving let me throw this we're going to stop covering basketball is Pittsburgh worth the plane ticket to go watch a game there I've never been to a pit Carolina game at Pittsburgh what saith everybody Greg you like it up there don't you I love it up there uh Pittsburgh is a is a really cool City uh I know everybody talks about it so it's kind of cliche but the way you go through the tunnel and you come out and you're looking there over the rivers and I don't even know what's called now but I still call it Three Rivers Stadium this is a fantastic entry point into the city so it's a cool place uh the basketball arena is really neat being able to cover a game at the old Heinz Field what is it Accenture now or whatever it is Accra sure yeah they uh okay I'll just go with the old Heinz Field um is it not how it's built anymore no it is not it is not but it's a it's a great place to watch a ball game uh as we always joke and you joke all fair Tommy yeah this is typically a Thursday night game up there but yeah I think that's one of the better places to watch a game for sure yeah and and that's one reason I've not been up there because it's on a Thursday and going up there for a Thursday if the Steelers play on Sunday somehow at home that's a heck of a trip if you can swing that and go that way uh VIP your overall thoughts I'm looking at the uh this is one of my favorite things the the with all the logos and all and it is sort of I'm trying to look across the league but your thoughts on this Carolina schedule I mean let's go ahead and say it you know 9-0 after Campbell I I was gonna give you my highlight of of the schedule um you know I've I've planted my flag as as a 305 guy right now um and my highlight of the schedule would have to be the Miami game especially going away from the coastal and the Atlantic now North Carolina only plays Miami two times in in the next four years there's something cathartic about seeing the you get thrown down to me and it goes back to 2015 when it when Marquis Williams started it um I know it really it boils the blood of a lot of Miami fans when when that happens wait they're Miami fans come on Patty Mr pretty um but you know Miami and Jason started on Miami I oh I'm throwing gasoline for for Jason right now you've got a Miami program who uh just fired their offensive coordinator Josh Gaddis a year removed from him winning the broils award uh you got the stories of crystal ball needing to get his guys into the program get the bad culture guys out you have Deion Sanders stealing all their commits um I am going to miss we did this talk at the end of last season where we talked about what we were going to miss the most about the Coastal Division and for me what I'm going to miss the most is the the yearly game against Miami and it's been one that has favored North Carolina with with UNC winning four straight um it's it's it's a game where when we do the schedule talk it feels like you could just pencil in a win as long as Mario crystal ball is coaching X's and O's on on the other sideline um so so for me it the Miami game is is the highlight take a look by the way at Miami's closing to the schedule if if this had been North Carolina's closed Mack Brown would have a case here they close with North Carolina right so and that's what at North Carolina Clemson Virginia at NC State at Florida State Louisville at BC they called them all that that right there now and that that's after Miami's already you know sort of worn through that you know off-season hype that they live off of for that first month so they're they're already going to be kind of Fading Into that month and then they get North Carolina at Clemson Virginia I'm sorry at North Carolina Clemson Virginia at NC State at Florida State Louisville in that stretch that's that's gonna be they're gonna need real they're gonna need a 5-0 start to start the season because once you start to get to the North Carolina the Clemson uh we we know kind of their their front runner mentality where where they kind of shut it all down um but you never know when when you're going to get a middle Tennessee mixed up in there yeah and then there that that 5-0 starts gonna be tough because out the gate they've got a decent uh Maryland team and then Texas A M and that Texas A M team's gonna be good despite what they were last year I mean they were bad last year but they had eight guys on their offense that were freshmen or sophomores you're not going to be good on offense with that anywhere all of a sudden though those guys suddenly are sophomores and juniors now you're talking and they got a real quarterback so when they're mad playing mad because I haven't seen that yet but I'd love to see what they look like if they're like really riled up yeah because they have players they just were super young and all of a sudden you know they get a little bit older and and that came from Miami might be a little rough in week two did uh didn't put trino go there and then yeah see there yeah yeah jungle hired somebody to call the plays that runs basically the same offense he does I'll give them to I'll give a m to the end of September before they implode yeah they'll have the the the the meeting rooms will be worth uh putting some uh spy uh spy cameras in just to watch those interactions but that first couple weeks they'll be pretty good still one of the greatest memes in the history of College athletics um Petrino uh Greg um highlights of this schedule I'm looking across the board I mean North Carolina avoided Notre Dame again this year I like you know they could flip the Miami game to that September 30th and have the bye week later but but what's your highlight here what what is the Tipping Point for North Carolina in this schedule I like this schedule and Jason touched on this earlier I think it's a good start to the season um in that South Carolina is a power five Conference team right so I'm not quite prepared to say it's a name team but it's a good team who had some good wins last year and Shane Beamers kind of got things turned around down there if Spencer Butler's coming back they do lose a lot but that is a good game that Carolina should be favored in we know about apps the App State my understanding is I haven't really dived into them they return a lot uh and I don't think Chase Bryce is coming back at 32 but we'll have to wait and see how that plays out with the waiver um Minnesota uh yeah I know that division is not great but I mean that's a 9-4 team last year with with a top 25 defense um you know it's Minnesota I think it's an interesting story because uh Tanner Morgan was a guy that they've they've really liked at quarterback for a long time uh they've been waiting on butcher's name but Ethan Kel imagnanus he's very unfortunate what is it I have no idea but you butchered it I think it's pretty close actually um but anyway he was the guy that they they've kind of been looking to for the future and you know Tanner gets hurt Midway through the year last year so he goes in and plays the last four games of the year as the starter and while he wasn't great you know he got his feet wet so I think Minnesota is a team that if they lose some key pieces but they've got some key pieces coming back uh that that's you know PJ Flex in the seventh year I think that's a game that's going to be a good test for North Carolina and then of course you guys know that I like uh Patton or doozy and I think I think Pitt once again is going to be really good defensively um they did lose some some key pieces they got some good pieces coming back uh you know djokovic's coming in I think he's a better quarterback for sure than Keaton slovis was so I think there's there's three maybe four games out of the gate that are games that Carolina probably should win if they're going to be a good team this year but they could easily lose and I so I I think it's good just in terms of we will know exactly how good this team is by the bye week and um it's not one of these years where we're waiting around until a big game comes around in October to say okay are they legit or not well we should know that very early this year that's a a great point there um because we've said that the last couple years is we don't know how good they are until they play X or they play Y and you're right they've got um three P5 games and one good G5 game in there to open the season I just think you got to win them I mean you can't I I was kind of Blown Away about the about the complaining about the schedule um but it sort of is what it is you got to set the narratives early um Buck looking across the conference and I don't know how much you've looked at it I'm trying to find like my game in the conference that I'll pay attention to not Carolina what about Wake Forest at Notre Dame with Sam Hartman speaking of 32 year old quarterback Sam Hartman playing Notre Dame up there that's that'll be a heck of a matchup I think that's an interesting matchup but I'm probably the one that jumps out to me on the schedule and and for reasons that uh probably uh ACC for once in its existence was media Savvy about is that Florida State and Clemson play each other early um and there are no other Marquee games uh nationally you know uh when they play each other so that that weekend the ACC is going to get all the eyeballs because you know that that game it's it's also set up to be sort of a um preview to what will be the ACC Championship Game uh although just throwing us out there is Clemson going to get to the ACC Championship Game this year do we know that for sure I'm not I don't think we know for sure whether either of those teams is going to do it yeah but still uh I'm just saying that uh the The Savvy part about if if maybe uh the ACC did this through just dumb luck but which would probably be the best guess but uh having Florida State and uh comes and play each other that early um and and they'll be dominating that'll be the dominant game that weekend nationally um that's that's what stuck struck me as far as the ACC schedule overall I think that also my suspicion is in the ACC office they were probably looking at that going those are probably your most likely ACC title game uh match up that's probably your most most likely uh pairing you don't want them playing twice in three weeks something like that or twice in a month you want to let that first game go and then let things build and build for another few months and the loser of that you know ideally if you're the if you're the ACC ideally you want your two biggest brand teams to face off there have a really hard fought game where one of them loses and then climbs back up in the rankings by the end of the year so that either the team that won the first matchup wins another impressive game against a highly ranked team in the in the uh in the championship or if you have then that reverses in the championship they're both way up there because the other ones climbed up and it you know you've got a shot at potentially getting two teams in you know or at least your uh you're you're maximizing the chance of getting one team in with with the loss so I do think that was smart scheduling on the acc's part just in terms of thinking about look if if you're gonna get a team in with one loss you want that loss to be as early in the season as possible so you know that's a that's a factor there now of course easier said than done for Florida State to even get to that game with one loss because I mean they open the season with LSU so uh you know that that's you talk about a tough three a tough stretch to open the season LSU uh what LSU Mississippi State at Boston College at Clemson that's uh that's tough first month for for folks down in Tallahassee where do you see Mississippi State on that schedule or is that is that Bethune that's Bethune I'm sorry I'm looking at the uh the the graphics okay sorry it's very similar uh graphic um but LSU Bethune then uh Boston College and then at uh at Clemson so you know three of the first four weeks LSU at BC at Clemson the issue the thing that actually sticks out to me about that is at Boston College followed by at Clemson you're not getting in until late from from Boston so you're getting kind of a late start on your treatment and you're in your week for that preparation week and then you got to go on the road so you're leaving on Thursday so you get a little less prep that week for for Clemson you got to be mindful of that planning as a coaching staff there yeah Tommy two notes I want to just throw in here real quick uh Duke I think is interesting because I think we all agree that uh they don't really lose much and they won nine games last year really close strong and their schedule sets up uh very unique because Clemson to start the season is tough but then they got three winnable non-conference games and then Notre Dame will be tough uh so if Elko is able to coach these guys up properly and kind of keep their head in it they very easily could be three and two going into mid-october and we don't really have a good gauge of how good they actually are unless they just get smoked by Clemson and Notre Dame but they're at least competitive in those games and three and two going into that NC State game on the 14th um maybe they have an opportunity to kind of make a late charge and I I think I think that'll be interesting to watch and then the other part is uh going back to Pitt I keep harping on pet but in terms of uh maybe the easiest Road schedule in the ACC ents up there I mean they're at Virginia Tech at wake not sure what Wix will look like without Sam Hartman and some of those ninth year players uh at Syracuse which I don't think will be any good and then they close the season that Duke and then BC's at home of course Florida State's going to be tough Louisville's a home that's going to be tough and then Carolina so I I think I think their schedule is favorable if they can hold serve at home and and and do pretty well on the road yeah but that stretch for Pitt where you go Louisville at Wake Forest at Notre Dame Florida State it's going to be rough that that month for sure that four weeks is going to be that's their season right there yep uh by the way I was I I should have said Southern Miss so that was the logo that I was I was thinking I was looking at it's LSU Southern Miss for for Florida State for those first two games I was like what what are you looking at but yeah what's what's your eyeball game not Carolina related in this conference uh would have to be uh Florida State at Clemson um I think I think like like everybody else kind of mentioned it's it's a preview of the most likely ACC Championship um and it's from from watching how the teams kind of performed in the bowl games um I thought um Florida State uh Florida state is just an impressive team for the most part and they're bringing a lot of talent they would be my pick right now to to be the ACC Champions um so seeing them go on the road early in the season that's going to be a good test when that's probably going to be uh I think they play on Sunday to open the season against LSU right in Orlando yeah that that might be one where I try to do a road trip up on Saturday UNC South Carolina and Charlotte and then uh head out of Charlotte pretty late and and do that on the way back um because I'm pretty high on on this Florida State team and and think they have a good shot um and then Clemson a lot of people talk about Clemson when in their down years like I would kill for some of Clemson's down years um Dabo kind of joked about that in the ACC Championship uh somebody somebody asked him about it and he was like our down years like we're still going to the ACC Championship we're still you know running teams out of buildings in the ACC Championship um so I I think the the talk of Clemson's demise is uh a bit over exaggerated with the talent that they're getting oh and they're also bringing in uh you know pretty proven offensive coordinator to change things there in Garrett Riley so I mean that that's a major change in terms of what they're doing offensively and moving into some some stuff that I think will be more effective for what they do so I've got a couple questions for the for the group here uh one's short answer the other one's a little bit longer but uh this is the the first year of the the 355 full conference schedule where we're no longer in divisions which I think is unique and it really seems like over the last 15 years uh when we talk about the coastal and part of us because it's the coastal is that if you can get to six and two in the conference you got a pretty good chance of winning the coastal does that still hold do you think a team can go six and two can Carolina go six and two and feel pretty good about their chances for the ACC Championship game and beyond that what do you think about the new setup that 355 with the the whole conference playing together without there being divisions but go ahead well um I would start by I'd have to go back and look but just uh going on uh my aging memory I would say there's been very few teams where you've had very few times where you've had a ACC title game featuring an 8-0 champion and a 7-1 champion you know uh I think that's probably probably very very rare uh so it's probably much more likely you've got a seven in one uh in the past it's been seven and one or eight no and then six and two in the other conference so I think if you can get the six and two that's you've probably got a pretty good shot um to get uh into the ACC title game um and as far as the uh the way they have changed the schedule how I feel about that uh like I said you know you substitute out Notre Dame for Clemson in this schedule and there's nothing that jumps off the page there and it makes it a lot different than other schedules ACC schedules that North Carolina has had um so uh I I really don't see that great a difference this year I think there's a potential down the road that there you will see some schedules that look very much different to us but as far as next year's schedule um playing uh Notre Dame or playing playing at Notre Dame or playing at Clemson to me is pretty much a wash uh in some cases so um the rest of the schedule looks you know very very similar to what we looked at in the past indeed it does Greg you had a uh I I like and I don't know if this answers your question directly last time Carolina played out Clemson what year was it anybody know if tubby is 2014 14. so nine years ago and and I kind of miss that stuff um with conference expansion teams not playing each other or not going around and and playing so I kind of like the setup in that regard um you know the unbalanced schedules are tough when some teams Miss Florida State and Clemson or miss the good teams of the bunch in a certain Year I'm not sure how you know to use max term fair that is but it sort of is what it is Greg what's your other question and it doesn't involve numbers because if it does I'm out no just those two in terms of you know can Carolina get to the title game at six and two and to Buck's point I was just looking uh the history of the the coastal versus the Atlantic uh but only one time has both the coastal champ and the Atlantic champ been undefeated that of course was 2015. Carolina and Clemson and I think there's another one where Virginia Tech and FSU were both seven and one but it is rare for for there to be two great teams in the ACC which uh how many times though have there been have there been uh a one or two lost team in the Atlantic uh so it's zero recently not uh last let's say one to last 10 years there's not been so there's not been a uh two law a one loss team finishing second in the Atlantic in the last 10 years probably since 2014 is my guess yeah I mean the last last team let's see 2011 Clemson was six and two that was the last time a champion had two losses well when was the last time that the second the the number two team in the Atlantic had one had one loss like when under the new one yeah under the new way of how many times would the Coastal Division champion not been in a championship game if it had no division that's kind of where I'm going with this is 2014 Clemson lost to to Florida State uh early in the year in Tallahassee and then was the better team probably by the end of the year uh with DeSean Watson uh but that uh that year I think they would have rematched regardless uh I can't think of a bunch since then I don't have it in front of me but I think that that is a very very good point it's worth looking into but my suspicion is that if nor if North Carolina finished six and two and one of those six wins was on November 18th uh at uh Clemson then I think they'd I think they'd make it that's my suspicion but it would be it would depend on who those six wins are and those two losses I mean I think that's that's the thing I think you can make the ACC Championship game with two losses under this format as often as not as long as you beat the right teams and you end up with the tiebreakers that's the key yeah go ahead yeah and to go back to Greg's question I like the the 355 model um it was a point that you were kind of getting at Tommy um for the for the student athlete experience you you lose the yearly games against Miami and Virginia Tech but over the course of four years you go you have the chance to go to Every ACC Stadium which I think is is really cool for for players that you know maybe wouldn't normally get the the chance to travel um throughout the throughout the country and then uh can you and C get to six and two in in the ACC if that's the benchmark the reason you'd say yes Drake May the reason you'd say no the defense uh so it's kind of seeing um how those two can kind of balance out and it's somebody in the chat was asking if if you thought UNC could get to the ACC title game and it's hard if you're making picks right now it's hard to pick UNC to get there just knowing what we saw from the defense last year and you would have to see some major Improvement once games start because I think we're we're all past the point of whatever whatever people are saying publicly uh before the game start it's time to see kind of uh results on the field before before you have some kind of confidence in this UNC team as a whole to to get to places where Florida State and Clemson seemingly are right now yeah and Tommy to answer Jason's question uh 2000 2012 FSU and Clemson were both 7-1 they would have played 2013 FSU was 8-0 Clemson was 7-1 they would have both played for the title and then in 16 Clemson and Louisville were both seven and one so three times since division started would the championship game have been different yeah well I think it would have been different in a couple other years maybe depending on tie breaks with the two loss yeah Atlantic but those were the clear ones one thing I'm going to toss in there is the Dark Horse I think to make the uh ACC title game is Louisville and just because of scheduling so Louisville Louisville Dodges both Florida State and Clemson you look at their schedule they open at Georgia Tech then I'm not even sure who that logo is which tells you all you need to know uh then at Indiana Boston College at uh NC State Notre Dame which doesn't count as a as a conference game so even if they lose that that doesn't hurt them at Pitt open Duke Virginia Tech Virginia at Miami and then Kentucky that's a very winnable schedule I mean there really aren't any games in there that you look at talent wise for uh for Louisville other than that Notre Dame game where you're like well they're just outclassed there and you know I think I think a lot of I mean you guys know I think a lot of Jeff Brahm is a coach so I mean that's a very friendly schedule for a first year staff with Jeff Brahm I'm not sure they're good enough to get there but the schedule is certainly friendly enough to give them every Advantage there yeah the team in question was Murray State thank you Racers the racers yeah it looks like Boston College Louisville and Virginia all Dodge Florida State and Clemson yeah no because Boston College has Florida State so Louisville and Virginia they're only two teams there and Virginia ain't getting there so you know Virginia opens at Tennessee so yeah Virginia's opening month at Tennessee at Maryland and then NC State yeah and JMU as their their recovery from Tennessee they may well open 0-4 that's that's tough that's a tough tough slate really tough to draw JMU and came in week two and so Brandon Armstrong either yeah oh yeah that's right yeah that and and yeah and of course when they when they do have when they do welcome NC State it's Armstrong's Return To Us wow pencil that's cool that's what it's gonna be wild I asked today we had um Jason Jones introductory stuff and uh also got to talk to the transfers and I asked Nate McCollum Georgia Tech Guy like what's gonna be like when y'all play Georgia Tech he was like let's go have some juice to it and then I asked some Ari Gainer same thing Jason and uh you know he said I'll treat it just like any other game like come on man you've been here five years it's just gonna be like just another game uh that's and the thing the thing about it is he's telling the truth when you when you when you heard him say it and you looked at him in the face did you not believe him yeah and well I couched it this way first weekend in December Carolina and Florida State are playing for the ACC Championship what's going on in Amari gainer's head and he was like got to win a championship just another game you know I love my brothers blah blah blah but so it was interesting it was an interesting discussion with some of those guys it's the new new world order a lot of people wanting us to do the football postmortem um some really morbid people out there yeah um I mean I'm kind of like it is what it is at this point I think Jason Jones is an upgrade in the coaching Arena um on the cornerback's room and we can debate the rest of them but um I will say this I have no idea what will ever happen but I remember last year um everybody thought the coaching staff was set and then at the last possible minute it's changed so we'll talk about it eventually on this podcast anything less Buck give us some uh Is 2020 is 2023 the year for North Carolina oh you're never going to get me to go there you must win buck yeah that's what Tommy Ashley kind of move there I'm not going to go there yeah he's always been the eternal optimist Tommy realistic fan actually he's not been exactly nobody understands it uh the good news for me is nobody on this panel or anybody else that joins us is going to have to predict the Virginia Tech game next year [Laughter] because there's not going to be one so that's the great news for me um I can't get the Virginia Tech game wrong next year because we're not playing them um but you know as far as predicting what the record is going to be at this point Oh no you're not gonna you know no amount of cheese on the cracker is going to get me to uh make that prediction at this point eight and one going into going into uh the Duke game there you go there you have it folks set your beddings accordingly um yeah I think I I was right until the wheels fell off last year so we'll have to do it like that you were right I'll tell you what that's to the rambling wreck get it Wheels fell off that oh Lord all over that wreck uh V up anything to close us I don't have anything so how's Miami Life Update is is Miami much different than the grand state of North Carolina uh no not that much different I would say I picked a good time uh to move in in January in the middle of winter um we'll see how the Summer's got it it's gonna be hot I might I might be I might be traveling oh it is so it is so nice down there in the summer Jason I have a pool I have a pool at though my apartment so pool parties over here I talked to somebody we also interviewed today Tom McGinnis the Australian punter that's in town just got in town a couple weeks ago I was like what's the difference in Australia and Chapel Hill and he says not that much different except kangaroos replace deer as what people Dodge on the roads anything uh anything left Greg oh there's plenty left but we don't have to talk about it tonight we've got plenty of time to talk about that in a month to come give us a tease we all got it it has been fun Buck Jason I'm not going to ask you Jason um I want to get out of here before 10 30. all I would say is uh is Amari Gainer is that way day in day out every day is a business day yeah folks need to check out all those interviews they'll all be posted I filmed the Elijah hussy one so if I'm a little bit close and the video is not great it's on me um because I'm not used to holding the camera and trying to talk to somebody but everybody else Ross and Adam and Nia did some work today and we'll have all that stuff up in the week to come worth watching some new blood at Carolina in addition to all the freshmen and Jason Jones is pretty solid too as well High discipline High discipline I have discipline I got you let me get out of here welcome in to the close of the inside Carolina special podcast 2023 schedule released Carolina looking at ACC Championship Game uh possibly we'll see Greg Jason VIP Buck I'm Tommy and Johnny t-shirt and Johnny t-shirt.com thanks fellas