The Media doesn’t see UNC as a threat to win the ACC

If any of you were wondering whether or not they be affects coming off the “Agent Gate”, or better said, when would the first affects be shown of this mess that has swept Chapel Hill. From the looks of it the ACC Media showed it this past weekend as they place North Carolina fourth in the Coastal Division. That would mean in the bottom half of the division, that means nowhere close to have a double digit wins season as a lot of these same professionals were talking about before the NCAA came calling. By all means I know that the possibility of losing a corner stone like Marvin Austin could make you very wary that the team can do as good without him, but to plummit like this seems a bit drastic. So the next thing you must look at is: is there something else that the media does not like to keep UNC so down?

The first choice would have to be due to T.J. Yates, especially if he does not have wide receiver Greg Little for some (or all) of the season. I guess I could buy it, but again, fourth? That low? I am not sold that this Carolina team is going to drop from being a contender for the championship game to going in the second half of the division, and not being close. Now, if you put a mixture of Yates, a missing Little and having some bad luck on the offensive line like last year, and then I could say that I would agree with the media on the fact that the Tar Heels could be this low. But that means a lot of negatives have to come along without any positives and I just do not see that happening.

The second choice, and the one I am most afraid of, is that the people covering the Atlantic Coast Conference are thinking that this team might just take the losing of their team mates harder than expected, especially when your first game, vs LSU, might be the measuring stick that this squad will be measured with. With all that has been going on, with the hype that this team had and now the negativity it is carrying, losing the first game might put it into a tail spin that will hurt it for the whole season. Yes, this is what worries me the most, can the team overcome both on the field and mentally, the fact that some good players might not be on the field this season. If it can not maybe fourth place might be too high for the Heels.

In the end I am not really sure what this team will do until this probe is over and done with, but I am sure of one thing: this team will tell us how good they will be/can be by the first game of the season. In the coming days I will be working on more of an upclose look about the Heels and their opponents, but for now I will say this: the season that could have been is about to begin its journey, let’s hope it is a good one!

Here is how the media voted:

Atlantic Division

1. Florida State (78) 565
2. Clemson (16) 479
3. Boston College (4) 389
4. NC State 283
5. Wake Forest 203
6. Maryland 139

Coastal Division

1. Virginia Tech (62) 532
2. Miami (20) 444
3. Georgia Tech (11) 408
4. North Carolina (5) 379
5. Duke 169
6. Virginia 126

ACC Championship Votes

1. Virginia Tech 50
2. Florida State 26
3. Miami 10
4. Georgia Tech 8
T5. Boston College 2
T5. North Carolina 2

I guess the one thing that we could all smile about is that there is someone out there that believe the Heels could make it to the championship game. Right now that is even more positive than how I am about the upcoming season.

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