THI Podcast: Breaking Down UNC’s 2024 Football Schedule!

[Music] what is up everybody and welcome back to tarheelillustrated.com I'm Jacob turner He's Andrew Jones and AJ we're here for an exciting edition of the thi podcast as we're here to talk about Carolina's newly released 2024 football schedule that came out just a couple of hours ago on Wednesday evening so I'm graphic on screen right now and I'll run through the schedule real quick before we dive into the non-conference games and then follow that up with the ACC games the rest of the way it starts on August 29th at Minnesota Thursday night matchup next game home game against Charlotte on September 7th followed by NC Central on September 14th Carolina host James Madison on September 21st ACC play starts at Duke on September 28th and is followed by um a home game against Pittsburgh on October 5ifth skipping ahead a little bit October 12th matchup at home with Georgia Tech Then followed by a bye and then Carolina goes to UVA on October 26 that's followed by a tough road matchup at Florida State on November 2nd and Carolina has another open date before its home game against wake farest and they closed the season on back-to-back weekends at Boston College and then host in C state so AJ we were talking a little bit bit off camera you know what I'll save our overall reactions to it for a little bit later I was going to do that but let's save it let's run through the non-conference schedule and how we I'm fire off right now it's like I I know I know it's easy to do right we were talking about it off camera we were just Canon lit and that thing is going man I'm sure a lot of Carolina fans have their own opinions on it as well but a I I put the schedule out right away on Twitter and yeah oh yeah the reaction was was entertaining and still lives because my phone's still lighting up with that stuff we'll chat about that later too because I have some she put it over there lighting up so much I didn't want it to be a visual distraction here in the video I believe it man Twitter's on Twitter's always on fire with with stuff like this but start with that non-conference schedule at Minnesota Charlotte NC Central and James Madison you know toughest game in there is probably at Minnesota to open the season but when you look at it I think it's a relatively favorable start for North Carolina and a lot of opportunities particularly with those three home games in a row to to put some wins on the board early in the year well yeah starting at Minnesota that's going to be a challenging game the Gophers had a little bit of a Down year this past season finished last in their division in the Big 10 Big 10 West three and N three and six I think in League Play six and seven they actually got to a bowl game at five and seven to fill the slot because they that rule was tweaked and they won and got to six and seven so they're coming off a Bowl win if that if I'm sure that gives them a little bit of good vibe but I think know look North Carolina going on the road to take on a big 10 team isn't exactly a gimme the last time they went on the road against a big 10 team was Illinois in 2016 they spanked him uh that was the Lovey Smith era at Illinois and then 2003 they went to Wisconsin we competitive and lost in 99 they won at Indiana otherwise they hadn't played a big 10 team since the 70s on the road yeah in True Road game and and don't I'm not including Ruckers and Maryland because they're all their games those places Ruckers was in the Big East and then Maryland of course was uh and Ruckers was in the Big East and Big East like all those times and Maryland was obviously ACC so I think it's a cool opening I'm glad it's a Thursday it means I get to watch all those games that first Saturday I'll be home for that I think it's neat about the schedule they have three open Saturdays I'll get into one of them later about where I'll be traveling but I'll be I Havey traveling back from somewhere so the schedule worked out there look this is a very doable schedule they should be Forno shouldn't have any trouble Charlotte or Central shouldn't have any TR shouldn't have any trouble James Madison uh Kirk sett he went to Indiana took a bunch of players with him JMU has been really really fortunate that it has had success no matter who the coach has been they their coaches have gone off other places and the program keeps winning because it's got a great football culture it's got great facilties it's got a great Stadium a great fan base they are you know they are in need and and seriously desire winning football but we'll see what they're like I think North Carolina and year six under Mac Brown should have no trouble with James Madison at home especially since that'll be what the fourth game so the tar Hills will know a lot about themselves by the time JMU comes in and then they go to Duke the next week so they should go 4 and0 outside the league and they could go 4 and0 and and and it register absolutely zero nothing on the national or even Regional or local radar because it's not a tough schedule this past year the schedule was supposed to be really really tough it turned out that South Carolina stunk Minnesota stunk uh app state was okay but it still a Sun Belt team and and and Carolina had to go to OT to beat them so this is going to be another schedule where if Carolina's looking to carve out a little bit of national recognition it's not going to get it and let's be honest before I go any further after the last few years it doesn't matter what Carolina starts out no one's going to believe no one's going to believe until atar heill show it this time you go six and0 and fall in your you know what you go nine and one and fall in your you know what you know no one's gonna fall for that this year so this will be a good way for them to go four and0 without anybody getting excited because no one will be that given the last two years and given this schedule and by the way I don't think as much as I think it's cool they're playing Central and I know it helped Central and all that but that's not North Carolina's purpose for fielding a football program to help Central I don't think you should play FCS teams they should in that game they should be playing someone like someone from the Mountain West or the Mac you know bring in Toledo bring in Colorado State be much much better schedule much more interesting and I think better for the team yeah yeah I completely agree with that man some of these games are just you know not the most entertaining we've talked about lyx about that it's just yeah it's just a you get 12 games to play and you're going to use one of them in virtually an exhibition game I think it's ridiculous now that we have a 12 team playoff we need as much Intel as possible about these about these teams and about these leagues and about who everybody's playing and when you have a throwaway game against an FCS team to me that's wasting an opportunity for Intel yeah I don't like it I think it should be done away with if you're gonna have a legitimate competition for a 12 team playoff race you you should you should penalize teams for playing those games you know if you play a division 2 Team it doesn't the NCAA or the committee they don't look see that on your record so if you go out to ma the the Maui Invitational for example and you play shamad the and you go you win that tournament you open with shamad the selection committee would see you going two and 0 out there not three and 0 that the division two games don't count so FCS gam shouldn't count either if you want to play him play him in a scrimmage the middle of August or play him as a spring game but you should not play him in the regular season I say that more now than ever before because of the 12 team playoff yeah because you have to have as much Intel as possible agreed not canon AG tar Hills they'll the tar Hills will take it because they need wins period so they should go four and0 Jacob yeah no like I I I think U you won't be in the minority with that opinion for sure as we dive into ACC play Let's split these up with the first four ACC games starts off like I listed at Duke Pittsburgh at home Georgia Tech at home and then trip to UVA again I'm looking at that and I'm I'm even contemplating in my head what the what the toughest matchup would technically be I know at Duke's Interesting Man Diaz coming in as a new coach is always a tricky game because of the Rivalry you'd expect them based on the last few years to to still be pretty good next season but no guarantees on that Pittsburgh coming off a really down year for them Georgia Tech I this Carolina's bogy team say what you want it is they they can't beat him for whatever reason but that is at home so you know think Carolina have a good opportunity secret recipe now though yeah yeah yeah you're right cins coming in yeah Jeff Collins coming in good point and then a trip to UVA who's coming off a I know Carolina beat him I mean Virginia beat Carolina at home Carolina fans don't want to relive that but it's coming off a really bad year again in Charlottesville so thoughts on on those first four ACC matchups what at Duke pit at home Georgia Tech at home and at Virginia yeah they they should they should go four and0 they should win those four yeah in year six of m brown they should win those four pit pit is totally restructured apparently they want to Pat Nardi decided that they're going to try to move the ball on offense so they're they're making a push to try to do that they are what they are I mean they they they can be problematic for the Tar Heels but Carolina has gonna have more skill and should win that game should beat Geor at some point they're going to beat Della jackets right got to right might as well in that like I said the Jeff Collin Secret although the roster's probably almost totally gone from when he was there because the way things Chang Now Fair Point and I know that UVA won in Chapel Hill last year but and I credit UVA for doing that and the Mike Holland story that week was great it was cool to see him score in that game given what he went through but that that was totally shame on Carolina that was a shame on UNCC performance so if the tar Hills are ready to play they should go up and beat UVA it's not like uva's made a ton of progress um under the current regime right now so there'll be a warm seat or maybe even a Hot Seat by that point when the tar Hills go up there so I I don't see if if you put everything on the table they shouldn't they should not lose any of the non-conference games they shouldn't lose at Duke I know that Duke was pretty good last year but elco's gone Manny Diaz teams never carried the kind of personality elco's two teams did so it'll be a change at Duke I don't think Duke's going to be as good they got to figure out quarterback there's a lot of stuff to do I know got that kid I think transferred from Texas but we'll see when the season comes right shouldn't be an issue with pit they should take care of pit at home uh shouldn't they should finally beat Georgia Tech and if you're GNA be a quality program and you're going to talk about the inequality program and talk about all the things that you've done that hadn't been done for a while you cannot lose to UVA back toback years especially the current UVA so they should be eight and0 crazy as it sounds I know the last thing it's like Carolina fans don't want to hear that they're terrified at being8 and0 because then they're going to they're going to start believing and then they they're terrified to have that total let down I had someone should be eight no God you know what I hate doing this because you know there's no Homer crap here but the schedule is dog crap up to that point they should be eight and0 no I it'll be better because they should be better but man and I like what Brent Key's doing a lot Georgia Tech might be pretty good they got finish strong I think it's going to be a tough game but Caroline's at home in year six of m brown with all the things that were done the changes that were made with the staff they should beat Georgia teken home they should be eight no Jacob I couldn't agree more I had a Carolina fan on Twitter I think he was serious too saying best case scenarios four and eight yeah I saw seven and five and I thought well that guy hit the bottle early tonight if they're seven and five with this schedule then the the the the negative NES will have their day yeah and they'll have a right to if they're seven and five with this schedule then there's something wrong now I'm I'm not a guy that goes says things like that very often but this is not a very challenging schedule of course there may be some surprise teams that are really really good that we don't realize it's possible Georgia Tech's awesome yeah it's possible pit completely flips it around and and the Panthers are back to being ACC contenders like they were for a while but right now when I look at the way things are at this moment here in the middle of January late January they should be eight no and then you read off the last four here and they should win more than eight last part of the schedule's the toughest part again like last year yeah you're you're absolutely right I'll run through the last four games of the season because I do agree with you it's and on especially looking at this schedule like we've talked about if you break it up into kind of 12 games four four and four this is definitely the toughest four game stretch of the season for the tar Hills starts on November 22nd like I mentioned at Florida State that's always going to be a tough game they're coming off a great year Wake Forest at home at Boston College in an NC State bogey team for Carolina over the last few years in particular they just cannot seem to beat the wolf pack at home to wrap up the year on November 30th so like you said that to me is the toughest stretch there's some very losable games in there I think if you're looking at this schedule probably going to look at that FSU game and say that's a tough one kind of similar to how Carolina fans in my opinion at least looked at the Clemson game on the road last year when the schedule came out like um that that might be an automatic loss we remains to be seen how good Florida state is this year but again you'd expect them to have another really good year but Wake Forest and atbc winnable games there I think but again a trip to Boston College is always tough Carolina struggled with Wake Forest in the past what kind of team are they going to be after a poor a relatively poor year to their standards last year and then like I mentioned as he stayed end the year so what's your thoughts on the toughest stretch of the season for North Carolina here well that that one is that one is and you know when Carolina went to Clemson there was a lot of optimism and tar Hills were eight- two Clemson was six and4 and a lot of people thought you know hey they close strong Drake go down there and have a big game and and Clemson just smacked him at the line of scrimmage and then of course CC State happened so that okay if they're eight that doesn't mean they will if they're eight no they go to Tallahassee and they get rocked down there that's a here we go again game and then they have an open date afterward so that crap's going to linger it's G to stick around and hover for a while that's good that would be one of the great psychological challenges that Mack would have in his since his return of course we have no clue what's going to happen but the schedule came out so we're looking ahead at possibilities so that would be one of those um moments in time games the the 80 team that went to Oklahoma 7 and0 and and they were number three in the country and it's what seven seven at the half or something like that they get Blitz CED in the second half 417 there are moments in time in Carolina football history where they have those kinds of games and they always fall short always all short so this could set up for another one of those games and honestly we may not know a ton about the Tar Heels but until they go there because of of their schedule we don't know what that schedule how how good those teams are going to be or how bad they're going to be so it's very possible 80 going to Tallahassee there's you know soft optimism and fear fear of the same thing happening again would would be there that would be the story that's all we talk about and right about that week every damn podcast every radio show every article the press conferences they probably would give us the players like they'll give us Max Johnson because he knows nothing about that right yeah exactly because imagine asking Cayman well it happened the last couple years cayman's gonna I can tell you right now what cayman's gonna say I'm gonna go ahead and transcribe right now what when we finish this podcast what cayman's gonna say and I'm gonna get my story ready for Mid November next year when they go to Tallahasse so and then going to Beast then they have the open date and then they're home against wake wake finished the bottom of the League this year I don't know you know claw's a really good coach wake's been dangerous team but Carolina's been able to take care of at home anyway uh at BC could be a tough game the time of year it's going to be cold going to be nasty could be sleep coming at you this way it's a good who knows what the weather will be like and who knows what where half Le's program this a big year for him you know he's got to win seven or eight at least I think he probably gotta win eight this year for them to continue on that train so by the time they go up there they'll we'll know what kind of season BC's having so whatever kind of season having will will determine how tough that game is heading in it could be a pretty tough one or it could be one of those sleeper type games you know ncy state has a couple times lost to some bad BC teams yeah it could be one of those games that you got state next the following week and Carolina's sitting there you know 10 and one or what nine and one and feeling pretty good about itself and they go up to BC and just lay an egg yeah it's windy it's cold there's 28,000 people in the stadium covered by blankets there's about 600 Carolina fans they don't bring the band and they get beat like 2820 that's the kind of stuff that's happened also before in this program and that's the kind of scary stuff if you're a Carolina fan why you might Envision a game like that or it's nice weather they go up there and yeah nice business yeah could be I think I do think it's a game right now they should win so now that we're 11 in they should win T of those first 11 right now on January 24th looking at this roster it being year six that's part of a key component to what I'm saying here year six of ma part 2 with the coaching staff that he's got in place now with the kind of experience he's got with the amount of money the school's spending on that defensive staff you you you probably got to be 10 and one just because of the schedule and because you should be pretty decent and that sets up that last game against NC State and you know at some point Carolina's going to get back on the train against them right I mean you I've seen State I've seen state in someone's cfp for next year someone's a lot of people saying they're kind of winning the transfer portal so far this off season which I mean you look at who they got I can disagree with it but I think that states figured some stuff out and Dave Dorne has a culture in place there's no doubt about it kids know what they're getting into and they go there there's probably not a lot of surprises I don't think there's over sold expectations either you know we're hand in the dirt guys and we carry lunch pales everywhere we go and and all that kind of junk but it works and it works it's an a school Works in an a school it's good it's it it suits the culture of the fan base and that's why it works so every school's got its own unique culture and often you need to have in order to be successful you kind of got to have a coach that fits the culture a little bit usually and the culture of the school and the culture of the program and Doran has found a way to do that now some State fans love to dump on him because of his record against Power five teams especially non conference power five teams but whatever I think they're getting I think that program is getting better and you see what they're doing the nil they launched that nil campaign similar to what Carolina's done and it's working for him so right now heading in I think that would be a very tough game for Carolina to win Carolina doesn't have Sam or Drake and it wasn't like Sam or Drake were well Sam beat him Drake didn't beat him no I Drake's the best quarterback schools had and he didn't beat State M so are you going to go say right now that Max Johnson will I don't know yeah I would say 10 and two I I think it's hard to be objective and say that North Carolina wins that game right now but of course that game's gonna the game's gonna be played in 10 months so we still got some time yeah before that happens especially be in the last game of the season who knows how what state's going to happen with State who the heck knows what's going to happen with North Carolina but yeah I mean based on recent history no I'm not I'm not picking Carolina to win that one right now especially as someone who's witnessed some of those games over the last three years been on the field actually for the last three games against cin State I mean there's just been some some some brutal collapses at the end of games and just some tough losses going back to to last year so it's hard to sit here and say yeah Carolina will win that game and you know finish 11- one I it's hard to that puts you at 10 and two right lose Tallahassee true to State 10 and two it'll be a great year for North Carolina 10 and two doesn't happen very much M will sell the you know what out of it as he should yeah for sure and then they have a chance then they have a chance play in decent buan they won't be cfp contenders the 12 team playoff contenders but if they beat ston or 11 and one they would be yeah especially if that happens they would probably play in the ACC Championship game so but I'm not getting I a going there right now no abely that's getting way ahead of that's getting way ahead of everything so as it stands the schedule's not that great the program needs a year where they don't have a great schedule it kind of comes at a good time they they need a little bit of a re reboost here a little bit of rejuice and look it's all about wins in the end you it's not like you know State fans will hate me saying this I don't care but state had some decent records by not playing a whole lot outside the league over time and you can do that Kansas State build his program under Bill Snider playing a bunch of PES outside the league and going 500 in Big 12 then they started winning some games and next thing you know they're 10 and two and everybody's thrilled so that's probably not a bad recipe for 2024 for Carolina football given where the program is right now and the needs for m brown to get this thing moving a little bit more and for a fan base that even though there's been success at Chapel Hill under Mack they're not happy about things so this might work out really well for everybody I agree that was one of the first things I thought about when I saw the schedule was looking out how the last couple seasons ended a lot of new faces in the program now including a new quarterback you know at the helm you look at this schedule and you're like okay this is opportunity to to do something an opportunity where Carolina should have a good year when like we've talked about a lot in this schedule but AJ real quickly too you mentioned the Open dates earlier let's talk about them real quick and before we wrap this one up um obviously you talk about Carolina not having games on three Saturdays of this year obviously starts that first game with playing that on a Thursday night at Minnesota then the other the first open weeks October October 19th uh between Georgia Tech and at UVA and then the other ones November 9th after the Florida State game and ahead of the Wake Forest game so in particular October 19th by week November 9th by week I mean those are by- weeks in relatively quick successions in the kind of meaty part of the Year where you've got a lot of guys banged up you've got some guys that are injured because you're what by that point in you know six plus games into the season so I think when you look at the Open dates that Carolina has here I think they fall at a at a good T time although it you know I know you might have a conflict in there with basketball can talk to us a little bit about that as well well it also they go 35 days in between home games because they have home game open date two Road games open date yep so they go five weeks without playing at home um the two I'm a fan of two by game by weeks because I like to have my college football Saturday I just sit on my fat butt and watch football from noon and until 1:00 a.m. whenever West Coast game's over uh so it's cool for me and they're going to have three Saturdays like that because the first weekend they play on a Thursday so that everybody you know will be able to watch games on that Saturday what I'm relieved and nobody cares about this but I'm relieved and another one of my buddies in the med works for a rival site who travels everywhere like I do we talked last week or so about how Carolina's basketball team played at Kansas on Friday November 8th next year and we were talking about like holy crap where are they going to play in foot because this is after we knew that the schedule was coming out where are they gonna play in football the next day how are we gonna be able to make it from Lauren you gotta fly out of Kansas City so you got drive back to gotta follow your postgame work drive back to Kansas City somehow get back to wherever the tar Hills will be playing the next day in football and cover it and they have an open dat so when I saw that I yelled to my wife I said they have an open date blah blah blah BL she had no earthly idea what I was talking about she didn't know the significance of at all so a little while later I started to record this podcast that was in there and I said you know it's can did you hear what I said she goes you I don't know oh yeah they're good yeah they're good it's Allen Fieldhouse it's a it's anyway so she's not wrong they are good no yeah I know so I've been Allen Fieldhouse once before but I'm not covered a game there yeah yeah couple years that's going to be a treat that's going to be huge and I think it's cool because that's a good weekend just focus on that so that'll really kind of bring that game out even more and who knows maybe if the Jayhawks are home in football the next day I'll go see him yeah man I wouldn't blame or just fly home early fly home early and watch the night games here but so the two Open dates I think are great although the coaches don't really like them especially you get in a role and what is that seven games before an open date let's see one two three yes seven games okay then you open date then you play two on the road open date yeah I don't think the coach is like that because you want to get in routine players would rather stay in routine they really would and um wow that's uh that'll be interesting that'll be really interesting I I I don't recall they had two Open dates two years ago because they played on week zero against Florida A&M MH so they had two Open dates then it was not a two open date year it was a 13-week season this year it's a 14-week season not including week zero so that's why there's two Open dates in there but um I'm looking forward to having college football Saturdays the one I had we we had this year that was an open date I had to go back to Virginia for my high school stuff my high school reunion so I didn't have a college football Saturday this past year and most of the games Carolina played W nights so I just didn't watch as much football as I usually would M so personally you asked me and I'm answering you personally I'm excited no you're not the only one man nothing better than a than a college football maybe we have some more n no TI noon kickoffs fans aren't gonna want to hear that but come on give us some more noon kickoffs this year man I was I was kind of secretly hoping to see a Friday night in there when it's I KN because I knew I knew Minnesota was Thursday but you know a th a Thursday at uh where they got a good Thursday at UVA be great that'd be perfect something close proximity drive up there back next day have a good FR have a good Friday there at home put together all the postcript stuff and then Saturday just sitting back watching games hey you know what it'd be even better though a Thursday at Duke I think that would probably be optimal talk about well they've had a couple of those that's what I'm saying they need to bring those back man they had won the Chrome helmet game when they routed them they had one when trabis threw an interception at the end was in 16 16 was and that game was the night was the night before Carolina's championship basketball season opened 2016 17 basketball season they played at to Lane the next night right so I went home slept two hours got up and flew to New Orleans and then covered the game that night God that's brutal right there that's brutal that was a funny story I could tell it now because it's far enough gone I know I'm totally going off the rails again here but Mike Dunley senior was the coach at T Lane at the time and you know he'd known Roy for God knows how many years obviously go they go way back I'm sure so we're back in the bows of the Arena after the game or something like that and Roy's walking by him I think Roy's presser over and I'm following Roy and Kur were going to the Carolina locker room do interviews and stuff and Dunley where'd you go for dinner that's the first thing you said to him where'd you go for dinner that that was one of those moments like that's old boy basketball those are old boy basketball guys that have been around known each other for years and how many awesome restaurants have these dudes gone to together where' you go for dinner he was so excited where'd you go for dinner I'll never forget that one stands out that's a good story right there first thing I asked him nothing but this is a football podcast so I digress it's all right man it wouldn't be right if we didn't derail one of these I mean you know it's just it's just comes with the comes with these podcasts nowadays so I guess we can go ahead and wrap up I think we've run through everything we need to run through good I gotta get my steps yeah I I'm recording basketball and I gotta get my steps come back and watch games so heck yeah man you're not I need to go eat some dinner I'm starving over here so we'll run I'm Jacob turner He's Andrew Jones another episode of the thi podcast let's do this like the video below if you agree with us you think it's a favorable schedule in that Carolina should you know looking at this I think it's safe today that when you look at it at least right now like you've said a couple times in this pod right now on January 24th think Carolina should be winning 10 or more games with this one it remains to be seen what happens but go ahead and like the video below if you agree with us go ahead and share as well subscribe and hit that notification bell too see y'all next time thanks thanks