The North Carolina Tar Heels are entering year two of the Bill Belichick era and are hoping that it goes a lot better than year one. UNC really struggled under Belichick, going 4-8 overall and winning just two Atlantic Coast Conference games.
They need to be better, or there will be even more questions about Belichick’s hot seat. Things could go downhill in a hurry for UNC, especially with one of the toughest schedules in college football.
But as the season opener is just a few days away, USA TODAY Sports is making its record predictions for every team in college football for the season. The duo of Paul Myerberg and Ramon Padilla went through the depth charts and schedules for each team and made their predictions.
Here is what he said about the ACC in general:
Miami is the no-doubt team to beat in the ACC, though SMU and maybe even Clemson could spoil the attempt of the Hurricanes to win the conference for the first time. Virginia Tech will make an immediate jump under James Franklin. You’ll have to scroll down to find Bill Belichick and North Carolina, again picked to finish well shy of bowl eligibility.
For North Carolina, they are predicted to go 3-9 overall and 2-6 in the ACC. With that projection, the Tar Heels would finish 15th in the conference. It would be worse than the first season under Belichick.
Let’s hope the Tar Heels can do better than these projections as it’s going to be a very important season in Chapel Hill. North Carolina will open up the 2026 season by playing TCU in Ireland in Week 0.
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: USA TODAY Sports’ predicts UNC football’s 2026 record
