Rod Brind’Amour joins N&O’s Week 4 college football picks for North Carolina schools
Another week, another undefeated record — just never by the same people.
It was C.L. Brown’s turn to go 7-0 last week, not good enough to move him into first place but still pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good. We’ll all face a bigger challenge this week as we introduce our first guest picker: Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour, who adopted N.C. State when he moved here, long before he married into Wolfpack fandom.
According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, there’s only a 2.6 percent chance the 3-0 Big Four moves to 4-0, with only N.C. State over 50 percent to win. North Carolina is at 46.5 percent, Duke at 27.3 percent and Wake Forest at 21.1 percent. Do the N&O’s football experts — and one guest hockey expert — have better odds than that to get it all right again?
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▪ Notre Dame at UNC: Struggling offense meets equally struggling defense in this pseudo-ACC game that doesn’t quite have the same luster it did when it showed up on the schedule. A little of that has to do with North Carolina being less-than-dominant in games the Tar Heels were expected to dominate. A lot of that has to do with Notre Dame suddenly missing Brian Kelly a lot more than it expected and losing its starting quarterback.
Because of the manner of the Tar Heels’ wins, they probably haven’t gotten the credit they normally would for being 3-0. That can change this week. Beating Notre Dame, even when Notre Dame isn’t very good or when it tries to throw 42 passes in a hurricane, still means something.
Brind’Amour says: “Notre Dame can’t beat anyone. They got lucky to win last week. I watched the end of that and I was not impressed. And it’s at UNC. They can’t lose that one.”
N&O consensus: Brind’Amour breaks the tie in favor of UNC.
▪ UConn at N.C. State: The Wolfpack, which opened as a 40-point favorite, has a chance to avenge last spring’s women’s basketball debacle in Bridgeport, when N.C. State’s reward for earning a No. 1 seed was a road game against the most populous fan base in the sport. Of course, the Wolfpack lost in overtime by exactly the margin that home-court advantage statistically provided. Is that truly relevant? No. Was it such an epic shafting that it deserves mentioning again? Absolutely.
Rehashing that is certainly more interesting than this football game figures to be. N.C. State opened as a 40-point favorite and, like two weeks ago against Charleston Southern, this is a chance for the Wolfpack to build some confidence on offense, albeit perhaps without the injured Jordan Houston.
Brind’Amour says: “It’s a layup, isn’t it? If you’re going against the spread, I’d say they might be able to keep it within 40.”
N&O consensus: State opens 4-0 for the fourth time in nine years.
▪ Duke at Kansas: This is the early game of the Champions Football Classic; Kentucky and Michigan State are in the scheduled-for-9 p.m.-but-tipping-at-10:04 p.m. late game. No, seriously, who would have thought two years ago that a game between two of the programs with the most out-of-whack football vs. basketball balance would not only be undefeated but a legit contender to host (football) “ESPN College GameDay” in Lawrence?
Duke has passed all its tests so far in the early days of the Mike Elko regime, but this is the biggest yet of what has been an emotional rebirth. Crazy thing is, if Duke had fired David Cutcliffe a year earlier, Lance Leipold might be coaching in Durham instead.
Brind’Amour says: “It’s a sucker bet, because if I go against them and they win, I’ll look bad. I’ll go with Duke.”
N&O consensus: Leipold has a one-year head-start on Elko and the N&O goes for Kansas, unanimously.
▪ Clemson at Wake Forest: This week in “What Wake Forest fans are angry about” includes more attention for Appalachian State (they only beat Troy!) and more anger at ESPN (“GameDay” should be in Winston-Salem!). Maybe squeaking past Liberty should be on the list as well.
But beating Clemson would go a long way toward curing a lot of those ills. The road to the Atlantic Division title still goes through the team in orange, Syracuse … wait, that’s not right. The road to the division title still goes through Clemson, but Wake Forest can divert that traffic with a win Saturday.
Brind’Amour says: “I’d like to say Wake Forest can hang but I think that’s asking too much. That game’s going to be close. I’m going to predict a tight one. But Clemson should win that game. Wake Forest is sneaky good. Underrated.”
N&O consensus: Clemson, but far from unanimous.
▪ Navy at East Carolina: It’s possible we’re seeing an unusual down cycle amid what’s been a remarkable run at the Naval Academy, headed for a third straight losing season. When you start your season with a loss to Delaware, that tends to bode poorly. But nothing is ever assumed against Navy’s offense, and just because the Pirates should win doesn’t mean they will.
Brind’Amour says: “East Carolina has to win that. The boring game of boring games, playing Navy, I would think. East Carolina should have won in Week 1.”
N&O consensus: ECU rules the seas
▪ James Madison at Appalachian State: Congratulations to the Mountaineers, now 4-0 with two actual wins, a moral victory over UNC and a transitive win over Miami, which lost to Texas A&M on Saturday. It’s a fun story and Boone’s been an absolute scene, but rarely has a fan base ever gone from funderdogs to insufferable in such a short period of time.
Brind’Amour (whose daughter attends James Madison): “I do (have family ties) but you have to be smart. App should win that game. They’re not losing that one.”
N&O consensus: Prepare to endure another week of Yosef chest-beating.
▪ Virginia Lynchburg at N.C. Central: The Eagles deservedly crack the FCS Top 25, having beaten North Carolina A&T and won on the road at a Top-25 opponent in New Hampshire. They should probably be ranked higher than 25th behind a pair of 1-2 teams, but it may take the football world at large a little more time to recognize the fine season Trei Oliver and NCCU are having. Unfortunately, a win Saturday is unlikely to open any more eyes.
Brind’Amour says: “Who? I’ve never even heard of them. Virginia Lynchburg?”
N&O consensus: Regardless of what happens elsewhere, the Triangle will have at least one 4-0 team.
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This story was originally published September 21, 2022 at 6:10 AM with the headline "Rod Brind’Amour joins N&O’s Week 4 college football picks for North Carolina schools."
