Finally, a Triangle college football season where no one’s counting down to basketball
As we say around these parts every February, when that other sport is fizzling to a dismal close, “Is it football season yet?”
That might actually have been said last year, given the way North Carolina and N.C. State (and most of the rest of the ACC, to be fair) went into March, and the expectations surrounding the Wolfpack in football in particular. But obviously things took a turn in the NCAA tournament and football was once again relegated to a sideshow. Briefly, anyway.
It’s crazy how the Triangle survived the long-feared basketball apocalypse in April and, five months later, is now amid an equally unlikely college football resurrection. For so long this area’s second sport, a time-waster until Midnight Madness, reason to imbibe by necessity not by choice, football is in the middle of what may be its greatest month ever.
There’s even a strange feeling floating around — not optimism, although there is that, but there’s often optimism, even if much of it is usually squashed by now. It’s more like … expectations. An expectation that something other than disaster is lurking around the corner, that things may get better instead of worse as the season wears on.
All four of the Big Four are 3-0, as is N.C. Central, and ESPN brought Game Day to one of the very few places in the state without an undefeated football team last weekend. This is not just unprecedented — even a collective 2-0 made history — but outright flabbergasting, especially since North Carolina, N.C. State and Wake Forest all survived the kind of games that might have blemished a record in the past.
And yes, no one has really played anyone really good yet, with the first real tests coming Saturday when North Carolina hosts Notre Dame — albeit the Limping, not Fighting Irish — and undefeated Duke travels to undefeated Kansas. But given this state’s checkered football history, and the perceived strength of the ACC, or lack thereof, 12-0’s nothing to sneeze at and 16-0 would be a true accomplishment.
Across the board, there’s reason to believe. Wake Forest has Sam Hartman back. Duke has new life and new energy under new coach Mike Elko. N.C. State, despite its narrow escape at East Carolina, is ranked in the top 15. North Carolina, despite its narrow escape at Appalachian State, hasn’t actually lost yet. It just feels that way. And N.C. Central and ECU and App all have reasons to believe of their own.
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The fact that neither North Carolina nor N.C. State has appeared to reach its full potential yet — the Tar Heels on defense, the Wolfpack on offense — suggests that this may indeed be not just a historic start to the season but a historic season in full. North Carolina can affirm that Saturday in Chapel Hill. Wake Forest and N.C. State will both get their moment against Clemson imminently, the Deacons at home this week, the Wolfpack on the road next week.
That’s going to be the real litmus test of whether this is a mirage or something with real momentum, whether there are going to be real, tangible stakes for UNC-Duke on Oct. 15 or Wake-State on Nov. 5 or State-Carolina on Black Friday — or just the usual bragging rights.
Either way, it’s a pleasant change from the usual — and if it all goes south, basketball season is less than two months away. For once, no one’s keeping track.
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This story was originally published September 21, 2022 at 5:40 AM with the headline "Finally, a Triangle college football season where no one’s counting down to basketball."
