The pecking order in college football is becoming clearer, and that is also true in North Carolina.
While the start of the season included NC State edging ECU, UNC’s barn-burning win over App State and, most memorably, the Mountaineers’ improbable victory over Texas A&M the next week, the chaos has given way to a hierarchy among the state’s seven teams.
Members of North State Journal’s sports staff ranked North Carolina’s FBS entries and came up with nearly identical orders, making this midseason power ranking pretty clear-cut.
1. Wake Forest (5-1, 1-1 ACC)
The Demon Deacons started the season with the worst possible news: Sam Hartman would begin the 2022 campaign on the sideline due to Paget-Schroetter syndrome that caused a blood clot.
The star quarterback only missed Wake’s opener against VMI, and he has thrown for 1,442 yards with 16 touchdowns and two interceptions in five games. The only blemish on the Deacs’ season was a 51-45 home overtime loss to powerhouse Clemson in which Hartman threw six touchdown passes.
Wake Forest hosts Boston College on Saturday before traveling to Louisville the following week — two expected wins. After that, things get tough for the Deacons with games against three currently ranked teams (NC State, UNC and Syracuse) before ending their season at surprising Duke.
2. UNC (6-1, 3-0 ACC)
The Tar Heels started their season with many of the same problems they had a year ago — namely a defense that was unable to stop pretty much anyone.
But one thing UNC has been able to do that it couldn’t in 2022 is win close games — the Tar Heels are 4-0 in games decided by one score after going 2-3 in those games last season.
Carolina is in the driver’s seat in the downtrodden Coastal Division, meaning that a spot in the ACC Championship Game is well within the Heels’ reach. UNC will get to face the two teams with a shot to supplant them, Pitt and Georgia Tech, at home, and the season finale against rival NC State will be at Kenan Memorial Stadium.
The one game to circle: a visit to Winston-Salem to face Wake Forest on Nov. 12. With wins already over App State and Duke, the Tar Heels still have a chance to be 4-0 against in-state opponents this season.
3. NC State (5-2, 1-2 ACC)
Many thought this was the Wolfpack’s year, but fate — as it often does for NC State — intervened.
Coach Dave Doeren’s team started the year with a closer-than-expected win at East Carolina and a 4-0 start. That meant an early-season showdown at Clemson for the right to be considered the ACC’s favorite.
The Wolfpack’s surprising Achilles’ heel in their first four games, the offense, sputtered, and the loss to the Tigers has sent NC State into a spiral. The Pack managed a game win over Florida State despite losing Devin Leary to injury, but they couldn’t overcome his loss — he’ll miss the rest of the season — last weekend at Syracuse.
NC State will need to find its offense with Jack Chambers at quarterback, but hopes of an ACC title and even a Cinderella run to the College Football Playoff are over. Now the Wolfpack will look to play spoiler, particularly against Wake Forest (Nov. 5 in Raleigh) and UNC (Nov. 25 in Chapel Hill).
4. Duke (4-3, 1-2 ACC)
Coach Mike Elko wasn’t interested in the moral victory of taking rival UNC down to the final seconds before losing 38-35 last weekend. How quickly expectations have changed.
For all the good David Cutcliffe did in Durham, the Blue Devils were 5-18 with just one win in conference play over his final two seasons. Elko looks like he’s on pace to surpass both those win totals in his first year at Duke.
Duke’s three losses — on the road at Kansas and Georgia Tech and at home to the Tar Heels — came by a combined 14 points, and the Blue Devils look like a team with a bowl on its mind.
5. East Carolina (4-3, 2-2 AAC)
The Pirates started their season with a crushing home loss to NC State but have won four of six since. That included last weekend’s four-overtime win over Memphis in which ECU trailed 17-0 before rallying to get back in the game.
There are tough games ahead for the Pirates, starting this week against 5-1 UCF and a trip to Cincinnati on Nov. 11. East Carolina doesn’t play the week before visiting the Bearcats, so Mike Houston will have plenty of time to game plan for the matchup.
6. App State (3-3, 1-2 Sun Belt)
It’s a bit surprising that this is where Appalachian State finds itself. After nearly knocking off UNC and then stunning then-No. 6 Texas A&M in College Station, the Mountaineers seemed poised for a big year.
Instead, App State has won just two of four, beating Troy on a miracle Hail Mary and blanking overmatched The Citadel while losing at home to James Madison and at Texas State.
There’s still a path to the Sun Belt title game, but the Mountaineers will need to win out and get some help along the way.
7. Charlotte (1-6, 0-3 CUSA)
Will Healy looked like he was one of the nation’s young up-and-coming coaches when he led the 49ers to a bowl in 2019 in his first year in Charlotte. But UNCC is 8-17 since and has managed just one win this year — a 42-41 win over Georgia State.
The 49ers will join East Carolina in the AAC next season, and it’s worth wondering if Healy will be leading them when they do.
