North Carolina Football: Game-by-game predictions for 2020 season

With a talented and experienced roster and a Heisman-contending quarterback in Sam Howell, North Carolina football is dreaming big in 2020.

When Mack Brown was hired after the 2018 season, it was met with a lot of skepticism. A year later, not many football programs have the momentum that North Carolina football has. Brown is recruiting at a high level and has some thinking that North Carolina is an ACC and College Football Playoff darkhorse.

There is plenty of experience on both sides of the ball, especially on offense where the top rusher, top three receivers and four starting offensive linemen return. Most importantly, Sam Howell is back after a tremendous freshman campaign and Chazz Surratt is ready to lead the defense yet again in 2020.

North Carolina has some questions to answer, however.

The defense is young in some areas, especially the secondary and the defensive line and while they did bring in a top 20 recruiting class, some of those guys may not be ready to contribute right away. Things always change when teams go from no expectations to high expectations and that’s where North Carolina is.

Last season, nobody expected much from the Tar Heels and now they’re the Coastal favorites and it will be interesting to see how they respond with such high expectations.

Here’s how the 2020 season will play out for North Carolina football.