Miami football and North Carolina inconsistencies mirror images

The North Carolina and Miami football teams began the season ranked in the top 15. Miami was ranked 14th in the AP Top 25 and 16th in the USA Today Coaches polls to begin the 2021 season. North Carolina is 3-3, Miami 2-3 entering their game on Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill. Miami has lost two in a row to North Carolina.

The Hurricanes and Tar Heels each had high expectations entering the 2021 season. North Carolina was the preseason favorite to win the ACC Coastal Division with 979 points and 109 first-place votes. The Miami football team was picked second by the media in the Coastal with 881 points and 28 first-place votes.

The Tar Heels were the second favorite in the ACC overall behind prohibitive favorite Clemson. North Carolina received 16 votes to 125 for Clemson. Miami was the third favorite in the ACC with three votes to win the conference title. Six teams received votes to emerge as the 2021 ACC Champion.

Miami and North Carolina have both struggled with inconsistency this season. The Hurricanes travel to Keenan Stadium with a five-game losing streak against Power Five opponents that began in a 62-26 loss to the Tar Heels last season. Miami has since lost to Oklahoma State in 2020, Alabama, Michigan State and Virginia in 2021.

North Carolina has had just a maddening season to their fans as Miami has this season. The Tar Heels have had many of the same issues as the Hurricanes. North Carolina fans have many of the same frustrations as Miami fans have had over the last few seasons. Our partner site Keeping it Heel commented.

"“The problems that haunted the Tar Heels in their first two losses were the same on Saturday against FSU, a common theme in their disappointing 2021 campaign that began with College Football Playoff and Heisman Trophy hopes. They don’t tackle well. They don’t block well. They don’t catch well. They don’t run well.They don’t convert third downs well. They don’t adjust well. They don’t coach well. They play lackadaisical, undisciplined, inefficient football. And that brand of football, something we often saw during the Larry Fedora era but were convinced was gone in the “Mack is back” era, appears to be here to stay.That is, unless North Carolina quickly does something to fix the situation. Sadly, that fix probably comes at the cost of a handful of jobs within the football program."

The frustrations from the Miami and North Carolina fan bases are common complaints from losing teams or successful ones with frustrated fans. On Saturday one of those fan bases is guaranteed to be frustrated. The Miami football game at North Carolina was initially set up as the game of the year in the ACC Coastal.

Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech will kick off at 3:30 PM on Saturday. The Panthers and Hokies will be on ESPN2. Miami at North Carolina is relegated to the ACC Network. The Hurricanes need to play with a sense of urgency against the Tar Heels. Miami will have pride on the line after losing 62-26 to North Carolina in 2020.