On College GameDay, Pat McAfee picked Bill Belichick and North Carolina to win the ACC over Miami. That prediction is going to age very poorly.
Pat McAfee picks Bill Belichick and North Carolina to win the ACC 🐏 pic.twitter.com/a8Q8V7p50l
— CFB Kings (@CFBKings) September 5, 2026
UNC is going to win the ACC? Are you serious?
The Tar Heels beat TCU 15-10 in Dublin last Saturday, but they were 4-8 last year and went through one of the craziest media firestorms in recent memory.
Belichick may have eight Super Bowl rings and 300-plus NFL wins, but he didn't exactly look like he did last year at UNC. It was a mess, and while they might be improved this year, Miami is the real deal. And there are other teams that also deserve recognition.
Other teams McAfee should have considered if he was going to choose a team to win the ACC instead of Miami:
- Louisville
- SMU
- Clemson
- Virginia
- Virginia Tech
What makes McAfee's choice so insane is the fact that Miami had already opened the season on Friday with a 45-6 win at Stanford. Darian Mensah went 27-of-30 for 401 yards and five touchdowns and Malachi Toney caught 12 passes for a school-record 234 yards and three scores. The offense looked unstoppable, and the Canes answered a lot of questions. Why ignore that when making the prediction?
UNC's legal trouble
North Carolina is also going through an open internal investigation.
Michael Lombardi resigned Thursday after he had been on paid leave since July 27 after an HR complaint from a former front-office employee. There are also questions about whether (now former) defensive coordinator Steve Belichick used drugs at university facilities or provided drugs to at least one player, and separately whether a recruiting staffer had a sexual relationship with a player.
The College Sports Commission, which polices NIL and revenue-sharing rules, has also approached UNC about a potential investigation, with Lombardi's actions described as being of interest.
Even if things get figured out, what person in their right mind would opt to choose a team like UNC to win the ACC over a team like Miami? It makes no sense.
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