65
NORTH CAROLINA:
The Tar Heels
(2–9) underperformed
their Pythagorean win
total (which uses points
scored and allowed to
calculate an expected
record) by two games in- If junior Michael
Carter emerges as an
elite running back, UNC
has a soft enough
schedule and a volatile
enough division to put
together six wins and
become bowl eligible. At
67, coach Mack Brown is
not likely to be a long-
term solution, but his
first team has a relatively
simple path to a quick
bounce back.
TEXAS TECH:
Before firing Kliff
Kingsbury and replacing
him with Utah State’s
Matt Wells, the Red
Raiders went 5–7 in
2018—though four of
those losses came by
fewer than 10 points.
Wells will retain the
Air Raid offense under
coordinator David Yost,
who gets a chance to
work with one of the
Big 12’s better QBs: Alan
Bowman (below). The
sophomore missed four
games with a partially
collapsed lung last
season but still passed
for 2,638 yards andA quartet of teams that have the tools to finish2019 much stronger than last seasonLEAP YEAR
TURNAROUND TEAMS
17 TDs. With him back at
full strength, the
Red Raiders will try to
outgun Big 12
opponents.MIAMI:
Unlike the rest of
the teams on this list,
the Hurricanes had a
winning record (7–6) in2018—but only two of
those wins came after
Oct. 13. With new coach
Manny Diaz (above) and
a heated QB competition
that includes Tate
Martell, there’s enough
that’s fresh in Coral
Gables this fall to think
that Miami will show life
on offense and get close
to elite on defense
(Diaz’s speciality).GEORGIA STATE:
In the Sun Belt
good teams don’t often
stay good for long,
and—fortunately for the
Panthers—bad teams
don’t stay bad. From
2015 through ’18 they
vacillated between
bowl eligible and
abysmal, and there’s no
reason to think
Georgia State won’t
rebound, especially with
senior quarterback Dan
Ellington, who passed
for 2,119 yards and
rushed for another 625
last year, leading the
STREETER LECKA offense./GETTY IM
AGES (CARTER); JO
HN W
EAST/GETTY IM
AGES (BOW
MAN); REIN
HO
LD M
ATAY/USA TO
DAY SPO
RTS (DIAZ)
SUPER 8
Carter, who averaged
7.1 yards per carry as
a sophomore in 2018,
will be a key to
UNC’s resurgence.