UNC Tar Heels Are Auburn University Tigers Look-Alike Next Year

With the BCS title at stake tonight, and next year the only thing looming after that, what can we take from the title game that makes us hope for next year? The major hope is whether our teams look like either of the teams playing tonight. And, because I think they will blow the Oregon Ducks back to the Pacific, the Auburn Tigers appear to be the team to be like next year.

So let's have at it, Tar Heel fans. Could the Tar Heels look like the Tigers next year?

Let's start with coaching. Is Butch Davis as good as Gene Chizik? Let's say better than Chizik after this year's performance. No slacker, Butch Davis is poised to win the championship he abandoned when at Miami.

The running back position was undoubtedly where UNC suffered the most. Amid problems academically and other injuries, the Tar Heels lost Gio Bernard to injury. Bernard could have started for the Tar Heels who continued to produce lanes for running backs despite the suspensions and losses this past season.

Next season, running backs will be plentiful for the Tar Heels. But in what may be a near repeat of Cam Newton's unbelievable 1400 plus yards performance, UNC recruit Marquise Williams is a not-so-quite replica with two years less experience and three inches less in height. Williams almost ran as much and as far as Newton this year. Over 1,100 yards. And he passed for more. Over 3,000 yards. With quarterback seeming a lot weaker, but with Bryn Renner finally and almost certainly starting, he has some competition at his position again. At least it is not an already two year starter like T.J. Yates. Yet Williams is someone who is likely to give Renner a run for his money. Could Renner become another Matt Cassell? It is possible.

The defense is getting larger with the addition of at least three great players next year: middle linebacker Travis Hughes, outside linebacker Norkeithus Otis, and defensive tackle Sylvester Williams. If Shawn Underwood keeps his verbal commitment, then the defense will start looking like Auburn this year. Huge.

Auburn was unranked at the end of the 2009-2010 season, just like UNC. But UNC has more going for it than Auburn did. With only the question of sanctions hanging over its head, Auburn went ahead and made the most of the year.

By next year, the results of the investigation will be in. And if they were to do more than cut scholarships, it is likely this would have been done already. Tar Heels fans can take some comfort in the fact that there were no sanctions coming before this year's post-season. In addition, with this the only set of issues faced by UNC and no sign that Davis was involved in the shenanigans that went on, the team should not suffer the fate of the students, and UNC should not suffer much more. 

If sanctions were not happening, would Underwood still be looking? Doubtful. And with others already in the fold, the likelihood of more top players to end this signing period seems higher than ever.

So, is UNC the next Auburn?

We will see.