Updated to include February and March.  I'll be really interested in the spike following the championship, but I'll have those numbers in early May. 

As you can see, the site is still growing.  Tell your friends about us, and thanks for reading, as always!

HeelsBlog's viewership has increased every week since its inception in early December.  Thanks for reading and commenting, and keep telling your friends!  January's numbers were almost twice as much as December's.  Hopefully the ball will keep rolling.

December 04

Distinct hosts served - 1,671

Total Page Views - 2,937

January 05

Distinct hosts served - 3,318

Total Page Views - 5,337 February 05 Distinct hosts served - 3,983 Total Page Views - 5,561 March 05 Distinct hosts served - 5,343 Total Page Views - 6,752

With Duke's loss at Wake Forest Wednesday night, the North Carolina Tar Heels are now alone in first place in the ACC.  Will T.O. play?  I don't know and I don't care.  Just tired of hearing about it.

Team standings and conference records:

1.  North Carolina 6-1

2.  Wake Forest 6-2 (tiebreaker by beating Duke)

3.  Duke 6-2

4.  Virginia Tech 5-3

5.  Maryland 4-4 (tiebreaker by beating Georgia Tech)

6.  Georgia Tech 4-4

7.  Miami 4-5

8.  Florida State 3-4 (tiebreaker by beating NCSU)

9.  N.C. State 3-4

10.  Clemson 2-7

11.  Virginia 1-7

So here it is:  the one everyone's been waiting for.  The mighty Wolfpack come to town to visit the unsuspecting Tar Heels.............

Or at least that's what every State fan that calls 1090 would have you believe.  To paraphrase, "I really think State's going to man up together, bring it and beat Carolina in Chapel Hill this week.  That's just the crazy season we're having.  I really think we'll beat the Tar Heels and get back on track."

Riiiiiight.  I know you think Carolina's looking not one, but two games ahead to Duke next Wednesday.  And I might agree with you if this was last year.  But I just can't buy it now.  This Tar Heel team is focused, determined, and ready.  Julius Hodge will not beat the Tar Heels again in his career.  The Pack have had some unfortunate injuries this season and have been extremely inconsistent on the floor.  Levi Watkins is hurt now, and they do not have a solid post presence to combat Marvin, Sean, and Jawad.  Not this time.  Not this year.

Rashad McCants has had some low outputs offensively of late, but I'm willing to bet he has an axe to grind tomorrow night.  I predict he nets 27 or more.

Go Tar Heels!

TarHeelBlue Signing Day Roster

Well, we got one of the two players I mentioned in my Signing Day Preview.  Montario Hardesty decided to ride the bench in Knoxville rather than star in Kenan Stadium.  We'll see what happens.  I know this kind of thing happens all the time, but I don't have to like it.  Jordan Hemby stayed with his initial feeling and will wear Carolina blue this fall.

So there is some disappointment, as the coaching staff didn't really nail down some of the big names that were still out there coming into the day, but there has to be excitement as well.  We've got some great players that want to be Tar Heels, and I think that's very important to remember.  Be sure to check out the bios listed on the link above.

Richie Rich and Barrington Edwards (transfer) add some new faces to plug into the backfield, and I think we'll see some great competition this spring.  I don't know too much about Garrett White (LB), but I'm glad he wanted to be on the Hill. 

The spring game is tentatively scheduled for early April, so we'll be able to tell you about returning players and the early entrants then.

Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll offer a preview of the depth chart at each position.  As always, it's a great day to be a Tar Heel!

Today, thousands of high school senior football players will fax their letters-of-intent to college coaches all around the country.  John Bunting hopes to receive two key letters, from Montario Hardesty and Jordan Hemby.

What did you say?  You thought they already committed to North Carolina?  So did I.  In fact, both players verballed several weeks ago.  But in both cases, coaches from other schools swooped in and tried to win their heart.

Philip Fulmer at Tennessee refused to accept Hardesty's North Carolina committment, and has been hounding the kid ever since.  In the case of Hemby, it's Urban Meyer and Florida.  Both players have announcements scheduled for late this morning.  The football Tar Heels have not had much luck with press conferences (see Toney Baker, Jonathan Hannah, and Derek Nicholson).

I don't think it's a stretch to say the Tar Heels need these two players more than the other program.  They are from the state of North Carolina, and John Bunting needs to keep the stud in-state players in their home state.

Here's hoping...