By Zac Ellis

ACC Coastal Championship ring. Other side view. #GoHeels http://t.co/WiRGvTsOYP—
Jason Freeman (@uncfootball) April 30, 2013

Larry Fedora knew exactly what he was getting into. At the ACC’s spring meetings this week, the North Carolina head coach said he expected there would be critics of his decision to award rings to his team honoring their Coastal Division championship.

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In three weeks and four days, Larry Fedora will don a very important visor. Actually, we’re not all that sure that thing comes off. Have you seen how similar the Elon Phoenix helmets look to Florida State’s? It gave us quite a turn.

25 days.

Paul Johnson and Jon Barry won the 2011 Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge charity golf tournament. Paul Johnson is clearly as bewildered as we are to learn he excels at the serene sport of golf. (Abell Images)

The Chick-fil-A Bowl’s annual charity golf tournament kicks off this weekend, forcing 16 ACC and SEC skippers to mute their phones (probably), partner up with celebrity alums from their current programs and battle for scholarship dollars in the carefully sculpted wilds of Georgia. The pairings for the main event have been released. We have some thoughts.

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The Hawaii Bowl's pineapple football is a beloved hallmark of the college postseason.

The 2011 Hawaii Bowl is just a day away. We’re sure you have so many questions. We’re here to help. (For an Xs and Os breakdown, check out Zac Ellis’ game preview.)

• Where will this game be played? Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.

• When is it on television? Kickoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET on Christmas Eve. The game will be televised on ESPN.

• Whom does it feature? The traditional pairing pits the WAC against Conference USA.

• What about this year? It’s 11-2 C-USA champ Southern Miss versus the 7-5 Nevada Wolf Pack.

• That does not sound too competitive! It’s not. The real winner here is Larry Fedora, who gets a free trip to Hawaii before departing Hattiesburg for the UNC job.

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Larry Fedora -- nearly unrecognizable without a visor and sunglasses -- will reportedly take over at North Carolina. (US PRESSWIRE)

• Fedora the Explorer alights in Chapel Hill:  Golden Eagles skipper Larry Fedora, one of this postseason’s hottest coaching commodities, has reportedly agreed to succeed Butch Davis and interim coach Everett Withers at UNC, according to the Winston-Salem Journal. (I almost didn’t recognize him in that shot without the visor and sunglasses.) Fedora, of course, is fresh off a Conference USA title win gained against the previously undefeated Houston Cougars. Southern Miss was his first head coaching gig at the college level; he previously served as OC at Oklahoma State, Florida and Middle Tennessee State.

• Realignment tidbits, grudgingly dispensed: You know, I got some truly nasty emails when I suggested (in a post with a headline cribbed straight from Jonathan Swift, no less) that the SEC start poaching teams from the southeastern corners of their respective states. Well, the Big East has gone and done me one better, stomping a stiletto heel on the instep of geography with the reported additions of Boise State, San Diego State, Houston, Central Florida and SMU. All of which are quite easterly, from the conference honchos’ presumed floating island fortress in the Pacific. Ready for jokes? Ready for jokes!

“By joining the Big East conference, do these teams automatically qualify for East Coast Bias?” — David Foster

“Maybe the Big East just knows something about plate tectonics and continental drift that the rest of us don’t.” — @celebrityhottub

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