According to the NCAA, if a conference wishes to hold a Football Championship game, said conference must have at least 12 teams and those teams must be divided into two divisions. So as long as the ACC continues to work under the rules of the NCAA and continue to make money off holding a Championship game, winning the Coastal Division is a must if the UNC Football team ever wants a chance to win the ACC and play in one of the access bowl games.
So it is probably a good idea to see where Carolina stacks up against the rest of the teams in that division.