Heels Well Aware Last ACC Title Was When ‘Lawrence Taylor Was Here’

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CHAPEL HILL – To put into perspective the last time North Carolina won an ACC football championship, a little digging is indeed required:

Jimmy Carter was still president; Private Benjamin was the top movie; “Lady” by Kenny Rogers was the number one song; Gas was $1.19 per gallon; Milk was $1.12 per gallon; Michael Jordan was still in high school; Dean Smith hadn’t yet won a national title; and some guy nicknamed “LT” was terrorizing opponents around the ACC.

That’s Lawrence Taylor, the undisputed greatest defensive player in football history, who literally changed the game at the outside linebacker position. Before the world got to know his greatness on the field and eccentricities off it, he was a Tar Heel, and served as a key cog in UNC winning the ACC championship in 1980.

The Tar Heels have not won one since. But that could change Saturday night, when No. 23 UNC takes on No. 9 Clemson in the conference championship game at Bank of America Stadium.

“It would mean everything,” UNC wide receiver Josh Downs said about ending the streak. “It’s 42 years since 1980; 42 years since a championship, that would mean the world for Tar Heel nation, for this athletic department, for this team, for this coach. It would mean the world to win the championship.”

The coach is UNC head man Mack Brown, who fielded arguably the best team in Carolina history in 1997, but that club fell short of winning an ACC title because it was in the midst of legendary Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden’s historic run..

Brown returned to Chapel Hill to restore the program to where it was when he left for Texas, which was consecutive final top-10 rankings in 1996 and 1997. Winning Saturday night would be a massive step in that direction.

“I feel like it would be a testament to coach Brown coming back to this program and turning it around and putting it in the right direction,” Downs said.

It would also connect this group with a team that had the most famous Tar Heel footballer ever, but a club that was loaded with NFL guys. The list: Kelvin Bryant; Jeff Hayes; Amos Lawrence; Rick Donnalley; Mike Wilcher; Calvin Daniels; Sammy Johnson; Billy Johnson; David Drechsler; Ron Spruill; Donnell Thompson; Ron Wooten; Shelton Robinson; and Harry Stanback.

“It shows we’re very talented on this football team; not as talented as him, per se, but we’ve got a good squad ourselves,” Downs said. “Hopefully we can get it done.”

Junior linebacker and tackling machine Cedric Gray was born 21 years after Dick Crum led the Heels to that title and No. 9 ranking in the final AP poll. So, when asked what he knew about the last Carolina club to win an ACC football title, Gray knew the answer, but admittedly doesn’t know a whole lot about that team.

“Forty-two years,” he said. “What I’ve heard is the last time they won was when Lawrence Taylor was here. That was definitely a good bit a while ago.”

Yet, he’s hoping to change the answer to that question, one future Tar Heels can answer with ease.

“Definitely been a long time,” he said. “And definitely looking forward to bringing that back to Carolina this weekend for sure.”