Our series ranking the 20 best UNC football teams of all time continues today. Once this series concludes, we will rank the best UNC basketball teams of all time:
No. 4: 1980
Record: 11-1 (6-0)
Bowl: Bluebonnet Bowl, beat Texas 16-7
Ranking: 9
Coach: Dick Crum
All-Americans: Lawrence Taylor (LB); Amos Lawrence (RB); Rick Donnalley (C ); Donnell Thompson (DT); Ron Wooten (G)
First-Team All-ACC: Kelvin Bryant RB; Amos Lawrence RB; Ron Wooten OG; Rick Donnalley C; Lawrence Taylor DL; Darrell Nicholson LB; Stee Streater DB & PP; Donnell Thompson DL.
Honors: Lawrence Taylor, semifinalist Lombardi Award; ACC Player of the Year; Dick Crum ACC Coach of the Year
What's To Know: UNC's last ACC championship team, a pair of 1,000-yard rushers, a defensive stalwart who changed the game, and a bowl victory over Texas makes 1980 one of the best seasons in Carolina history. The Tar Heels were downright nasty just about every week, holding five opponents without a touchdown and allowing just four to score in double figures.
An early season win at Texas Tech – coupled with the bowl win marking the only time in school history the Heels won two football games in the state of Texas in the same season - and a thrilling victory at Clemson indicated this team was one of UNC's finest. Carolina steadily climbed the polls, gaining national attention along the way as it started at No. 14 and was 7-0 sitting at No. 6 the last week of October heading into a potentially program-defining game at one of the era's greatest programs.
A trip to Norman, OK, to take on powerhouse Oklahoma didn't work out too well for the Heels, as a 7-7 halftime score turned into a 41-7 thrashing. As has been a common theme in UNC’s history, including a few years later in the 1990s, the Tar Heels simply couldn't get over the hump, though this team was exceptionally close.
The Tar Heels were ranked every week of the season, including six weeks in the top 10.
In all, 31.3 percent of the points Carolina allowed that season came in the loss to the Sooners. But overall, a top-10 finish setting up expectations for a historic season.
1981 NFL Draft
3rd Rnd: Rick Donnalley, C, OG, Steelers
4th Rnd: Amos Lawrence, RB, Chargers
6th Rnd: Ron Wooten, OG, Patriots
6th Rnd: Harry Stanback, DE, Falcons
