No. 8: 1972
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. 8: 1972
Record: 11-1 (6-0)
Bowl: Sun Bowl, beat Texas Tech 32-28
Ranking: 12
Coach: Bill Dooley
All-Americans: Ron Rusnak (G); Jerry Sain (T)
First-Team All-ACC: Ron Rusnak, OG; Jerry Sain, OT; Gene Brown, DE; Eric Hyman, DT; Lou Angelo, DB, Mike Mansfield, LB, Jimmy DeRatt, LB.
Honors: None
What's To Know: Why not do it again? A year after the Tar Heels' rebuilding project under Bill Dooley brought the program an ACC championship, a team that used a multitude of running backs behind and excellent offensive line repeated as ACC champs and became the first UNC club to win 11 games.
This group just won. It went 5-1 on the road, it's only loss a 29-14 defeat at Ohio State, which won the Big Ten and finished ranked No. 9 in the nation. But the Tar Heels also won at Clemson, 28-24 versus Florida in a game played in Jacksonville, FL, on Dec. 9, which is the latest UNC has ever played a regular season football game.
Carolina also defeated Wake Forest, Maryland and took care of Duke, 14-0, at home on an afternoon the Tar Heels forced seven turnovers. The Tar Heels scored a late touchdown to take a two-point lead over Texas Tech in the Sun Bowl and sealed the victory when Ronnie Robinson sacked the Red Raiders’ quarterback in the end zone for a safety with 43 seconds remaining for a 32-28 victory.
The Tar Heels entered the national rankings after seven games and stayed there finishing with their highest perch of the season at No. 12.
As much as Dooley's teams were usually known as he was, nicknamed the "Old Trench Fighter" from his days as a star offensive guard at Mississippi State, there was plenty of variety to the Heels’ performances. They had some really good defensive performances (shutouts of Duke and Wake and holding UVa to three points) and some bad ones. The offense was also a bit inconsistent, though it potent more often than not.