UNC Football Versus Teams From California

With North Carolina opening the season Saturday versus California at Kenan Stadium, we thought it would be interesting to look into the Tar Heels' history versus teams from the Golden State.

The answer, in short, is not many. To be exact, the Heels have played just seven games in their history versus clubs from California and own a 5-2 mark in those contests.

UNC has only played three California schools – Southern Cal, Stanford and San Diego State. One of the Heels’ losses came in their last game, a 25-23 setback to Stanford in the Sun Bowl last December.

In fact, with the opener versus Cal, UNC will play consecutive game versus teams from California and this will mark two out of the last four seasons UNC has played a team from The Golden State, and with a return trip to Cal in 2018, the run will go to 4 of 5 seasons.

Here are those games:

1958 – UNC 8, USC 7

1993 – UNC 31, USC 9

*Note: The win in 1958 came a week after the Heels fell to 0-2 with a loss at Clemson. They went across country and pulled off the 1-point win triggering a 6-game winning streak. The Heels finished that season 6-4.

*In 1993, Carolina opened the season with a rout of the Trojans in Anaheim. UNC dominated every aspect of the game that was nationally televised and the only game played that night. UNC ended up going 10-3 that season, the first of three double-digit win seasons under Mack Brown.

1997 – UNC 28-17

1998 – Stanford 37-34

2016 – Stanford 25-23 (Sun Bowl)

*Note: The No. 7 Tar Heels took care of the No. 17 Cardinal at Kenan Stadium on the second weekend of the season. UNC largely dominated the game, with Stanford using a couple of Carolina turnovers to make the game closer than it was at the line of scrimmage.

*A year later, the Tar Heels lost on a field goal as time expired. Tyrell Godwin returned a kickoff 100 yards for a score, and with 3 minutes left Ronald Curry hooked up with Kory Bailed for a game-tying touchdown.

*Just last December, the Tar Heels fell short trying to convert a 2-point conversion that would have tied the game with 25 seconds left preserving the Cardinal’s victory.

1998 – UNC 20-13 (las Vegas Bowl)

2014 – UNC 31-27

*Note: The Tar Heels began the 1998 season, its first after Mack Brown departed for Texas, 0-3 but rebounded to win 7 of their last 9 games, capping the season with a win in chilly and windy Las Vegas. A 48-yard TD run by Ronald Curry and David Bomar recovered a blocked punt in the end zone were UNC’s big plays on the day.

*The 21st-ranked Tar Heels didn’t perform as well as expected in their second game of the season getting just an interception return for a score from Brian Walker as their only points in the first half. But the Heels scored three TDs and converted a field goal over the final 19:40 of the game to notch the victory.