Heel Fever Top 25 preseason poll

College football is starting to heat up. The following is my Top 25 preseason poll.

1. Florida. Too many weapons not to pick the Gators as the preseason favorite.
2. Oklahoma. Solid offense, solid defense. Texas vs. Oklahoma will be a classic game.
3. Southern California. They will start out as gangbusters. Should be major contender.
4. Alabama. Roll Tide! Saban will work his magic again.
5. Ohio State. Preseason favorite to win the Big Ten title.
6. Texas. Great program, solid coach, should give the Sooners a run for their money.
7. Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are for real. Could sneak up on Oklahoma and Texas.
8. Penn State. Joe Pa is still alive and kicking. Buckeyes beware!
9. LSU. Should be the best team in the SEC outside of the Gators and the Crimson Tide.
10. Mississippi. Solid team who could make things interesting in Oxford.
11. California. Not as solid as USC, but don't discount the Golden Bears.
12. TCU. The Horn Frogs should not be taken lightly. Exciting team!
13. Virginia Tech. The Hokies are not an exciting team, but they are fundamentally sound.
14. Boise State. Get used to Boise State being a force every year. Great program.
15. Oregon. The Ducks only problem is that California and USC are better teams.
16. Georgia. The Bulldogs should be better this year without the lofty expectations.
17. Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets will option the ACC to death again this year.
18. North Carolina. Some questions at WR, and QB not the best, but solid defense.
19. Notre Dame. A 11-1 record is not out of the question.
20. Nebraska. The Cornhuskers will once again be a solid team.
21. Illinois. The Big Ten could be won if Ohio State and Penn State falters.
22. Utah. Solid program. Doesn't get much attention, but they will once again be a force.
23. Texas Tech. Biggest problem is that they play against Texas, Oklahoma, and OKST.
24. Florida State. The Seminoles could be in the ACC Championship this year.
25. Cincinnati. The pride of the Big East? The Big East is down this year.

Honorable mentions include BYU, Iowa, Kansas, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia. Should be an interesting year!

Butch Davis, cancer survivor and solid coach

My first impression of Butch Davis was not a good impression. Butch takes over a great Miami (Florida) program from Dennis Erickson, and within 3 years the Hurricanes had a losing season. They also lost to ECU in Miami, and ECU wasn't what I call a powerhouse that year.

But the more I got to know about Butch, the more I liked him. He really cleaned that program up, and he had the Hurricanes ready to win a National Championship. Although he went to the Cleveland Browns, he was a key reason why Larry Coker celebrated a National Championship in 2001.

A lot has been said about Butch's tenure with the Browns, but I was overall impressed. He built the team from the ground up, and he got them in the playoffs in his 2nd season. Not a bad job at all.

UNC football was in dire straits, and to many Butch looked like a prayer from above. I was horrified to find out he had been diagnosed with Oral Cancer...I thought he might turn out with the same fate as Jim Tatum. Butch was tough, and he dealt with chemo that first year. Tough man, and a darn good football coach.

2007--UNC starts out with a cream puff and wins (James Madison). The Heels then lose the next 4 games (ECU, UVA, South Florida, and VT). We then handle Miami at Kenan by a score of 33-27. Losses to South Carolina and Wake follow, but the Heels rebound and defeat the Terps by a score of 16-13. Two close loses to NCSU and GT have our record at 3-8, but we defeat the Blue Devils to end up with a 4-8 record. Only 2 games during the season were blowouts (Wake and South Florida, not to mention our victory against JMU). Our offense improved a bit (20 points a game) and our defense improved a lot (23 points a game...best since the Mack Brown era).

2008--arguably the best Heels team since the Mack Brown era. An 8-5 record is not shabby at all. After a sloppy victory against McNeese State (35-27), we travel to New Jersey as an underdog to play Rutgers. We win, 44-12. We lost TJ Yates during the VT game, a game we should have won but we didn't (20-17 Hokies victory). We then play 3 very solid teams, defeating UConn, Miami, and Notre Dame. Another victory escapes us against a Virginia team (this time UVA...losing 16-13 in OT), but we come back and defeat BC and GT. We follow up these victories with a sloppy game against the Terps, losing 17-15 in a game we should have won (again). NCSU killed us 41-10, but we bounce back with a victory against the Blue Devils. West Virginia defeats us in the Meineke Bowl 31-30. Overall, a good season that could have been great. Although our record was 8-5, it could have been 12-1. Not bad at all. We scored on average 28 points a game, and allowed 21.

The 2009 season will be coming soon, and I'm very excited about the Heels. I'm a bit concerned about our offense, but I think we have solid special teams and a good, strong Defense.

Here is my predictions for this next season:

Game 1: UNC 36, The Citadel 13 (anything less will be a disappointment).
Game 2: UNC 27, UCONN 20 (we can win away....)
Game 3: UNC 34, ECU 20 (payback time!)
Game 4: UNC 17, GT 10 (GT will play better this year against us, but our D will handle their offense)
Game 5: UNC 26, Virginia 14 (UVA football is not as strong as it used to be).
Game 6: UNC 31, Georgia Southern 12 (We should defeat this team easily).
Game 7: FSU 21, UNC 20 (a major disappointment for the Heels, but still a great game).
Game 8: VT 20, UNC 10 (hard to defeat VT in Blacksburg)
Game 9: UNC 28, Duke 17 (Duke is not as bad as many think...this game could be closer).
Game 10: UNC 31, Miami 24 (Good game, another victory against the Hurricanes).
Game 11: BC 28, UNC 21 (Hard game for the Heels...cold weather will not be our friend).
Game 12: NCSU 31, UNC 24 (NCSU has the best QB in the ACC, and a defense that is not bad).

I predict an 8-4 season and a 4-4 ACC record. We should get a decent Bowl game, hopefully the Peach. With a little luck, we could end up 10-2. Our hardest games will be at BC (because of the weather), VT (Hokie nation, Hokie D), and NCSU (Marcus Wilson). The FSU game is a tossup in my mind. I could see us struggle against GT and UConn, but I feel like we will come out victorious.

The season hasn't started, and things can change. I'll reforecast my numbers during the season.

So how did we ever end up with John Bunting?

I never was captured by John Bunting's personality. He would have been a decent coach in the 1970's or 80's, but his approach was not successful with today's players.

John talked a good game, and he was able to add a 12th game to the season by playing Oklahoma in Norman. After going down 41-13 at halftime, the Heels played inspired ball, losing only by a score of 41-27. That game was followed by a loss to the Terps and a dismantling by the Longhorns of Texas. 0-3 is not the way to start out your tenure at UNC (at the same time, the last 2 coached lost their first 3 games--Brown and Torbush). Then something happened: we caught on fire against FSU, trailing only by 9-7 at half. We came out in the 2nd half and defeated a good team by a score of 41-9. We then won our next 4 games, defeating NCSU, ECU, UVA, and Clemson. We sputtered against GT and Wake, but we then won our next 3 games against Duke, SMU, and Auburn in the Peach Bowl. We averaged 26 points on offense and allowed 21 points on defense...this was a major improvement.

2002---a mini disaster. We defeated Arizona State, Syracuse, and Duke (all 3 were away games!), and lost to Miami (OH), Texas, GT, NCSU, UVA, Wake, Maryland, Clemson, and FSU). We averaged 18 points on offense and allowed 35 points on D. All 12 opponents scored at least 21 points, which was totally opposite of the team from 5 years prior (all 12 opponents in 1997 scored 20 or less).

2003--a major disaster. We had victories over ECU and Wake, but lost the other 10 games. We only held one team under 30 points (ECU, 17 points). And Duke beat us for the first time since 1989 by a score of 30-22.

2004--we had a reovery of fortune. After defeating W&M and losing to UVA, we beat a good Yellow Jacket team by a score of 34-13. We then got waxed by FSU and Louisville, but we came back and defeated a decent NCSU team by a score of 30-24. The Utah Utes destroyed us 46-16, and we lost several players to injury. The Huricanes of Miami were coming in to town, and they were in the top 5 of the Nation. It's a good thing we play football on the gridiron, because the Heels played the best game since FSU--2001, defeating Miami by a score of 31-28. After losing to a very solid VT team (27-24), the Heels handled Wake and Duke. Although we lost to BC in the Continental Tire Bowl, we at least had a sense of pride. The Heels were back. Our offense and defense improved.

2005--we weren't back for long. We could have defeated our first 2 teams if we had started strong. After losing close matches to GT and Wisconsin, we defeated NCSU and Utah. We then got DESTROYED by Louisville (69-14), but then followed it up by defeating UVA 7-5. The Heels defeated BC and Duke, but lost to Miami, Maryland, and VT. A 5-6 season is medicority at it's best.

2006---Bunting is on the ropes early and often. In the first 10 games the Heels win a total of 1, defeating Division I-AA Furman by a score of 45-42. We then end the season by defeating NCSU and Duke. We score on average 18 points a game on offense and allow 31 points on defense...not good, not good.

The Heels had some highlights during the Bunting years. A 4-2 record against NCSU, a 5-1 record against Duke, a victory over FSU and Miami (FL), and a Peach Bowl victory over Auburn. These games represent 12 of Bunting's 27 victories, which kind of explains why Bunting wasn't asked back for a 7th year. Inconsistency reigned these years.

Carl Torbush, good man, good defensive coordinator, tapped to succeed Brown

Does anyone remember "King Carl"?

Carl Snavely, also known as "King Carl", was the Head Football coach of the Heels during the Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice years. It would be hard for anyone to conclude that the Heels had a better 4 year period than in 1946-1949. 2 Sugar Bowls and 1 Cotton Bowl appearance in these 4 years are unprecendented in Tar Heel Football lore.

Welcome to the Carl Torbush years. Carl wasn't a King, but he was a good guy. His defenses were hard for any team to penetrate, especially after the first couple of years (1988-89). He was a good (not great) Defensive Coordinator. He was a likable fellow, and the football players loved him. He took over a shaken program who had their coach, Mack Brown, leave after the 1997 regular season. Carl took over and led the Heels to a 49-7 victory over Virginia Tech. Not a bad way to start off. Too bad it was the pinnacle of his success.

At the beginning of the 1998 season, most pundits had the Heels around 10th in the nation. I know I thought that the Heels may actually improve because Mack's Achillies Heel was with special teams. Too many blocked punts, field goals, fumbles on special teams for my liking. The Heels started off with an easy opener against Miami (Ohio), but unfortunately our offense sputtered. Too many incomplete passes, not enough of a running game, plus poor execution on Defense left us with a 13-10 defeat. After that game, we go to Stanford and lose to a mediocre Cardinal team. We come back to UNC and lose to a decent GT team by a score of 43-21. 0-3, not a good way to start the season. We rebounded, defeating Clemson, Pittsburgh, and Wake, but none of these teams were very good, and none of the scores were blowouts. We head off to Tallahassee and lose to the Seminoles by a score of 39-13 (not the worse score...FSU only lost to 1 team-Virginia, in its first 6 seasons in the ACC). We come back the Chapel Hill and defeat a mediocre Terps team by a score of 24-13, and then we lose to the Wahoos by a score of 30-13 (at UVA, a place where we haven't celebrated victory since 1981). We then defeat a poor Duke team by a score of 28-6. So we are now 5-5, and we head to Charlotte to play the Pack. The game was probably the best game of our season, and we pulled off a win by a score of 37-34. We receive a berth to the Las Vegas Bowl, and we defeat the Aztecs by a score of 20-13. Tough year, but we did win a Bowl game, right? But the telling stat for 1998 was that the Carolina D allowed, on average, 24 points a game. Remember, we haven't allowed one opponent to score more than 20 points in 1996 and 1997. Our offense averaged 24 points a game, so we didn't have the luxury of allowing that many points.

1999 was a disaster. We start off the season against a good UVA team, but lose by a last minute field goal (final score 20-17). We go to Indiana and defeat a poor Hooiser team by a score of 42-30. We then have to play a double dose of the Bowdens, and we were handed 2 more defeats from the Seminoles and the Tigers. And then, we play a great game against the #9 team of the nation, the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech. I was at the game with my wife, my sister, and brother-in-law, watching in amazement while we handled the Yellow Jackets. And then the injury of the decade occurred--Ronald Curry is done with the season on a freak accident. We still almost won the game, but GT came back and scored in the last moments of the game, sending us to OT. We end up losing 31-24, more symbolic than most games, I guess. We come back to Chapel Hill and lose to a mediocre Houston team by a score of 20-12. And then, playing the worst game of the decade, we are handed a defeat by the Terps by a score of 45-7 (this same team shared the ACC basement with us in 1999). We then lose to a Division I-AA team (Furman) by a score of 28-3. And it's not like Furman was a powerhouse: they lost to Elon the same year. The Deacons then defeat the Heels for the first time since 1989 by a score of 19-3. Heading in the Wolfpack game (again played in CLT), our team had (a) no offense and (b) not a good defense. But something happened: the Heels played inspired and defeated a decent Pack team by a score of 10-6. The next week, the Heels were the underdog against Duke, but the Heels came out on top, winning by a score of 38-0. These last 2 victories gave Torbush a reprieve...he would be back in 2000. On average we scored 17 points per game and allowed 25 points a game.

2000 was a better year. We started out with 2 solid victories over Tulsa and Wake Forest. After getting demolished by FSU (63-14), the Heels defeated a marginal Marshall team by a score of 20-15. We then lost the next 4 games, going down against GT, NCSU, Clemson, and UVA. Again, just like 1998 and 1999, we go out with a blast, defeating Pitt, Maryland, and Duke. We averaged 24 points on offense and allowed 26 points on defense.

So why did Torbush not succeed? I have several theories:

1. Recruiting. The last 2 years under Mack Brown was mediocre (sans Curry), and Torbush had to compete against a resurging NCSU team. Also, Terry Bowden of Clemson was a good recruiter, and he tapped into North Carolina on several occassions.
2. Injuries. But that is part of the game, right? Well, when you have injuries, you should have the depth to recover, but because of mediocre recruiting, our depth chart was weak.
3. Torbush was not a self-promoter. To be a successful NCAA head coach in the state of NC, you have to be able to reach out to the high school coaches. Torbush could not, and his personality was too reserved to make a deep impact.
4. Defense. Torbush tried to be his own defensive coordinator, and it didn't work, and by the time he gave this duty up, it was too late.

Again, Torbush was a good guy, and he was a good defensive coordinator, but he wasn't a successful head coach. With an overall record of 17-18, you might think he was due another year. However, the AD did not concur. Looking back, I know that UNC football needed a change.

Mack Brown goes to Texas, and UNC football needs a new coach

At the conclusion of the 1997 regular season, Mack Brown leaves for Texas. Players are hurt, the alumni are upset, and we have to play a Virginia Tech team in the Gator Bowl. Carl Torbush takes over, and the Heels destroyed the Hokies by the lopsided score of 42-3. Did Mack Brown make the right decision? Well, Texas did win a National Championship, and the Longhorns had the better football tradition, so I guess, hindsight being 20/20, everything worked out for Mack. Last time I checked he was still the Longhorn football coach.

Carl Torbush is a fine person, and I thought he brought a certain level of class to the Tar Heel program. After coaching Louisiana Tech to a 3-8 record in 1987, Torbush is hired by the Heels to be their offensive coordinator/linebackers coach for the 1988 season. At first, with limited talent on the field, the Heels defense suffered. The first 2 seasons were a disaster, although the Heels did improve on the Defensive side of the field, albeit some setbacks (i.e. vs. Duke, 1989, a 41-0 defeat). Starting in 1990, the Heels pitched their first shutout in 4 years, defeating Miami (Ohio) by a score of 34-0. Gradually the Heels played better defensive games, and the number of points allowed decreased. From 1988-1997, the Heels allowed, on average, 36, 27, 17, 18, 19, 19, 22, 17, 10 and 12 points a game. After the 1994 season, Torbush was told that the UNC Defense must improve if he wanted to remain the offensive coordinator. By looking at the results previously displayed, he exceeded expectations.

Based on his success, Carl Torbush becomes coach of the Tar Heels. Great guy, but could he be a head football coach for a rising powerhouse?

At the beginning of the 1998 season, the Heels were ranked around 10th place in most preseason polls. The first two games of the season were supposed to be warmups for the meat of the schedule, but instead, the Heels lost both games. Miami (Ohio) won 13-10, and Stanford beat the Heels 37-34. The next week, the Yellow Jackets put a hurting on the Heels, winning 43-21. This is the most points allowed by a Heels team since UVA defeated Carolina in 1989. The Heels rebounded, winning the next 3 games against Pittsburgh, Clemson, and Wake. Florida State defeated UNC by 39-13, UNC beat the Terps by a score of 24-13, and then Virginia prevailed against us, winning 30-13. UNC was sporting a 4-5 record, with Duke and NC State next. UNC beat Duke 28-6, so the State game was the key if Carolina was to go to a bowl. In Charlotte, UNC and State played a classic game, going into overtime. UNC prevailed by a score of 37-34. In the Las Vegas Bowl, UNC capped a winning season by defeating San Diego State by a score of 20-13.

Tar Heel nation was mixed about the 1998 season. Some were disappointed by the Heels record, but others were encouraged on how Torbush turned the season around. Most of us were slightly concerned, but were willing to support Torbush. We realized it was hard to replace Mack Brown under these circumstances. The telling statistic was that the Heels allowed, on average, 24 points per game, the most since the 1989 debacle.

Then came UNC's waterloo season. 1999 was the end of a 9 year winning-record stretch. The Heels played a hard fought game against the Wahoos, but came up short by a score of 20-17. After the Indiana game (a victory), the Heels had a 1-1 record. 7 games later, the Heels sported a 1-8 record, losing to FSU, Clemson, GT, Houston, Maryland, Furman and Wake. Sure, we had a lot of injuries, but injuries are a part of the game. The Heels had limited depth, and we all know who gets blamed when things are not going well. Torbush, once again, had his back against the wall. Playing a decent NC State team, the Heels defeat the Wolfpack by a score of 10-6. The next week UNC waxed Duke by a score of 38-0. These 2 games probably saved Torbush for one more season. The telling statistic, once again, was on D: the Heels allowed, on average, 25 points a game (before the State/Duke games, the Heels were allowing 30 points a game).

Torbush promised that the 2000 season would be better, and it was better. UNC defeated 6 teams (Tulsa, Wake, Marshall, Pitt, Maryland and Duke) and lost to 5 teams (FSU, GT, State, Clemson, Virginia). The culprit, once again, was on D. The Heels allowed on average 26 points per game.

Did Baddour hire the right man? I'm not Baddour, and I have no idea who he had to choose from. Baddour's pick allowed the Heels to maintain a good Defensive Coordinator, but unfortunately this man was not up for the challenge to be Head Coach. Torbush couldn't concentrate on D like he needed to, and as a result the Heels suffered. He was also a victim of having a lot of injured players, and realistically UNC's recruiting slipped the last couple of years under Mack's tenure. The better question to ask is "Could anyone succeed under these circumstances"? We will all be asking this question for a long time.

The Mack Brown Years

After Dick Crum left UNC, I wanted a good "name" coach to resurrect our football program. I was disappointed when Mack Brown was named our coach. I was even more puzzled after listening to him speak. I was reassured that he was the offensive coordinator for Barry Switzer for a year, but I wasn't too impressed with his thin resume (Head Coach, App State and Tulane). I thought the Heels could have done better.

In 1988, UNC started the season playing 4 non-conference foes: South Carolina, Oklahoma, Louisville, and Auburn. The Heels lost all 4 of these games, and the Tar Heel nation was rumbling. Was it our new coach, or was it because the cupboard was dry? The Heels lost the next 2 games against Wake and NC State (an ugly 48-3 loss at Kenan). Finally, when all hope seemed lost, the Heels beat a Yellow Jacket squad by a score of 20-17. The Heels lost their remaining games, and the season ended with a 1-10 record. UNC had some close defeats (Louisville, Maryland, Virginia and Duke), but the rest were pretty much blowouts.

1989 started off with UNC spanking VMI, 49-7 (my first game I attended as an undergrad). After that, the Heels lost 10 straight games. The worse defeat in my mind was the 41-0 defeat at the hands of the Blue Devils. The Heels were competitive against Kentucky, Navy, Wake, GT, and South Carolina, but the rest were a bunch of blowouts.

1990 was a turning point for the Heels. UNC pitched its first shutout in 4 years, defeating Miami (Ohio) by a score of 34-0. A defeat at the hands of South Carolina followed, but the Heels rebounded with victories against Connecticut and Kentucky. NC State defeated the Heels 12-9 with a 50+ field goal in the last few moments of the game, but Carolina came back and defeated Wake Forest the next week. A tie with GT occurred the next game (the eventual National Champions), and a nice strong victory against Maryland left the Heels with a 5-2-1 record. However, Clemson and Virginia defeated the Heels, and Carolina now had to wait for Duke. The UNC-Duke game was not a fun game to watch, but Carolina did prevail by a score of 24-22. Mack Brown had turned the page.

1991 was supposed to be a year where the Heels would fight for the ACC Championship. The Heels were improved, but a 3-4 Conference record left us with a 7-4 overall record, missing a Bowl berth by a miniscule margin. The defeats were to NC State, Clemson, Virginia, and GT, but they weren't lopsided affairs.

The next year was my Senior year, and there was definitely higher expectations for Mack Brown to take us to a Bowl game. After defeating our first 3 opponents, we played NC State at Kenan. We were supposed to win, but we came up short by a score of 27-20. This was the fifth straight year we lost to State, and the Alumni were not too pleased. However, UNC only lost 2 more times that year (to Clemson and Florida State). Going into the Duke game, UNC sported a record of 7-3. Duke, on the other hand, hadn't defeated an ACC opponent all season. UNC should roll over the Blue Devils. Instead, Duke controlled the game, and only at the end did UNC prevail by a score of 31-28. An 8-3 season left us with a Peach Bowl berth against Mississippi State. The Bulldogs dominated the beginning part, leading us 14-0. If it wasn't for a couple of holding penalties, the score could have been 28-0. UNC regrouped and defeated Mississippi State by a score of 21-17.

UNC started the 1993 season with high expectations. We started off against Southern Cal as the underdog, but we won the game handily by the score of 31-9. We then destroyed Ohio by 44-3, and then played a high scoring affair against Maryland, prevailing 59-42. FSU was next, and UNC did score first, going ahead 7-0 on the arm of Jason Stanicek. At halftime, we were only down 10-7, but FSU "turned it on" and defeated us by a score of 33-7. UNC regrouped and won the next 4 games (including Mack's first victory against NC State!), but then lost a close game to UVA by a score of 17-10. UNC then defeated Clemson 24-0 (first victory against the Tigers since 1985!). After defeating Tulane and Duke, UNC had a 10-2 record with a Gator Bowl invitation against Alabama. Roll Tide Nation was waiting, and they defeated us 24-10.

1994 was a solid year, but the Heels only posted a 8-3 regular season record. They couldn't defeat UVA in Charlottesville, nor could they defeat FSU or Clemson. The Sun Bowl was a great affair to watch, but UNC came up short against Texas by a score of 35-31.

The next year was a very hard year for the Heels, although they did have a winning record and a victory against Arkansas in the Carquest Bowl. We lost to Syracuse, Maryland, GT, Clemson, and FSU, and most of these losses were a direct result of turnovers. The offense was stagnant, and the defense wasn't opportunistic. There were some rumblings by the alumni that Mack Brown wasn't the answer.

Mack's best year may have been in 1996. There were only 2 close defeats (UVA 20-17, FSU 13-0), but our D showed up, not allowing any team to score more than 20 points all season. UNC defeated a strong West Virginia team by a score of 20-13. Carolina defeated Clemson 45-0, Syracuse 27-10, GT 16-0, Wake 45-6, Maryland 38-7, Houston 42-14, NC State 52-20, Louisville 28-10, and Duke 27-10. All of these victories were impressive.

In Mack's last year, the Heels finished the season with a 11-1 record. Again, the most points allowed by our D was 20. However, I noticed several games where the Heels didn't start the game very impressive. We defeated Indiana 23-6, but Indiana was very weak. We defeated Stanford 28-17, but only after we scored 2 touchdowns late in the game. The Maryland game was impressive (40-14), but we looked like we weren't to interested in playing fundamentally sound football. UNC defeated UVA 48-20, but only after being behind 20-3. We barely held on to beat GT and Clemson, and NC State played a solid game against us too. We did demolish VT by a score of 42-3, but that was an emotional game after Mack had committed to coaching the Longhorns a few weeks before.

Mack Brown may have left the program at the best time. I don't think he's what I call the greatest UNC coach ever, but he did develop a strong program by the time he left. However, the Heels may have regressed a bit in 1997, although very few will say this since the Heels finished 11-1.

So what do you think of UNC football? Looking at the Crum years.

My first memory of UNC football was in 1978, the first year Dick Crum was the coach. In that first year, UNC lost to NC State, Clemson, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Miami of Ohio, and Richmond, while defeating East Carolina, Duke, Wake, South Carolina and Virginia. a 5-6 season was a disappointment, especially since the Heels won a share of the ACC championship the year before. Of the six losses, Richmond was a complete disaster. Losing to Miami hurt, especially since Crum coached Miami the year before, but Miami was a solid program. Pittsburgh was still a powerhouse, and NC State, Clemson and Maryland were the forces that led the ACC during this time.

The next year was much better. UNC went 8-3-1, including a victory against Michigan in the Gator Bowl. The losses were against WFU (24-19), Clemson (19-10), and Maryland (17-14). UNC tied ECU 24 all. UNC was a rolling.

Next year was the best year under Crum. The Heels had a 11-1 record, with it's only loss to Oklahoma (41-6). In the Heels first 7 games, the opponents scored a collective 39 points. Solid Defense was the key.

In 1981, the Heels again played solid football, going 10-2. The offense was providing a lot of points (56, 49, 56, 28, 48) in the first 5 games, but slowed down after Tyrone Anthony's injury (21,13,17, 8, 17) the next 5 games. The Heels only allowed 2 opponents to score more than 14 points all season (South Carolina, Arkansas). UNC lost to the eventual National Champions, Clemson, by a score of 10-8. Great season.

1982 was not as successful as the previous 3 years, but solid nonetheless. UNC lost to #1 Pittsburgh, at Pittsburgh, by a score of 7-6. Some kid named Marino was the QB. After that game, the Heels destroyed Vanderbilt, Army, GT, WFU and NC State by a collective score of 202-34. After the NC State game, the Heels suffered back-to-back defeats to Maryland (31-24) and Clemson (16-13). A victory over Virginia (27-14) was offset by a defeat by Duke (23-17). The Heels defeated Bowling Green (33-14), and in the Sun Bowl, defeated Texas (26-10). Not a bad season at all.

In 1983, UNC started out of the gates on fire, defeating South Carolina, Memphis, Miami-Ohio, William & Mary, GT, WFU and NC State by a collective score of 257-100. The offense was among the best in the NCAA, and the Heels were ranked #3 in the Nation. however, the Heels' defense was a bit suspect. The next 3 games were against quality opponents, and they resulted in 3 losses to Maryland (28-26), Clemson (16-3), and Virginia (17-14). The Heels barely escaped Duke with a win (34-27), but were destroyed by Florida State in the Peach Bowl (28-3). A turning point had happened to the Heels that year, but a turn in the wrong direction.

I remember hearing Dick Crum tell the alumni in 1984 that the Heels would be rebuilding and not to expect a great season. He was, unfortunately, correct. The talent pool had dried up. The Heels started out with losses against Navy (33-30) and Boston College (52-20), but was able to defeat Kansas (23-17, also the first live game I saw at Kenan Stadium). The Heels went to 1-4 with losses against Clemson (20-12) and WFU (14-3), but then won 2 games against mediocre NC State (28-21) and Memphis (30-27). UNC then lost to Maryland (34-23) beat GT (24-17), tied Virginia (24 all) and lucked out against Duke (17-15). Dick Crum was not going to lose his job based on this 1 season, especially after he guided the Heels to 5 straight winning seasons. A 5-5-1 season is the definition of mediocrity, however.

1985 was a mix year...the Defense was better and the Offense was worse. The Heels had only 1 impressive victory (Clemson, 21-20), and several unimpressive defeats (GT 31-0, Duke 23-21). Dick Crum was put on notice that the Heels would have to improve if he wanted to retire in good ole Chapel Hill. 5-6 was not acceptable.

And the Heels did improve in 1986. The Heels started off 4-0-1, defeating Citidal, Kansas, GT and WFU, along with a tie against FSU in Tallahassee. And then the worse case scenario happened: UNC lost for the first time since 1978 to the Wolfpack, 35-34. Great game, but the Heels came up one 2 point conversion short of a victory. The Heels ended the season with a record of 7-4-1. The executioner had to wait for one more year.

1987 was Crum's Waterloo. UNC started the season 5-3, with losses against Oklahoma, Auburn, and WFU, but an impressive come from behind victory against GT (30-23). The season didn't end, however, until 3 consecutive losses against Clemson (13-10), Virginia (20-17), and Duke (25-10). Losing to Clemson and Virginia was understandable, but losing to the Blue Devils for the third time in 6 years was not. Before the Duke-UNC game, the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity bought a big U-Haul truck and placed it on Crum's front yard. A cruel joke, but symbolic of their feelings towards Crum.

In a nutshell, Crum was the right man at the right time during the late 70's and early 80's. However, his game was very conservative and he couldn't attract a load of talent to Chapel Hill based on his system. He couldn't change, and when he did try to open up his offense, it was too late. As far as successful tenures at UNC go, I would rank him behind Carl Snavely and Bill Dooley, but only slightly ahead of Mack Brown and Jim Tatum. If he had changed his offense after the 1982 season, who knows, he may have coached the Heels for over 20 years.