1980 North Carolina Tar Heels football team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1980 North Carolina Tar Heels football
North Carolina Tar Heels logo.svg
ACC champion
Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl champion
Astro–Bluebonnet Bowl, W 16–7 vs. Texas
ConferenceAtlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 9
APNo. 10
1980 record11–1 (6–0 ACC)
Head coach
CaptainRick Donnalley, Steve Streater, Lawrence Taylor, Ron Wooten
Home stadiumKenan Memorial Stadium
(capacity: 50,000)
Seasons
← 1979
1981 →
1980 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings
  • v
  • t
 Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 10 North Carolina $ 6 – 0 – 0 11 – 1 – 0
Maryland 5 – 1 – 0 8 – 4 – 0
NC State 3 – 3 – 0 6 – 5 – 0
Clemson 2 – 4 – 0 6 – 5 – 0
Wake Forest 2 – 4 – 0 5 – 6 – 0
Virginia 2 – 4 – 0 4 – 7 – 0
Duke 1 – 5 – 0 2 – 9 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1980 North Carolina Tar Heels football team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) during the 1980 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by Dick Crum in his third season as ahead coach, the team finished the season with an 11–1 overall record, winning the ACC title with a 6–0 mark in conference played and beating Texas in the Astro–Bluebonnet Bowl. The 11 wins tied a program record set during the 1972 season.

Linebacker Lawrence Taylor had 16 sacks in his final year for the Tar Heels and set numerous defensive records. His accolades included a consensus selection to the 1980 College Football All-America Team included All-America and ACC Player of the Year honors.[1] Crum was named ACC Coach of the Year.

Schedule[]

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendanceSource
September 6Furman*No. 14
  • Kenan Memorial Stadium
  • Chapel Hill, NC
W 35–1350,100[2]
September 13at Texas Tech*No. 15
W 9–337,797
September 27No. 19 MarylandNo. 14
  • Kenan Memorial Stadium
  • Chapel Hill, NC
W 17–3
October 4Georgia Tech*No. 10
  • Kenan Memorial Stadium
  • Chapel Hill, NC
W 33–049,750
October 11at Wake ForestNo. 8
W 27–937,411
October 18NC StateNo. 8
  • Kenan Memorial Stadium
  • Chapel Hill, NC (rivalry)
W 28–8
October 25East Carolina*No. 7
  • Kenan Memorial Stadium
  • Chapel Hill, NC
W 31–348,100
November 11:30 p.m.at No. 16 Oklahoma*No. 6
  • Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
  • Norman, OK
ESPNL 7–4175,738
November 8at ClemsonNo. 14
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Clemson, SC
W 24–1962,288
November 15VirginiaNo. 15
W 26–349,500
November 22DukeNo. 15
W 44–2151,389
December 317:00 p.m.vs. TexasNo. 13
  • Astrodome
  • Houston, TX (Astro–Bluebonnet Bowl)
MizlouW 16–736,669
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

Roster[]

1980 North Carolina Tar Heels football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
RB 1 Travis Freeman Sr
FB 1 Billy "Freight Train" Johnson Sr
QB 10 Rod Elkins So
WR 19 Jon Richardson Jr
WR 41 Wayne Tucker Sr
RB 20 Amos Lawrence Sr
C 51 Rick Donnalley Sr
T 54 Dave Drechsler So
G 78 Ron Wooten Sr
OL Kevin Wilson Fr
WR 85 Mike McCormick Sr
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
FS 5 Steve Streater Sr
SS 28 Bill Jackson Jr
LB 29 Darrell Nicholson Jr
NG 34 Paul Davis Sr
DT 76 Donnell Thompson Sr
OLB 84 Mike Wilcher So
OLB 93 Calvin Daniels Jr
OLB 98 Lawrence Taylor Sr
DB unk Larry Winters So
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
P 5 Steve Streater Sr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Denny Marcin, Larry Marmie, Cleve Bryant

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Roster

Rankings[]

Main article: 1980 NCAA Division I-A football rankings
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Final 
AP 14 15 13 14 10 8 8 7 6 14 15 15 13 12 13 10 
Coaches 17 13 13 15 11 8 8 7 6 14 15 13 11 11 11 9

Game summaries[]

Maryland[]

See also: 1980 Maryland Terrapins football team

[3]

at Oklahoma[]

See also: 1980 Oklahoma Sooners football team

[4]

Duke[]

See also: 1980 Duke Blue Devils football team and Victory Bell (Duke–North Carolina)

vs. Texas (Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl)[]

North Carolina vs. Texas
1 234Total
• Tar Heels 6 730 16
Longhorns 0 700 7
  • Date: December 31
  • Location: Astrodome, Houston, Texas
  • Game attendance: 36,669
  • Referee: Jim Harper, Jr.
  • TV announcers (Mizlou): Ray Scott, John Unitas, and Howard David
Main article: 1980 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl
See also: 1980 Texas Longhorns football team

[5]

1981 NFL Draft[]

Main article: 1981 NFL Draft

The following players were drafted into professional football following the season.

Player Position Round Pick Franchise
Lawrence Taylor Linebacker 1 2 New York Giants
Donnell Thompson Defensive tackle 1 18 Baltimore Colts
Rick Donnalley Center 3 73 Pittsburgh Steelers
Amos Lawrence Running back 4 103 San Diego Chargers
Ron Wooten Guard 6 157 New England Patriots
Harry Stanback Defensive tackle 6 164 Atlanta Falcons

[6]

Awards and honors[]

  • Lawrence Taylor, All-America selection
  • Lawrence Taylor, Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year honors

References[]

  1. ^ Whitley, David. L.T. was reckless, magnificent, espn.com, accessed January 29, 2007.
  2. ^ "Carolina topples Furman". The News and Observer. September 7, 1980. Retrieved November 30, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "UNC Deals Maryland 1st Defeat, 17-3". The Washington Post. September 28, 1980. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
  4. ^ "Hey, Not Everyone Can Be Perfect". Sports Illustrated. November 10, 1980. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  5. ^ "N. CAROLINA DEFEATS TEXAS, 16-7". The New York Times. January 1, 1981. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  6. ^ "1981 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2007-12-21.
Retrieved from ""