1986 North Carolina Tar Heels football team

1986 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings
	$ – Conference champion; Rankings from AP Poll

1986 North Carolina Tar Heels football
1986 North Carolina Tar Heels football
Aloha Bowl, L 21–30 vs. Arizona
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
1986 record	7–4–1 (5–2 ACC)
Head coach	Dick Crum (9th season);
Captain	Walter Bailey
Home stadium	Kenan Memorial Stadium; (capacity: 50,000)
	Seasons ← 1985 1987 →

The 1986 North Carolina Tar Heels football team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Tar Heels were led by ninth-year head coach Dick Crum and played their home games at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They competed as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, finishing tied for second. North Carolina was invited to the 1986 Aloha Bowl, where they lost to Arizona.

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 6		The Citadel*		Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC		W 45–14	48,250
September 13		at Kansas*		Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS		W 20–0
September 20	12:30 p.m.	at No. 15 Florida State*		Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	WTBS	T 10–10	57,611
October 4		Georgia Tech		Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC		W 21–20	50,000
October 11		at Wake Forest		Groves Stadium Winston-Salem, NC (rivalry)		W 40–30	31,350
October 18		NC State	No. 18	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (rivalry)		L 34–35
October 25		at No. 12 LSU*		Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA	PPV	L 3–30	78,301
November 1		Maryland		Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC		W 32–30	46,000
November 8		at No. 20 Clemson		Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC		L 10–38	79,210
November 15		Virginia		Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (South's Oldest Rivalry)		W 27–7	28,000
November 22		at Duke		Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC (Victory Bell)		W 42–35	33,500
December 27		vs. No. 16 Arizona*		Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI (Aloha Bowl)	ABC	L 21–30	26,743
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

v t North Carolina Tar Heels football
Venues	Emerson Field (1916–1926) Kenan Memorial Stadium (1927–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Duke: Victory Bell NC State South Carolina Virginia: South's Oldest Rivalry Wake Forest
Culture & lore	First forward pass Rameses The Marching Tar Heels 2010 football scandal 2011 academic-athletic scandal
People	Head coaches All-Americans NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

1986 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings
v t	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 17 Clemson $	5	–	1	–	1	8	–	2	–	2
NC State	5	–	2	–	0	8	–	3	–	1
North Carolina	5	–	2	–	0	7	–	4	–	1
Georgia Tech	3	–	3	–	0	5	–	5	–	1
Maryland	2	–	3	–	1	5	–	5	–	1
Wake Forest	2	–	5	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Duke	2	–	5	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Virginia	2	–	5	–	0	3	–	8	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll