1980 North Carolina Tar Heels football team

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.

1980 North Carolina Tar Heels football
ACC champion
Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl champion
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)
1980 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 10 North Carolina $ 6 0 011 1 0
Maryland 5 1 08 4 0
NC State 3 3 06 5 0
Clemson 2 4 06 5 0
Wake Forest 2 4 05 6 0
Virginia 2 4 04 7 0
Duke 1 5 02 9 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

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. 14W 35–1350,100[2]
September 13at Texas Tech*No. 15W 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. 8W 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. 6ESPNL 7–4175,738
November 8at ClemsonNo. 14W 24–1962,288
November 15VirginiaNo. 15
W 26–349,500
November 22DukeNo. 15
W 44–2151,389
December 317:00 p.m.vs. TexasNo. 13MizlouW 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.#NameClass
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.#NameClass
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.#NameClass
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
  • Redshirt

Roster

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
Week
PollPre1234567891011121314Final
AP1415131410887614151513121310
Coaches171313151188761415131111119

Game summaries

Maryland

[3]

at Oklahoma

[4]

Duke

vs. Texas (Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl)

North Carolina vs. Texas
1 234Total
Tar Heels 6 730 16
Longhorns 0 700 7

[5]

1981 NFL Draft

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

PlayerPositionRoundPickFranchise
Lawrence TaylorLinebacker12New York Giants
Donnell ThompsonDefensive tackle118Baltimore Colts
Rick DonnalleyCenter373Pittsburgh Steelers
Amos LawrenceRunning back4103San Diego Chargers
Ron WootenGuard6157New England Patriots
Harry StanbackDefensive tackle6164Atlanta Falcons

[6]

Awards and 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.
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