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North Carolina Tar Heels

ACCChapel Hill, NCKenan Stadium

2026: 4–⁠2 (2–⁠1 ACC). Last: won at Duke 24–⁠20. Next: Syracuse, Saturday, Oct 24, 7:30 p.m. ET.

  1. W 15–⁠10vs. TCU
  2. W 35–⁠3East Tennessee State
  3. L 20–⁠28at Clemson
  4. L 26–⁠37No. 3 Notre Dame
  5. W 21–⁠17at No. 25 Pittsburgh
  6. W 24–⁠20at Duke
  7. Oct 24Syracuse
  8. Oct 31Miami
  9. Nov 7at UConn
  10. Nov 14Louisville
  11. Nov 21at Virginia
  12. Nov 28NC State
  • Outfitted by Jordan Brand
  • Live mascot: Rameses

North Carolina has played football since 1888 and is 699–⁠564–⁠48 in the 1,311 games on record here, which start in 1893. Their best finish in the final AP poll is No. 3, in 1948. They have won five Atlantic Coast Conference titles (the last in 1980) and three Southern Conference titles, counting shared titles. Since 1938, the NFL Draft has taken 167 players from here in its first seven rounds, 26 of them in the first round. The AAFC and AFL drafts also took five players from here. The College Football Hall of Fame holds 9 players and 3 coaches from North Carolina. Mack Brown (1988–⁠2024) won more games here than any other coach: 113. The most-played rival is Virginia: 130 meetings, North Carolina leads 66–⁠60–⁠4. This season, under Bill Belichick, they’re 4–⁠2.

Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill
Kenan StadiumPhoto: CramBetter.com, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

On this date in 1974North Carolina beat No. 10 NC State 33–⁠14 at home.

Résumé

All-time record
740–⁠579–⁠54 official; 699–⁠564–⁠48 on file; how we count
Postseason
15–⁠24 bowls, title games, playoff
AP No. 1 finishes
0
Weeks at No. 1
1 of 262 ranked
Elo now
1521 74th of 138 FBS
Computer rankings
Massey No. 36 · Composite No. 40 in FBS, Oct 17; up 8 since Oct 11. From Massey Ratings
Best season by Elo
1948 rated 1770
Conference titles
8 last in 1980
Bowl record
15–⁠22 official, bowls only
Seasons
127 since 1893, 1,311 games

Identity

Fight song
I’m a Tar Heel Born
Mascot
Rameses
Live mascot
Rameses
Student section
Tar Pit
Band
The Marching Tar Heels since 1903, about 250 members

2026 season 4–⁠2

RosterFull 2026 season
DateOpponentResultElo
Aug 29vsTCUAer Lingus College Football ClassicW 15–⁠1030%
Sep 12vsEast Tennessee StateW 35–⁠378%
Sep 19atClemsonL 20–⁠2832%
Oct 3vs3Notre DameL 26–⁠3722%
Oct 10at25PittsburghW 21–⁠1724%
Oct 17atDukeW 24–⁠2025%
Oct 24vsSyracusePreview72%
Oct 31vsMiamiPreview25%
Nov 7atUConnPreview40%
Nov 14vsLouisvillePreview42%
Nov 21atVirginiaPreview40%
Nov 28vsNC StatePreview56%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

This season, game by game

North Carolina’s Elo through 2026: 1451 going into the opener, 1521 after the latest game.1450147515001525Elo 1451 going in; beat TCU 15–10Elo 1478 going in; beat East Tennessee State 35–3Elo 1492 going in; lost to Clemson 28–20Elo 1478 going in; lost to Notre Dame 37–26Elo 1468 going in; beat Pittsburgh 21–17Elo 1495 going in; beat Duke 24–20Now: Elo 1521 after the latest game1521
TCUEast Tennessee StateClemsonNotre DamePittsburghDukeNow
Elo going into each game, then after the latest. Filled dots: wins; open: losses. Dashed line: 1500, an average FBS team.

Future schedule

2027–⁠36
202712 games: 7 home, 5 away
20289 games: 5 home, 4 away
20298 games: 4 home, 4 away
203010 games: 5 home, 5 away
20313 games: 3 home, non-conference only
20361 game: 1 away, non-conference only

North Carolina’s announced games beyond the seasons on our schedule, as its Wikipedia article lists them (announced schedules as of September 16, 2026). Schedules change; a season shows only the games named so far, and many articles list non-conference games only. Future schedules: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).

Players

The 2026 rosterRecord bookThe money

On the 2026 team

Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.

Program greats See all

Heisman finalists, College Football Hall of Famers, consensus All-Americans, national award winners and first-round picks, for what they did at North Carolina.

Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.

Around the program

Apparel
Jordan Brand · Single source
Mascot
Rameses · Official source
Live mascot
Rameses · Official source
Student section
Tar Pit · Official source
Athletic director
Steve Newmark · Official source
Offensive coordinator
Bobby Petrino · Official source

Found by several AI researchers searching the web, then kept only where the page loads and says so in words naming the program; every quote is checked again each time the data is rebuilt. Official source: the school’s own page. All of them.

The apparel deal

Nike (Jordan Brand), 2018 through June 2028. 10 years, about $6.27M a year.

Apparel deals: Field Drip. Terms as the outlets reported them; checked Oct 3, 2026.

Program strength since 1893

Best seasons ever
North Carolina end-of-season Elo from 1893 to 2026, best in 1948 at 1770.130015001700190019001920194019601980200020201948 peak: Elo 1770
End-of-season Elo. Dashed line: 1500, an average FBS team.

On Bluesky

From reporters and writers who cover college football, linked to their posts on Bluesky.

More coverage

Found through the GDELT Project, which indexes news sites worldwide. Each link opens the story on the outlet’s own site; each picture is that outlet’s own preview of its story, shown from its site and credited to it.

Podcasts

Found through Podcast Index, the open podcast directory. Each link opens the episode’s page.

Head coaches

CoachYearsRecord
Bill Belichick2025–⁠20268–⁠10
Freddie Kitchens20240–⁠1
Mack Brown1988–⁠2024113–⁠79–⁠1
Larry Fedora2012–⁠201845–⁠43
Everett Withers20117–⁠6
Butch Davis2007–⁠201028–⁠23
John Bunting2001–⁠200627–⁠45
Carl Torbush1997–⁠200017–⁠18
Dick Crum1978–⁠198772–⁠41–⁠3
Bill Dooley1967–⁠197769–⁠53–⁠2
James Hickey1959–⁠196636–⁠45
Jim Tatum1942–⁠195819–⁠17–⁠3
George Barclay1953–⁠195511–⁠18–⁠1
Carl Snavely1934–⁠195259–⁠35–⁠5
Gene McEver19441–⁠7–⁠1
Tom Young19436–⁠3
Raymond Wolf1936–⁠194138–⁠17–⁠3
Chuck Collins1926–⁠193338–⁠31–⁠9
William Fetzer1921–⁠192530–⁠12–⁠4
Myron Fuller19202–⁠6
Thomas Campbell1916–⁠19199–⁠7–⁠1
T.C. Trenchard1913–⁠191519–⁠8–⁠1
William Martin19123–⁠4–⁠1
Branch Bocock19116–⁠1–⁠1
A.E. Brides1909–⁠19108–⁠8
Edward Green19083–⁠3–⁠3
Otis Lamson19074–⁠4–⁠1
W.S. Keinholz19061–⁠4–⁠2
William Warner19054–⁠3–⁠1
Robert Brown19045–⁠2–⁠2
H.B. Olcott1902–⁠190311–⁠4–⁠3
William Reynolds18990–⁠2
Vernon K. Irvine18940–⁠1
William J. “Yup” Cook18930–⁠1

Most-played series

All rivalries
OpponentGamesUNC record
Virginia13066–⁠60–⁠4 ‡
Wake Forest11374–⁠37–⁠2 ‡
Duke11064–⁠42–⁠4 ‡
NC State11568–⁠41–⁠6 ‡
Maryland7037–⁠32–⁠1
South Carolina6036–⁠20–⁠4
Clemson6018–⁠41–⁠1
Georgia Tech5921–⁠34–⁠3 †

Official records. † Without wins the NCAA vacated. ‡ The rivalry’s own count, where it differs from the games on file. Each series page gives both.

Rivals the program names: NC State, Duke, Virginia, Wake Forest.

The trophy it holds: Victory Bell (Duke). Who holds each comes from the games on file; the trophies from Wikipedia.

Every opponent (123)

Every program North Carolina has played, A to Z, with North Carolina’s record against it. Each links to the series, game by game.

Official records. † Without wins the NCAA vacated, or with forfeits counted. ‡ The rivalry’s own count, where it differs from the games on file.

Conference titles

8, counting shared titles
Atlantic Coast Conference 5
1963 (shared), 1971, 1972, 1977, 1980
Southern Conference 3
1922 (shared), 1946, 1949
ACC Coastal 2
2015, 2022

As the program counts them in its Wikipedia article, shared titles included, and listed under each conference’s current name (a Western Conference title of the 1900s counts as a Big Ten title); season pages use the name the conference had that year. A title the article files under a conference the team wasn’t in that season is listed under the one it was. Division titles include years the team tied for its division.

Conferences

  1. Independent 1888–⁠1891
  2. SIAA 1892–⁠1894
  3. Independent 1895–⁠1898
  4. SIAA 1899–⁠1902
  5. Independent 1903–⁠1916 and 1919–⁠1921
  6. ACC since 1953
  • 1953Joined the ACC from the SoCon. Source

North Carolina’s football conferences by season, from CollegeFootballData.com’s memberships (renamed conferences keep the name of the time). The moves and their announcement dates from Wikipedia’s lists of NCAA Division I conference changes; the year is the first season in the new conference. Conference realignment: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).

National award winners

All awards
2001Julius Peppers DELombardi, Bednarik

Consensus All-Americans 15

2012Jonathan Cooper OL
2001Julius Peppers DE
1997Brian Simmons LB
1997Dré Bly CB
1997Greg Ellis DL
1996Dré Bly CB
1995Marcus Jones DT
1983William Fuller DT
1980Lawrence Taylor LB
1977Dee Hardison DT
1974Ken Huff OG
1972Ron Rusnak OG
1970Don McCauley RB
1948Charlie Justice RB
1937Andy Bershak E

Led the nation 6

2022Drake Maye total offense (5,019 yds)
2020Michael Carter yards per carry (8.0)
2015Mack Hollins yards per catch (24.8)
2013Ryan Switzer punt return average (20.9)
1970Don McCauley rushing yards (1,863 yds), rushing touchdowns (22 TD), points (126 pts)
1949Art Weiner receptions (52 catches)

The NCAA’s official national leaders since 1937, from Wikipedia’s yearly leader lists.

Heisman runners-up and finalists

The votes
1949Charlie Justice RB2nd
1948Charlie Justice RB2nd

Second to fifth in the vote, from each season’s Wikipedia article.

In the Hall of Fame

Every inductee
Players
9
Coaches
3
2024Julius Peppers DE
2021Harris Barton OT
2018Mack Brown coach here, 1988–⁠2024
2016William Fuller DT
2014Dré Bly CB
2001Don McCauley RB
1992Art Weiner E
1984Jim Tatum coach here, 1942–⁠1958
1974Barney Poole E
1965Carl Snavely coach here, 1934–⁠1952
1961Charlie Justice RB
1957Hunter Carpenter RB

In the draft

By college
NFL picks, rounds 1–⁠7
167 since 1938
First-round picks
26
AAFC and AFL picks
5 1949, 1961–⁠62
2025Omarion Hampton RBNo. 22, Los Angeles Chargers
2024Drake Maye QBNo. 3, New England Patriots
2017Mitchell Trubisky QBNo. 2, Chicago Bears
2014Eric Ebron TENo. 10, Detroit Lions
2013Jonathan Cooper OGNo. 7, Arizona Cardinals
2013Sylvester Williams DTNo. 28, Denver Broncos
2012Quinton Coples DENo. 16, New York Jets
2011Robert Quinn DENo. 14, St. Louis Rams

Who came and went in the 2026 transfer portal, and every portal year.

The school

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Enrollment
32,438 20,885 undergraduates, fall 2024
Where
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Public or private
Public Research 1
Founded
1789
Graduates’ median earnings
$72,200 10 years after starting

Enrollment, place and Carnegie research tier from the National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS, public domain). Earnings from the US Department of Education’s College Scorecard (CC BY 4.0): the median for students who received federal aid and were working, not in school. Founding year from Wikidata. Every school’s in the data.

Official accounts

Football
X @UNCFootballInstagram @uncfootballYouTube UNCTarHeelsAthleticsFacebook TarHeelFootball
Athletics department
X @goheelsInstagram @goheelsYouTube UNCTarHeelsAthleticsFacebook TarHeels

Official accounts: the schools’ athletics websites: the ones goheels.com lists for its football program and athletics department, as of Oct 12, 2026.

Voices

play-by-play
  1. 1971–⁠2011Woody Durham radio
  2. from 1989Mick Mixon
  3. 2000–⁠11Jones Angell radio

From the announcers’ Wikipedia articles (CC BY-SA), with the years as each article gives them: those in Wikipedia’s North Carolina football announcers category, and any whose article names them the program’s play-by-play voice. Television network crews and announcers whose articles give no years are left out.

Old photographs

From libraries and archives found through the Digital Public Library of America, each under the rights statement its holder gives and credited to it. The records don’t give these a season.

On the newsreel

And 4 more

Universal Newsreel, National Archives (catalog record). Story titles and words as Universal’s release sheet gives them; the films themselves may still be under copyright, so we link to the record rather than show them.

Books

Books: Open Library (CC0), filed under the program’s Library of Congress subject heading; most-reissued first, each linked to its page there.

Season by season

National champions
SeasonRecordConf.AP preAP finalCoachEloSP+
20264–⁠22–⁠1Bill Belichick15214.9
20254–⁠82–⁠6Bill Belichick1426-6.6
20246–⁠73–⁠5Mack Brown, Freddie Kitchens14885.0
20238–⁠54–⁠421Mack Brown15557.4
20229–⁠56–⁠2Mack Brown15557.8
20216–⁠74–⁠510Mack Brown15056.4
20208–⁠47–⁠31818Mack Brown164218.0
20197–⁠64–⁠5Mack Brown155710.3
20182–⁠91–⁠7Larry Fedora1389-2.5
20173–⁠91–⁠7Larry Fedora14774.3
20168–⁠55–⁠322Larry Fedora162315.9
201511–⁠38–⁠015Larry Fedora166520.0
20146–⁠74–⁠423Larry Fedora14950.0
20137–⁠64–⁠4Larry Fedora161613.7
20128–⁠45–⁠3Larry Fedora159214.1
20117–⁠63–⁠5Everett Withers15446.4
20108–⁠54–⁠418Butch Davis15997.7
20098–⁠54–⁠421Butch Davis16008.5
20088–⁠54–⁠4Butch Davis156410.2
20074–⁠83–⁠5Butch Davis14341.9
20063–⁠92–⁠6John Bunting1404-6.2
20055–⁠64–⁠4John Bunting1505-3.5
20046–⁠65–⁠3John Bunting148712.8
20032–⁠101–⁠7John Bunting1361-6.8
20023–⁠91–⁠7John Bunting1415-4.4
Every season back to 1893 (102 more)
SeasonRecordConf.AP preAP finalCoachEloSP+
20018–⁠55–⁠3John Bunting161412.2
20006–⁠53–⁠5Carl Torbush14921.8
19993–⁠82–⁠6Carl Torbush1431-2.9
19987–⁠55–⁠312Carl Torbush16313.7
199711–⁠17–⁠176Mack Brown, Carl Torbush174020.5
199610–⁠26–⁠210Mack Brown169424.1
19957–⁠54–⁠420Mack Brown15757.1
19948–⁠45–⁠319Mack Brown15995.7
199310–⁠36–⁠22019Mack Brown165911.9
19929–⁠35–⁠319Mack Brown16027.7
19917–⁠43–⁠4Mack Brown15294.6
19906–⁠4–⁠13–⁠3–⁠1Mack Brown14607.6
19891–⁠100–⁠7Mack Brown1296-20.1
19881–⁠101–⁠6Mack Brown1359-12.4
19875–⁠63–⁠4Dick Crum15041.5
19867–⁠4–⁠15–⁠2Dick Crum15446.6
19855–⁠63–⁠4Dick Crum1484-1.1
19845–⁠5–⁠13–⁠3–⁠1Dick Crum1539-2.9
19838–⁠44–⁠311Dick Crum161911.0
19828–⁠43–⁠3518Dick Crum169320.7
198110–⁠25–⁠1129Dick Crum172120.4
198011–⁠16–⁠01410Dick Crum171922.4
19798–⁠3–⁠13–⁠315Dick Crum162822.4
19785–⁠63–⁠319Dick Crum15237.7
19778–⁠3–⁠15–⁠0–⁠117Bill Dooley164018.6
19769–⁠34–⁠1Bill Dooley1508-0.7
19753–⁠7–⁠11–⁠4–⁠1Bill Dooley1407-10.0
19747–⁠54–⁠2Bill Dooley151312.0
19734–⁠71–⁠519Bill Dooley1456-0.6
197211–⁠16–⁠012Bill Dooley168616.1
19719–⁠36–⁠0Bill Dooley162213.1
19708–⁠45–⁠2Bill Dooley15548.9
19695–⁠53–⁠3Bill Dooley1467
19683–⁠71–⁠6Bill Dooley1358
19672–⁠82–⁠5Bill Dooley1339
19662–⁠81–⁠4James Hickey1377
19654–⁠63–⁠3James Hickey1490
19645–⁠54–⁠3James Hickey1575
19639–⁠26–⁠1James Hickey1616
19623–⁠73–⁠4James Hickey1429
19615–⁠54–⁠3James Hickey1473
19603–⁠72–⁠5James Hickey1447
19595–⁠55–⁠212James Hickey1543
19586–⁠44–⁠310Jim Tatum1566
19576–⁠44–⁠3Jim Tatum1504
19562–⁠7–⁠12–⁠3–⁠1Jim Tatum1402
19553–⁠73–⁠3George Barclay1417
19544–⁠5–⁠14–⁠2George Barclay1458
19534–⁠62–⁠3George Barclay1466
19522–⁠61–⁠2Carl Snavely1462
19512–⁠82–⁠3Carl Snavely1441
19503–⁠5–⁠23–⁠2–⁠120Carl Snavely1538
19497–⁠45–⁠0616Carl Snavely1631
19489–⁠1–⁠14–⁠0–⁠123Carl Snavely1770
19478–⁠24–⁠1199Carl Snavely1705
19468–⁠2–⁠14–⁠0–⁠19Carl Snavely1647
19455–⁠52–⁠2Carl Snavely1481
19441–⁠7–⁠10–⁠3–⁠1Gene McEver1401
19436–⁠32–⁠2Tom Young1584
19425–⁠2–⁠23–⁠1–⁠1Jim Tatum1532
19413–⁠72–⁠4Raymond Wolf1458
19406–⁠43–⁠2Raymond Wolf1610
19398–⁠1–⁠15–⁠114Raymond Wolf1681
19386–⁠2–⁠14–⁠119Raymond Wolf1655
19377–⁠1–⁠14–⁠0–⁠119Raymond Wolf1691
19368–⁠26–⁠1Raymond Wolf1656
19358–⁠14–⁠1Carl Snavely1684
19347–⁠1–⁠12–⁠0–⁠1Carl Snavely1621
19334–⁠52–⁠1Chuck Collins1474
19323–⁠5–⁠22–⁠5–⁠1Chuck Collins1471
19314–⁠3–⁠32–⁠3–⁠3Chuck Collins1568
19305–⁠3–⁠24–⁠2–⁠2Chuck Collins1632
19299–⁠17–⁠1Chuck Collins1694
19285–⁠3–⁠22–⁠2–⁠2Chuck Collins1535
19274–⁠62–⁠5Chuck Collins1498
19264–⁠53–⁠3Chuck Collins1522
19257–⁠1–⁠14–⁠0–⁠1William Fetzer1640
19244–⁠52–⁠3William Fetzer1522
19235–⁠3–⁠12–⁠2–⁠1William Fetzer1577
19229–⁠15–⁠0William Fetzer1628
19215–⁠2–⁠2William Fetzer1511
19202–⁠6Myron Fuller1367
19194–⁠3–⁠1Thomas Campbell1417
1918few games on file0–⁠21498
19165–⁠4Thomas Campbell1576
19154–⁠3–⁠1T.C. Trenchard1569
191410–⁠1T.C. Trenchard1626
19135–⁠4T.C. Trenchard1467
19123–⁠4–⁠1William Martin1431
19116–⁠1–⁠1Branch Bocock1518
19103–⁠6A.E. Brides1469
19095–⁠2A.E. Brides1535
19083–⁠3–⁠3Edward Green1484
19074–⁠4–⁠1Otis Lamson1476
19061–⁠4–⁠2W.S. Keinholz1472
19054–⁠3–⁠1William Warner1550
19045–⁠2–⁠2Robert Brown1568
19036–⁠3H.B. Olcott1566
19025–⁠1–⁠31–⁠0–⁠1H.B. Olcott1518
1899few games on file0–⁠2William Reynolds1436
1894few games on file0–⁠1Vernon K. Irvine1438
1893few games on file0–⁠1William J. “Yup” Cook1465

Officially 740–⁠579–⁠54 since 1888 (per Wikipedia, rechecked weekly); game by game here, 699–⁠564–⁠48 (−41 wins, −15 losses, −6 ties). Our file starts in 1893; the program began in 1888. Some games are missing from our source.

No season on file for 1895–⁠98, 1900–⁠01, 1917: the program may not have played, or our source may be missing them.

Records are computed from every game on file at CollegeFootballData.com, whose coverage of the earliest seasons can be incomplete. Elo is this site’s own rating; see how it works on the records page.