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1961 North Carolina

5–⁠5 (4–⁠3 Atlantic Coast Conference), coached by James Hickey.

1961 team portrait from The Yackety Yack yearbook
1961 team portrait from The Yackety Yack yearbookPhoto: not named, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Schedule and results

North Carolina in 1961, game by game: won vs. NC State 27–22; lost vs. Clemson 0–27; won at Maryland 14–8; won at South Carolina 17–0; lost at Miami 0–10; won vs. Tennessee 22–21; lost vs. LSU 0–30; lost at Duke 3–6; lost at Wake Forest 14–17; won vs. Virginia 24–0+24−30Won 27–22 vs. NC State+5NC StateLost 0–27 vs. Clemson-27ClemsonWon 14–8 at Maryland+6MarylandWon 17–0 at South Carolina+17South CarolinaLost 0–10 at Miami-10MiamiWon 22–21 vs. Tennessee+1TennesseeLost 0–30 vs. LSU-30LSULost 3–6 at Duke-3DukeLost 14–17 at Wake Forest-3Wake ForestWon 24–0 vs. Virginia+24Virginia
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 30vsNC StateW 27–⁠2254%
Oct 7vsClemsonL 0–⁠2751%
Oct 14atMarylandW 14–⁠828%
Oct 21atSouth CarolinaW 17–⁠049%
Oct 27atMiamiL 0–⁠1040%
Nov 4vsTennesseeW 22–⁠2148%
Nov 11vsLSUL 0–⁠3031%
Nov 18atDukeL 3–⁠628%
Nov 25atWake ForestL 14–⁠1750%
Dec 2vsVirginiaW 24–⁠069%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Virginia 24–⁠0; unranked in the final AP poll; 2nd in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In program history: The 91st-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 127 on file).

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1961.

Record
5–⁠5
Conference
4–⁠3 2nd in Atlantic Coast Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
121–⁠141
Coach
James Hickey
Elo
1473 +8 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
6.4 No. 39 of 111 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Bob Elliott and Jim LeCompte

Drafted in 1962

The 1962 draft
Rd 7Jim LeCompte OGBuffalo Bills (AFL)

All-ACC

3 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

  • Joe CarverCAP-2; UPI-2
  • Ray FarrisBAP-2; UPI-2

From Wikipedia’s 1961 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1961 Atlantic Coast Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Duke5–⁠17–⁠320
North Carolina4–⁠35–⁠5
Maryland3–⁠37–⁠3
Clemson3–⁠35–⁠5
South Carolina3–⁠44–⁠6
Wake Forest3–⁠44–⁠6
NC State3–⁠44–⁠6
Virginia2–⁠44–⁠6

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.