Relish UNC's 8-2 Start, as it Doesn't Happen Very Often
By: Andrew Jones - Tarheel IllustratedCHAPEL HILL – Mack Brown is proud that his team sits at 8-2 overall right now and 4-2 in the ACC.
He isn’t happy about the Tar Heels’ two losses, which came at home to Virginia and at Georgia Tech, a pair of clubs that entered those games with a combined 4-9 record. However, 8-2 is still 8-2, and it hasn’t happened a whole lot in UNC’s history.
In fact, this is just the 22nd time a Carolina football team has won at least eight of its first ten games. Only once, in 1914, did UNC start out 10-0, and nine other times, it won nine games in the same span. The 1898 Carolina club only played nine contests, finishing the season 9-0.
While disappointment hovers over the team for those two surprising losses, and an apparent drop off in overall performance in the last month, the reality is this can still finish as one of the better seasons in program history.
The Tar Heels, who are ranked No. 24 this week, travel to Clemson on Saturday and then close the regular season at NC State. A spot in the ACC championship game is a long shot, so there will also be a bowl game to win. So, it’s possible Brown’s team wins 10 or 11 games.
In only eight seasons has UNC won 10 or 11 games, and no Carolina club has won as many as 12. So, with that in mind, here are Carolina’s 22 seasons in which it has won at least eight of its first ten games:
Note: Record through 10 games listed followed by final record in parentheses.
Also note that several teams played only nine games.
1898 – 9-0 (9-0)
1914 – 10-0 (10-1)
1922 – 9-1 (9-1)
1929 – 9-1 (9-1)
1935 – 8-1 (8-1)
1936 – 8-2 (8-2)
1939 – 8-1-1 (8-1-1)
1946 – 8-1-1 (8-1-1)
1947 – 8-2 (8-2)
1948 – 9-0-1 (9-1-1)
1963 – 8-2 (9-2)
1971 – 8-2 (9-3)
1972 – 9-1 (11-1)
1976 – 8-2 (9-3)
1980 – 9-1 (11-1)
1981 – 8-2 (10-2)
1993 – 8-2 (10-3)
1996 – 8-2 (10-2)
1997 – 9-1 (11-1)
2015 – 9-1 (11-3)
2022 – 9-1 (9-5)
2023 – 8-2 (???)
THI's Take:
Much of the fan base is upset right now given the manner the Tar Heels lost to UVA and GT, and it’s completely understandable. So many people bought in thinking this was different. In addition, that the team appears to have regressed over the last month, combined with puzzling special teams mistakes, and a widely held belief that Brown and his staff haven’t cashed in enough on having five years of Sam Howell and Drake Maye at QB is prevalent as well. We get it.However, there are so many more positives that have occurred in the program, part of it being that Howell and Maye have been the QBs these last five years. Brown and his staff get credit for that, too. They also get credit for leading UNC to its first major bowl in 71 years when the 2020 club went to the Orange Bowl. They get credit for just the second season with nine or more wins (last year) since Brown left the first time in 1997.
And, that this season isn’t over and the Heels could finish with another nine-win campaign or perhaps even 10 or 11 wins is very real. We will wait to judge on that front until the season is over.
So, UNC fans, as upset as many are, should also step back for a moment and recognize where the program was before Brown took over, and where it has historically been ten games into any of the campaigns over the last 130 years. It’s not as bad as people think. As Brown likes to say, those “are facts.”
