North Carolina

The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill is, among other things, both the traditional academic home of Southern Liberalism and a mighty athletic power -- in almost every sport but football. Since 1990, UNC has won NCAA titles in men's basketball (three times), men's lacrosse, men's soccer, women's basketball, women's field hockey (five times), and women's soccer (13 times). UNC also reached the finals of the College World Series in 2006 and 2007. The Tar Heels truly have one of the nation's great athletic programs.

But not when it comes to football. They've done all right. They have an all-time record of 646-488-54. They have comfortable leads in their all-time series with Duke (55-35-4) and North Carolina State (63-31-6). And they've produced great players like Lawrence Taylor and Charlie ("Choo Choo") Justice. And the hero of Frank Deford's novel, Everybody's All American, was a Tar Heel -- although, for reasons I didn't understand, he was an LSU Tiger in the movie. Nevertheless, they aren't a national power in football like they are in so many other sports.

I've thought about this a lot over the years, and I have a few theories. One is that at least into the 1970's, the ACC had tougher academic standards for football players than SEC schools -- and my guess is that UNC still has more rigorous standards than, say, Clemson. Another is that the state of North Carolina has four different colleges that play in a conference with an automatic bid to the BCS. That's a lot. Florida, which is a much bigger state, has only three schools in automatic-bid conferences. Alabama has two. Michigan has two. Illinois has two. Ohio has only one. So I think it's possible that North Carolina's high school talent is diluted across multiple teams. Finally, UNC doesn't seem to devote the same resources to football as the Southern powers. Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill is one of the most beautiful places in America to watch a game, but it seats only 62,980 -- which is small compared to the stadiums at places like Auburn, Knoxville, and Tuscaloosa. Also, even though Mack Brown built UNC up into a big winner in the 1990's -- the Heels won 10 games in 1993 and 1997 -- UNC lost him to the deeper pockets at Texas.

To their credit, the Heels appear to be trying harder in football these days. They hired the shady but talented Butch Davis to be their coach in 2006. Davis built a winner, but the program collapsed in scandal, and Davis was fired this summer. The scandal may set back UNC, but it may also signal a serious commitment to football. After all, as we say in the South, if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying.

One sign of the Tar Heels' mediocrity in football is that they have never won the UCFC. In fact, they've only appeared in eight UCFC games, and only two since 1956. On September 25, 1999, UNC lost to UCFC holder Florida State 42-10. On September 16, 2000, FSU crushed them in another UCFC game, 63-14.