NCAAF News

Home

Teams

Quizzes

Newsletter

Power Rankings

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Just How Dominant was UNC's 1980 ACC Title Team?

Originally posted on North Carolina Tar Heels on SI
By Grant Chachere | Last updated Aug 27, 2025 7:00 AM ET

It’s no secret how good the 1980 team was. After all, they are the last UNC team to win the ACC title and did so without losing a single conference game.

The Tar Heels went 11-1, becoming the first Carolina team to win 11 games in a season. Its only blemish was a 41-7 loss to Oklahoma on the road.

“That team had so many good players,” UNC head coach Bill Belichick said when he appeared on the ACC Road Trip show earlier in August. “They gave up 123 points the whole season, 41 of those to Oklahoma. The problem with Calvin Daniels was he was No. 99 and (Lawrence) Taylor was No. 98, and they were both 6-foot-4, 245 pounds, long and fast off the edge, usually hitting each other at the quarterback.”

In 1980, while reviewing film of Lawrence Taylor when he was the linebackers coach of the New York Giants, Belichick struggled to tell if Taylor had made certain plays because the grainy footage made his number look similar to Daniels’.

“They got there about the same time and were dominant. You’d think, ‘Was that Taylor? No, that’s Daniels. Is that — no, that’s Taylor,’” Belichick said. “They were both really, really good. Taylor was a year ahead of them, but we went back the next year.”

Big Carolina Blue Wrecking Crew

North Carolina’s defense ranked among the nation’s best, finishing No. 15 in total defense (256 yards allowed per game) and eighth in scoring defense at 11.2 points per game. If you exclude a 41-7 loss to Oklahoma, the Tar Heels allowed just 8.2 points per game. They also held opponents to three points or fewer in five of their 11 regular-season games. Bowl game statistics were not included until 2002.

Taylor was the best player on the defense as he set a school record with 16 sacks to go along with 22 tackles for loss and three forced fumbles. Taylor earned consensus All-America honors. But it wasn’t just Taylor.

The defensive line had studs like All-ACC defensive linemen Donnell Thompson, who was a first-team All-ACC selection and first-round pick as well. Thompson raked up 87 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, five sacks and three forced fumbles. He and defensive tackle Harry Stanback, who had 11 tackles for loss, both reached double digits in that category.

Joining Taylor in the linebacking corps were Daniels and Darrell Nicholson. Daniels has 50 tackles, 10 tackles for a loss, two sacks and an interception. Nicholson finished as the team’s leading tackler, racking up 117 tackles, three tackles for loss, a forced fumble and an interception.

Another first-team All-ACC selection, defensive back Steve Streater, led the ACC with five interceptions.

It Takes Two

While the 1980 team was known more for its defense, it also had a strong rushing attack. The Tar Heels had a Top 10 rushing offense, averaging 270.6 yards per game that was led by Amos Lawrence – UNC’s all-time leading rusher – and sophomore Kelvin Bryant. Both tailbacks broke the 1,000-yard mark and are just one of three running back duos to do so in program history.

Lawrence finished his highly decorated career by rushing for 1,118 yards and 15 touchdowns while Bryant rushed for 1,039 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Both players were first-team All-ACC selections.

Please

This article first appeared on North Carolina Tar Heels on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: