Duke, NC Central, Wingate Top Contenders For
“Best College Football Season In North Carolina”
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
The main idea is to celebrate excellence.
That certainly was the starting point, in 1991, when we bestowed the “Best College Football Season In North Carolina” honor on East Carolina. ECU had gone 11-1, rattling off 11 consecutive victories — including a now-legendary 37-34 victory over #21 NC State in the Peach Bowl — after a close, season-opening loss at Illinois.
With Bill Lewis as their head coach, Steve Logan as their offensive coordinator, Jeff Blake as their star quarterback, and Robert Jones as a future first-round National Football League pick at linebacker, the Pirates put together a sensational season that to this day still ranks as the best in their program’s history.
Among their other regular-season victories that year, with ECU then playing as an independent, were home wins against South Carolina and #23 Pittsburgh and road triumphs over #15 Syracuse, Cincinnati and Virginia Tech.
Relatively speaking, in a state that now has 33 NCAA programs scattered among the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), two Group of Five leagues, Division Two and Division Three, ECU’s 1991 campaign clearly was the “Best College Football Season In North Carolina” that year.
North Carolina (eight times) and Appalachian State (seven) have earned this just-for-fun title more often than any other school. The Mountaineers won it four times as a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) program and three times as a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) program, most recently after their back-to-back Sun Belt Conference championships in 2018 and 2019.
Although a large majority of “Best College Football Season In North Carolina” honors have been captured by FBS programs, App State, North Carolina A&T and NC Central have won with championship-caliber FCS teams, and Lenoir-Rhyne and Winston-Salem State have won with title-winning Division Two squads.
This year, as of mid-November, with some teams already having completed their regular season but others facing two or three more regular-season contests, the top contenders once again include those from the FBS, FCS and Division Two levels.
1. Duke
Head Coach: Manny Diaz (first season)
Location: Durham
Conference: ACC
Classification: Division One (Power Four)
Record: 7-3
National Ranking: none
Remaining Regular-Season Games: open week, Virginia Tech (5-5), at Wake Forest (4-5)
Key Players: CB Chandler Rivers, LB Alex Howard, LB Ozzie Nicholas, DE Vincent Anthony Jr., DT Kendy Charles, WR Jordan Moore, WR Eli Pancol, RB Star Thomas, QB Maalik Murphy
Duke has had only one 10-win season in its history, and only one Top 25 finish in the last 60-plus years, so if first-year coach Manny Diaz can achieve either or both of those things this season, his Blue Devils automatically would rank among the top contenders for this year’s “Best College Football Season In North Carolina” honor.
The Blue Devils managed all of those accomplishments under coach David Cutcliffe in 2013, when they finished 10-4 and #22 in the Associated Press poll. Lenoir-Rhyne, which went 13-2, won a conference championship and played in the Division Two national championship game under coach Mike Houston in 2013, shared the “BCFSINC” honor with the Devils that year.
Regardless of how the rest of this season goes for Duke, Diaz and his staff deserve an enormous amount of credit.
Among the 17 football teams in the newly expanded ACC, no single unit — in any phase of the game — has prepared and executed game plans more efficiently than the Blue Devils’ defense. Coordinator Jonathan Patke’s unit has yielded only 22.1 points per game (third-best in the league) and ranks #1 in passing defense, with opponents throwing for only 192 yards per game, 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
2. Wingate
Head Coach: Rashaan Jordan (first season)
Location: Wingate
Conference: South Atlantic
Classification: Division Two
Record: 8-1
National Ranking: #23 (D2)
Remaining Regular-Season Games: none
Conference Title Game: #19 Carson-Newman (9-1) at #23 Wingate (8-1), Sat., 3 pm (FloSports)
Key Players: DE Marquise Fleming, DE Kai Russell, DT Daniel Morrison, LB Dontorian Best, QB Brooks Bentley, RB O’Brien Barnett, WR Evan McCray
When Wingate went to #12 Lenoir-Rhyne on Nov. 2 and upset the Bears, the Bulldogs clinched first place in the Piedmont Division of the South Atlantic Conference, ensuring its place in the league’s 2024 championship game.
The #23 Bulldogs (8-1) will host #19 Carson-Newman (9-1), the Mountain Division champion, on Saturday (3 pm, FloSports) at Irwin Belk Stadium in the South Atlantic title contest. Historically speaking, the Eagles are the top program in the SAC, with 15 outright league championships and six shared crowns.
Wingate’s only outright SAC titles came in 2010 and 2017 under coach Joe Reich, who is now the university’s athletic director.
On Sept. 21, Carson-Newman handed Wingate its only loss of this season, in a 31-28 overtime contest played in Jefferson City, Tenn.
First-year Bulldogs head coach Rashaan Jordan spent 18 years as Wingate’s defensive coordinator, including 11 under Reich (2013-23), before being promoted to head coach during this past offseason.
3. NC Central
Head Coach: Trei Oliver (fifth season)
Location: Durham
Conference: MEAC
Classification: Division One (FCS)
Record: 6-3
National Ranking: none
Remaining Regular-Season Games: Howard (4-6), at Delaware State (1-9)
Key Players: QB Walker Harris, RB J’Mari Taylor, WR Markell Quick, WR Joaquin Davis, LB Jaki Brevard, DB Kole Jones, DB Malcolm Reed
NC Central captured the “Best College Football Season In North Carolina” title in 2022, when coach Trei Oliver’s squad finished 10-2, won the MEAC championship and then edged previously undefeated Jackson State in the Celebration Bowl, 41-34 in overtime, to claim the HBCU national championship.
Oliver, an all-conference defensive back and punter for the Eagles during his playing days (1994-97), is now in his sixth year (fifth season) as the head coach at his alma mater, and his team still has a possible path to a third consecutive MEAC title (counting ties).
The Eagles, who participated in the FCS playoffs for the first time in program history last year, are heavy favorites against Howard (4-6) and Delaware State (1-9) in their remaining regular-season games. If they can finish 8-3, they have a good chance of returning to the national Top 25, earning another FCS playoff invitation, and perhaps even sharing first place in the MEAC standings again.
In order to attain another first-place tie, NC Central must win out and hope that 7-2 South Carolina State, the only unbeaten team in MEAC play, loses at 5-5 Morgan State or (less likely) against 3-7 Norfolk State in its remaining regular-season games.
4. Lenoir-Rhyne
Head Coach: Doug Socha (first season)
Location: Hickory
Conference: South Atlantic
Classification: Division Two
Record: 8-2
National Ranking: #20 (D2)
Remaining Regular-Season Games: Anderson (3-7)
Key Players: LB Jaelin Willis, DB Nic Cheeley, DB James Ussery, QB Jalen Ferguson, RB Alex Boyd, WR Adonis McDaniel
Lenoir-Rhyne won or shared the “Best College Football Season In North Carolina” honor in both 2013 and 2023, when the Bears put together long runs in the Division Two playoffs under Mike Houston and Mike Jacobs, respectively.
Here in 2024, it appears that #20 Lenoir-Rhyne has executed another smooth coaching transition, this time from Jacobs (who has Mercer off to a 9-1 start and ranked #13 in the FCS Top 25) to Doug Socha, who had been a very successful NAIA head coach prior to his arrival in Hickory.
The #20 Bears (8-2), who host 3-7 Anderson in their regular-season finale Saturday, appear to be on track for yet another Top 25 finish in the national rankings.
