History, if nothing else, is on the Seminoles side Saturday.
The numbers are ugly, dating back to their first meeting in the 1983 Peach Bowl on a freezing afternoon at Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, when Florida State was just getting started under Coach Bobby Bowden.
Dick Crum was the Carolina coach and his Tar Heels fell behind FSU 21-0. For some reason, after driving deep into Seminoles’ territory in the fourth quarter, Crum elected to kick a field goal. You’ve got to be kidding, right?
In 20 past meetings, mostly since Florida State joined the ACC as a national power in 1992, the Tar Heels haven’t had much luck in the non-rivalry, trailing 16-3-1. The tie was 10-10 in 1986 in Tallahassee.
Mack Brown is an FSU alum, graduating in 1973 after transferring from Vanderbilt, where his older brother Watson later was head coach of the Commodores. Brown was a running back whose balky knees kept him out of most games, but truth is he’s a much better coach than a player.
In his second tour in Chapel Hill, Brown believes there is now a better chance with two divisions to win the ACC championship than when the Seminoles were a perennially top five team that won nine straight conference titles, finally dethroned by Maryland in 2001.
Brown’s last game against the ‘Noles on the home sideline was in 1997, before departing for Texas. Both teams were 8-0 and ranked in the top 10, and Kenan was packed an hour before the ESPN-televised night game. No. 2 FSU was too much, winning 20-3 behind its NFL-type defense.
Carolina’s only home win in the series of mostly blowouts, was perhaps the strangest. John Bunting’s 2001 Tar Heels had opened the season 0-3 with losses at Oklahoma, Maryland and Texas (under Brown). They had their first win penciled in the following week against lowly SMU, but the 9/11 attacks postponed college football that weekend.
The next week, behind Darian Durant and Ronald Curry, the Heels dominated the second half and outscored FSU 34-0, to win 41-9, as half-empty Kenan began filling up when news of the game spread across campus.
After being favored before last year’s loss, Brown remains winless against his alma mater, 0-10. This is his best shot to end that 0-fer.
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