Football vs. Basketball

[Olympic Fan]

I've been struck by the relatively blase reaction to the fact that three of the Tobacco Road teams are currently ranked No. 1 (UNC), No. 5 (Duke) and No. 6 (Wake Forest) in the AP poll.

It speaks of how used we are are to having our teams in national contention in basketball. Just imagine what would happen if we had similar rankings in football?

We have to imagine, because nothing like this has ever happened -- or even been close. In fact, in the entire history of the state of North Carolina, we've had one school ranked No. 1 for eactly one week -- UNC was No. 1 on Oct. 11, 1948, when Choo Choo Justice was their star. They promptly lost the next week and dropped in the polls.

By contrast, Duke has been ranked No. 1 in the basketball poll for 110 weeks. UNC has been No. 1 for 101 weeks (and counting). N.C. State has 13 weeks as No. 1 and Wake 2. That's a total of 226 weeks to 1 (for football).

When you look at the final polls, you see a similar disparity. No Tobacco Road football team has ever finished No. 1. In fact, the total number of top 10 finishes in the AP (which started in 1936) are:

1938 -- Duke No. 3
1939 -- Duke No. 8
1941 -- Duke No. 2
1943 -- Duke No. 7
1946 -- UNC No. 9
1947 -- UNC No. 9
1948 -- UNC No. 3
1960 -- Duke No. 10
1980 -- UNC No. 10
1981 -- UNC No. 9
1996 -- UNC No. 10
1997 -- UNC No. 6

That's it -- 12 top finishes and seven of those were before the formation of the ACC. Neither Wake Forest nor NC State has ever finished in the AP top 10 (although to be fair, in 1974, when the Pack finished No. 11 in the AP, they did finish No. 9 in the coaches' poll).

By contrast, the Big Four basketball teams have generated 14 final No. 1 rankings (7 by Duke, 6 by UNC and 1 by NC State).

That's more No. 1 finishes in basketball than top 10 finishes in football.

Overall, the Big Four have 75 top 10 finishes in basketball (32 UNC, 28 Duke, 9 NC State, 6 Wake Forest). That may understate things since tghe AP basketball poll only began in 1948-49 -- 11 years later than the football poll. State in 1947 and 48, UNC in 1941 and 1946, Duke in 1942 and 1946 almost certainly would have been top 10 if there rankings in those years.

The current 1-5-6 ranking is not likely to last as the teams knock each other off, but it's worth noting that as recently as 2005, the final poll included No. 2 UNC, No. 3 Duke and No. 5 Wake. The Big Four also had three top 10 teams in 1997.

We've had two teams in the final top 10 too often to count.

Is it any wonder that Tobacco Road is basketball country?

[Bob Green]

I agree with your premise that fans are blase do to being used to the top ten rankings in basketball. With Connecticut losing to Georgetown, Duke and Wake Forest have an opportunity to move up in the polls. If Duke defeats Loyola and Virginia Tech, and Wake defeats Radford and BYU, the ACC will have three teams in the top five when the next poll is released. Of course, those are a couple of big ifs as Virginia Tech seems to always play Duke tough and Wake has to win on the road with a young team.

[loran16]

I agree with your premise that fans are blase do to being used to the top ten rankings in basketball. With Connecticut losing to Georgetown, Duke and Wake Forest have an opportunity to move up in the polls. If Duke defeats Loyola and Virginia Tech, and Wake defeats Radford and BYU, the ACC will have three teams in the top five when the next poll is released. Of course, those are a couple of big ifs as Virginia Tech seems to always play Duke tough and Wake has to win on the road with a young team.

Depends on how far down UConn moves or how high GU rises.

I could see Georgetown leaping us...the road win vs Uconn is rather impressive.

[brevity]

Only two replies in the early going, but you can already guess that this thread will probably evolve into another lame discussion about polls and conference dominance, with ACC fans licking their lips over what looks to be some Big East top tier parity.

But what I found interesting about the original post was the football element. Maybe the question shouldn't be "What would happen if we had similar rankings in football?" but rather "What will it take for Tobacco Road to get similar rankings in football?"

With the Big 12 South's banner year of college football still fresh in our minds, I wonder if any of us can speculate what they did to get there, and how it can be replicated. Coaches, high-powered offenses, and quarterbacks come to mind, but there's more to the story.

I would very much like to see the thread turn in this direction, but I have exceedingly low expectations that it will.

[Bob Green]

I would very much like to see the thread turn in this direction, but I have exceedingly low expectations that it will.

Well this is Duke Basketball Report. But I have no problem discussing ACC football. I enjoy football and made many trips to Wallace Wade in my youth. However, seeing as it is late December, basketball is the topic dominating my thoughts.