The last time a North Carolina football team was ranked this high was on Nov. 8, 1997.
Just like this week, the Tar Heels back then were ranked No. 5 in the country, Mack Brown was the head coach, and they were getting ready to play Florida State.
The difference, of course, is that Florida State isn't quite on the same level. The 1997 Seminoles were undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the country when they went into Kenan Stadium that night and shut down UNC, 20-3, in what may have been the biggest football game in ACC history until that point.
"It was one of the best teams I've ever seen," Brown said this week, when asked about that 1997 Florida State squad. "I think I called them the NFL East or something. They were so good."
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To Brown's point, of the 19 Seminoles who registered at least one tackle in that game, 15 went on to be NFL Draft picks -- including four (Andre Wadsworth, Corey Simon, Derrick Gibson and Jamal Reynolds) who were selected in the first round.
It was 23 years ago, but Brown still remembers quite a bit about that game and about that week.
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ESPN's "College GameDay" was in Chapel Hill that Saturday. It was an ESPN prime-time game, with two of the top-ranked teams in the country and two defenses that were arguably the best in the United States -- North Carolina featured 12 future NFL draft picks on its defense, including four first-rounders (Greg Ellis, Brian Simmons, Vonnie Holliday and Ebenezer Ekuban.
All-America cornerback Dre Bly, who was a second-round pick in 1999, was also a star on that team. (Bly currently serves as UNC's cornerbacks coach.)
Despite the loss, that 1997 game against Florida State still is considered among the most significant moments in North Carolina football history.
"Yeah, I wish we'd have won it, then it would have been the most important one that we've ever played for sure," Brown said with a chuckle. "I just remember the hype for the week, and (being) so proud that our football program was getting so much attention nationally. And that's who you want to be.
"I remember Coach Bowden, who I really admire and love, before the game he came out in his good old way and put his arm around me. It was packed, there were people hanging off the sides of the stadium it was so full, and he said, 'Hey boy, I never thought I'd see anything like this. This is really cool.' And it was. It was who we wanted to be."
Unfortunately for Brown, the home-crowd advantage couldn't make much of an impact when the opposing defense featured names like Wadsworth, Simon, Sam Cowart, Samari Rolle, Greg Spires, Dexter Jackson and on and on and on.
The Seminoles, astonishingly, allowed just 73 yards of total offense that night. They racked up nine sacks (four by Spires and three by Wadsworth) and 15 total tackles for loss. Rolle, Jackson and Shevin Smith also intercepted passes.
Odds are, of course, the game on Saturday will look a little different. Brown said his 2020 offense is much better than the one he took into battle against the Seminoles in 1997, and everyone is well aware that the FSU defense isn't close to what it looked like 23 years ago.
"I thought we had finally arrived," Brown said of that memorable night in Chapel Hill. "And then we couldn't block them. They were just so talented. ... It was a great game, but it was a defensive game. It was very, very physical."
Brown's Tar Heels finished 11-1 that season and were ranked No. 6 in the final AP Top 25 (No. 4 in the coaches' poll). They finished the year with a 42-3 win over Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl.
When Florida State and North Carolina took the field that November night, there wound up being 47 NFL draft picks combined on the two rosters, including seven first-round picks and eight second-round picks.
That game would be the last time Brown coached against Florida State. He left UNC after the 1997 season to take the head coaching job at Texas, where he led the Longhorns to the 2005 national championship.
In less than two years since returning to Chapel Hill, Brown has reinvigorated a program that had been in a two-decade malaise without him. And now he's got them back to where they were almost exactly 23 years ago.
Ready, once again, to face his alma mater (he graduated from FSU in 1974) as a Top 5 team in the country. While his alma mater tries desperately to get a foothold and start ascending back to national prominence under first-year head coach Mike Norvell.
"I haven't been back to Tallahassee (since 1996)," Brown said. "So, it'll be fun. So much has changed down there since Coach Bowden left. But Jimbo Fisher won a national championship. They're still very talented, and we're going to have our hands full. ...
"They're going to be a really good team by the end of the year. I hope it's not this weekend."
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Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council
