2015 North Carolina Tar Heels football team

The 2015 North Carolina Tar Heels football team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was led by fourth-year head coach Larry Fedora and played their home games at Kenan Memorial Stadium. The Tar Heels competed as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference and were the Coastal Division champions. They finished the season 11–3, 8–0 in ACC play to win the ACC Coastal Division Championship. They represented the Coastal Division in the ACC Championship Game where they lost to Atlantic Division champion Clemson. They were invited to the Russell Athletic Bowl where they lost to Baylor.

2015 North Carolina Tar Heels football
ACC Coastal Division champion
ConferenceAtlantic Coast Conference
DivisionCoastal Division
Ranking
CoachesNo. 15
APNo. 15
2015 record11–3 (8–0 ACC)
Head coach
Co-offensive coordinatorGunter Brewer (2nd as coordinator, 9th overall season)
Co-offensive coordinatorChris Kapilovic (2nd as coordinator, 4th overall season)
Offensive schemeSpread
Defensive coordinatorGene Chizik (1st season)
Base defense4–3
Home stadiumKenan Memorial Stadium
(Capacity: 63,000)
Uniform
2015 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
Atlantic Division
No. 2 Clemson x$^  8 –0     14 –1  
No. 14 Florida State  6 –2     10 –3  
Louisville  5 –3     8 –5  
NC State  3 –5     7 –6  
Syracuse  2 –6     4 –8  
Wake Forest  1 –7     3 –9  
Boston College  0 –8     3 –9  
Coastal Division
No. 15 North Carolina x  8 –0     11 –3  
Pittsburgh  6 –2     8 –5  
Miami  5 –3     8 –5  
Duke  4 –4     8 –5  
Virginia Tech  4 –4     7 –6  
Virginia  3 –5     4 –8  
Georgia Tech  1 –7     3 –9  
Championship: Clemson 45, North Carolina 37
  • ^ – College Football Playoff participant
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

Recruiting

National Signing Day was on February 4, 2015 and was the first chance for high school seniors to officially declare which university or college they will be attending for their college career. North Carolina had 19 high school seniors sign a National Letter of Intent to play football with them. Of the class, 10 athletes enrolled early to UNC.[1]

Coaching staff

North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora entered his fourth year as the North Carolina's head coach for the 2015 season. After ranking as one of the worst defenses in the country in 2014, Fedora completely revamped the Tar Heel defensive coaching staff. Fedora hired Gene Chizik as the new defensive coordinator.[2] Chizik was most recently the head coach at Auburn, where he led the Tigers to a national championship in 2011. With the coaching change, UNC also switched from a 4-2-5 base defense to a 4–3 defense. Other defensive coaching hires include John Papuchis, former defensive coordinator at Nebraska, as linebackers coach, Tray Scott as defensive line coach, and Charlton Warren as defensive backs coach.[3]

Coaches for the 2015 season[3]
Name Position Seasons at North Carolina
Larry Fedora Head Coach 4th
Gene Chizik Defensive Coordinator 1st
Gunter Brewer Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers 4th (9th overall)
Chris Kapilovic Co-Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line 2nd (4th overall)
Seth Littrell Assistant Head Coach for Offense/Tight Ends 2nd
Keith Heckendorf Quarterbacks 2nd
John Papuchis Linebackers Coach 1st
Tray Scott Defensive Line Coach 1st
Charlton Warren Defensive Backs Coach 1st
Lou Hernandez Strength and Conditioning Coordinator 4th

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 36:00 p.m.vs. South Carolina*
ESPNL 13–1751,664
September 126:00 p.m.North Carolina A&T*
ESPN3W 53–1444,000
September 1912:00 p.m.Illinois*
  • Kenan Memorial Stadium
  • Chapel Hill, NC
ESPN2W 48–1441,000
September 2612:30 p.m.Delaware*
  • Kenan Memorial Stadium
  • Chapel Hill, NC
ACCRSNW 41–1439,000
October 33:30 p.m.at Georgia Tech
ESPNUW 38–3150,585
October 177:00 p.m.Wake Forest
  • Kenan Memorial Stadium
  • Chapel Hill, NC (rivalry)
ACCRSNW 50–1450,500
October 243:30 p.m.Virginia
ACCRSNW 26–1352,000
October 297:00 p.m.at No. 23 Pittsburgh
ESPNW 26–1943,049
November 712:00 p.m.DukeNo. 21
ESPN2W 66–3160,500
November 143:30 p.m.Miami (FL)No. 17
  • Kenan Memorial Stadium
  • Chapel Hill, NC
ESPNUW 59–2161,000
November 2112:00 p.m.at Virginia TechNo. 12
ESPNW 30–27 OT65,632
November 283:30 p.m.at NC StateNo. 11
ABC/ESPN2W 45–3457,600
December 58:00 p.m.vs. No. 1 ClemsonNo. 8
ABCL 37–4574,514
December 295:30 p.m.vs. No. 17 Baylor*No. 10
ESPNL 38–4940,418
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to the game
Schedule Source:[4]

In a piece of scheduling trivia, North Carolina is the only FBS team that played all of its 2015 regular-season games, both home and away, on grass fields.[5]

Game summaries

vs. South Carolina
1 2 3 4 Total
Gamecocks 0 10 0 7 17
Tar Heels 7 6 0 0 13
See also: 2015 South Carolina Gamecocks football team

North Carolina A&T
1 2 3 4 Total
Aggies 0 0 7 7 14
Tar Heels 22 14 17 0 53
See also: 2015 North Carolina A&T Aggies football team

Illinois
1 2 3 4 Total
Fighting Illini 0 7 0 7 14
Tar Heels 10 10 7 21 48
See also: 2015 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

Delaware
1 2 3 4 Total
Fightin' Blue Hens 7 0 7 0 14
Tar Heels 7 6 14 14 41
See also: 2015 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team

at Georgia Tech
1 2 3 4 Total
Tar Heels 0 14 10 14 38
Yellow Jackets 7 14 7 3 31
See also: 2015 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team

Wake Forest
1 2 3 4 Total
Demon Deacons 7 7 0 0 14
Tar Heels 0 29 7 14 50
See also: 2015 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team and North Carolina–Wake Forest rivalry

Virginia
1 2 3 4 Total
Cavaliers 10 3 0 0 13
Tar Heels 7 6 3 10 26
See also: 2015 Virginia Cavaliers football team and South's Oldest Rivalry

at Pittsburgh
1 2 3 4 Total
Tar Heels 3 17 3 3 26
#23 Panthers 3 0 10 6 19
See also: 2015 Pittsburgh Panthers football team

Duke
1 2 3 4 Total
Blue Devils 3 7 14 7 31
#21 Tar Heels 21 17 21 7 66
See also: 2015 Duke Blue Devils football team and Victory Bell (North Carolina–Duke)

Miami (FL)
1 2 3 4 Total
Hurricanes 0 0 7 14 21
#17 Tar Heels 7 24 21 7 59
See also: 2015 Miami Hurricanes football team

at Virginia Tech
1 2 3 4OT Total
#12 Tar Heels 7 0 3 146 30
Hokies 0 3 7 143 27
See also: 2015 Virginia Tech Hokies football team

at NC State
1 2 3 4 Total
#11 Tar Heels 35 0 0 10 45
Wolfpack 7 7 9 11 34
See also: 2015 NC State Wolfpack football team and North Carolina–NC State football rivalry

vs Clemson
See also: 2015 Clemson Tigers football team and 2015 ACC Championship Game
#1 Clemson Tigers vs #8 North Carolina Tar Heels – Game summary
1 2 34Total
#1 Tigers 7 14 141045
#8 Tar Heels 9 7 71437

at Bank of America Stadium • Charlotte, NC

vs Baylor
See also: 2015 Baylor Bears football team and 2015 Russell Athletic Bowl
#17 Baylor Bears vs #10 North Carolina Tar Heels – Game summary
1 2 34Total
#10 North Carolina 7 10 14738
#17 Baylor 14 14 14749

at Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium • Orlando, FL

  • Date: December 29, 2015
  • Game time: 5:30 p.m.
  • Game attendance: 40,418
  • TV: ESPN
  • Sources:

Rankings
Further information: 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Final 
AP NR NR NR NR NR NR RV RV RV 21 17 12 11 8 10 15 
Coaches RV NR NR NR NR RV RV RV RV 21 17 12 11 8 11 15 
CFP Not released NR 23 17 14 10 10 Not released

Postseason

All-Conference Selections

[6]

All-American Selections

NFL Draft

For the second year in a row, North Carolina did not have any players selected in the NFL Draft.[7]

The following players signed as undrafted free agents:[8]

Name Position Team
Quinshad DavisWide ReceiverDetroit Lions
Romar MorrisRunning BackNew York Jets
Shakeel RashadLinebackerHouston Texans
Jeff SchoettmerLinebackerNew Orleans Saints
Landon TurnerGuardNew Orleans Saints
Marquise WilliamsQuarterbackMinnesota Vikings

References
  1. Barbour, Brian (January 7, 2015). "UNC Announces Ten Early Enrollees in Football". SB Nation. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  2. Fornelli, Tom (January 19, 2015). "North Carolina Officially Hires Gene Chizik as Defensive Coordinator". CBS Sports. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  3. "UNC Football Coaching Staff". University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill Department of Athletics. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  4. "2015 North Carolina Tar Heels Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  5. Forde, Pat (July 6, 2015). "40 Schedule Observations for This College Football Season". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  6. "ACSMA Announces 2015 All-ACC Teams". theacc.com. 2015. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  7. Jaouhari, Khaled. "North Carolina Football: NFL draft shutout and free-agent signings". ISportsWeb. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  8. "Six Tar Heels Earn NFL Opportunity". GoHeels.com. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
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