Crowning our NC Football News’ Fabulous 15 champion was a no-brainer after the 2023 season. Lenoir-Rhyne ran away with top honors, winning 13 games, capturing a conference title and advancing to the Division II national semifinals. No one else even came close to the Bears’ resume.
Determining the 2024 champion wasn’t so cut and dried. Multiple teams from the Old North State stood tall after the final whistle. But which school had the most special season of them all?
In the end, after much wrangling, we believed the (1) Wingate Bulldogs worthy of the mantle of Fabulous 15 champions for 2024. Coach Rashaan Jordan’s team finished 9-2 in his first season at the helm, captured a South Atlantic Conference championship and had a consensus All-American in defensive end Marquise Fleming.
The ‘Dogs had the best winning percentage of any team in the Old North State. They led the nation in red zone defense and finished among the D2 national leaders in a host of other defensive categories. Did we mention Fleming? The senior from Charlotte (Olympic HS) won the Gene Upshaw Award as the nation’s top D2 lineman and repeated as conference and region defensive MVP.
Like we said, it was a tough call at the top of our Fabulous 15. The next two squads – (2) Louisburg and (3) Lenoir-Rhyne – certainly could make a case to be No. 1.
The runner-up Hurricanes finished 8-3 and played in the Division III junior college national championship – a first for their program. The ‘Canes made the trip to Illinois for the Red Grange Bowl but fell to College of DuPage. The reigning Fabulous 15 champion Bears (10-3) were the only North Carolina gridiron squad to reach 10 wins. They also won a D2 playoff game, something Wingate was unable to accomplish.
(4) Duke exceeded all expectations under new coach Manny Diaz to place fourth. The Blue Devils can rightfully be crowned “State Champs” after sweeping North Carolina, Wake Forest and NC State (and Elon). (5) East Carolina did a major 180 after firing coach Mike Houston, winning five of its last six under interim Blake Harrell (who earned the head job outright). The most pleasing part was the Military Bowl victory – and at least a few months of bragging rights – over NC State. (The two teams meet again in the 2025 opener).
In a strong year for HBCU football in our state, (6) Johnson C. Smith and (7) North Carolina Central took the next two spots. The Golden Bulls had some tough luck after sprinting out to an 8-0 start. Losing their last two games kept them out of the CIAA title game and ended D2 playoff chances, but this still was a season for the record books. NCCU captured seven wins in its final eight contests, missing out on the Celebration Bowl only after a hard-fought 24-21 loss to South Carolina State.
(8) Western Carolina had high hopes that 2024 would be the year to finally bag a conference championship and end a four-decade playoff drought. Oh so close! The Catamounts finished second in the SoCon to Mercer and stayed in the FCS playoff conversation till the end. The team’s 801 yards of total offense against Furman set school records and earned national attention.
The next three spots go to teams in our strongest overall division: D2. (9) Winston-Salem State made a big leap forward in the CIAA, winning seven games and receiving playoff consideration. Watch for the Rams in 2025. (10) UNC Pembroke closed on a four-game win streak, tallying 62, 79, 58 and 63 points in romps over West Virginia State, West Virginia Wesleyan, Frostburg State and Concord on its way out the door of the Mountain East Conference. (11) Shaw put up stellar offensive numbers in winning six games, including a vanquishing of long-time nemesis Fayetteville State.
The battle for D3 supremacy in our state was claimed by (12) Brevard. The Tornados did stumble against North Carolina Wesleyan late in the year, but the F5 machine still spun its way into the upper echelon of the USA South and a 6-3 final record.
(13) Elon righted its ship after a four-game losing skid in September and early October. The Phoenix closed on a four-game win streak to pull back to .500 for the year at 6-6. (14) Livingstone gave us three sets of Bears in our Fabulous 15. The Blue variety became one of the feel-good stories of the season as they grinded out four victories over the final six weeks, including a 15-14 stunner over Johnson C. Smith.
Our final spot goes to (15) Davidson. Scott Abell was a model of consistency during his seven years as head coach. The Wildcats never had a losing season and placed among the FCS leaders in rushing offense each year with their patented shotgun triple option attack. Abell took the head job at Rice University in November, but he certainly left things much better than he found them and gave Davidson a nice prestige bump in football going forward.
Putting A Bow On Another Fabulous Season
This is our third year of doing a unique college football ranking where we take into account all 30+ schools in our state regardless of level of play. This may have been the trickiest year to sort out the top teams. Kingdoms rose and kingdoms fell, and few could seem to sustain success.
NC State began the year as our preseason favorite. Oops. The Wolfpack didn’t even make the final cut, with the Military Bowl loss to ECU dropping them under .500 and out of our rankings.
Louisburg took the biggest leap in the other direction, going from unranked in August to the runner-up slot. Duke, Livingstone, Shaw and Winston-Salem State also began the season off the Fab 15 radar but firmly in our rankings at the end.
Thanks To Our Sponsor | The NC Sports Network
We’d like to thank the NC Sports Network for sponsoring our Fabulous 15 this season. While college has ended in our state, the NCSN is still going strong with lots of content, including ACC hoops coverage and plenty of transfer portal/coaching carousel updates. Check out their Twitter/X page HERE.
Fan Vote: Louisburg Hurricanes Were The People’s Choice
We put a poll on Twitter/X earlier this month asking: “Who had the most special college football season in our state in 2024?”
Louisburg was the runaway winner, earning 43.3 percent of the vote. Lenoir-Rhyne finished second, receiving 29.9 percent of ballots cast. Wingate placed third (17.9 percent), while Duke took fourth (9 percent).
Fabulous 15 All-Time Champions
2024: Wingate Bulldogs
2023: Lenoir-Rhyne Bears
2022: North Carolina Central Eagles
Rewind: Read More Fabulous 15 Stories
Take a look back at our preseason Fabulous 15, as well as the final review from the 2023 and 2022 seasons.
2024 Preseason Fabulous 15: NC State Starts On Top
2023 Fabulous 14: Lenoir-Rhyne, NC State Lead Our Final Rankings
2022: HBCU National Champions (NCCU) Top Our ‘Best In State’ Rankings
