- BEST IN STATE -

Fabulous 14: Duke, UNC still lead; Western Carolina coming on strong

Four unbeaten teams remain; Six more boast 3-1 records, including surging Catamounts

Eric Lusk

Published

September 26, 2023

Western Carolina celebrates one of its 11 touchdowns against Charleston Southern. The Wildcats have surged up our Fabulous 14 rankings this week. (Photo by Samuel Wallace | WCU Communications and Marketing / courtesy WCU athletics).

We’ve had a lot of good college football in North Carolina this season, but each round of games has usually produced a “Darling of the Week” – one team that shines the brightest.

On opening weekend, that group was the Duke Blue Devils, who stunned Clemson on Labor Day and upstaged the rival North Carolina Tar Heels, who had grabbed plenty of headlines two days earlier with an impressive win over South Carolina.

In week two, Catawba lit up the scoreboard and introduced us to Preston Brown, who threw six TDs against an overmatched opponent (he now has 14 scoring throws on the season).

Lenoir-Rhyne jumped off the page last week, finding the end zone about every way possible — offense, defense, special teams — in a thorough 62-0 dismantling of Erskine.

The eye-catching runway model this week? Western Carolina.

It wasn’t shocking to see the Catamounts on the winning end of a home game against Charleston Southern. It was eye-catching to see WCU put up 77 points (tying a school record) against an opponent that had tested Clemson for a half a few Saturdays earlier. (Read more game notes from WCU’s Daniel Hooker here).

Coach Kerwin Bell’s group scored 11 touchdowns — five through the air by quarterback Carlos Gonzales, to four different receivers — and rolled up nearly 700 yards of total offense. The national pundits noticed, moving Western Carolina into the coaches poll for the first time this season (21st) and up six spots in the Stats Perform Top 25 (to No. 17).

The Catamounts have our attention as well. They jumped several spots forward in our latest Best In State Fabulous 14 team rankings.

Remember, this statewide poll, which takes into account all 35 North Carolina football-playing schools, is about teams making a splash and having a special season. And WCU has been doing just that since a week one loss at Arkansas.

Duke and North Carolina still rule the state overall. Both are 4-0, sharing that record in the same year for the first time since 1971. Hard to ignore their splash.

Lenoir-Rhyne and Mars Hill join the Devils and Heels as the lone remaining unbeatens. That foursome leads the way in our Fabulous 14, with Western Carolina and North Carolina Central right behind.

Here is the complete list. See Notes below for a further explanation of our Fabulous 14 rankings.

The Fabulous 14 – After Week Four

14. Louisburg College (2-1)

Week 4: Beat Jireh Prep 28-20
Next Game: Saturday vs. Maryland Prep

The Hurricanes from the JUCO ranks jump into our poll for the first time as our representative from the D3/NAIA/JUCO level. Louisburg also ranks No. 5 in the latest NJCAA Division III poll. JUCO football is a different animal, and the ‘Canes are making it work despite having no other junior college programs in the Carolinas or Virginia to compete against.

13. Campbell (2-2)

Week 4: Lost to Elon 28-24
Next Game: Saturday at NC Central

The Camels have had one of the top recruiting classes in the FCS the past few years. One of the most impressive catches in the 2022 class: redshirt freshman receiver VJ Wilkins. The Reagan High School alum (Pfafftown, N.C.) has earned CAA Rookie of the Week honors twice already in 2023. Wilkins has 24 catches for 272 receiving yards and three touchdowns, plus another 226 yards in kick returns, helping the Camels make noise in the league when they were expected to finish near the bottom.

12. Appalachian State (2-2)

Week 4: Lost at Wyoming 22-19
Next Game: Saturday at Louisiana-Monroe

The harsh reality is that the Mountaineers are a few plays from being 4-0. The latest agonizing turn happened late against Wyoming. The Mountaineers led 19-14 and lined up for a field goal to go up by 8. The Cowboys blocked the kick, returned it for a touchdown with 1:52 left and then intercepted a pass near their goal line to seal it. Sigh. Bad Beats. Part of football.

No time to brood, though. Sun Belt play starts this week.

11. Elon (2-2)

Week 4: Beat Campbell 28-24
Next Game: Saturday vs. No. 4/5 William & Mary

The Phoenix turned a lot of heads last year when they beat the Tribe — the only CAA team to do so. Another upset would be huge and a giant resume builder toward a return to the FCS playoffs. Running back Jalen Hampton is having an MVP season and has been a handful for opposing defenses.

10. Johnson C. Smith (3-1)

Week 4: Won at Lincoln (Pa.) 27-20
Next Game: Saturday at Elizabeth City State

The future looks bright for the Charlotte HBCU, which hasn’t had a winning season since 2012, though a salty defense could have JCSU in position to compete for the CIAA Southern Division title this season. We’re not coaches, so we can look ahead: the Golden Bulls could feasibly be 6-1 going into their showdown with defending CIAA champ Fayetteville State.

9. Barton (3-1)

Week 4: Lost 16-14 at Mars Hill
Next Game: Saturday at Tusculum

The Bulldogs have now arrived at the teeth of their schedule. They had a tough time getting running back Jordan Terrell going against Mars Hill (47 yards). It doesn’t get easier from here, with three of the SAC’s projected top teams on deck next: Tusculum, Newberry and Lenoir-Rhyne. The good news is that the ‘Dogs have more weapons than Terrell, even if foes find ways to keep him bottled up.

8. Wake Forest (3-1)

Week 4: Lost 30-16 to Georgia Tech
Next Game: Oct. 7 at Clemson

Some of the shine came off the Deacs this past weekend. Wake struggled against one of the weaker defenses in the ACC. After sacking Old Dominion 10 times the week prior, the Demon Deacons allowed eight sacks – and committed five turnovers. Yikes. A bye week, then back into the fire at Clemson.

7. NC State (3-1)

Week 4: Beat Virginia 24-21
Next Game: Friday against Louisville

Back in August, ACC media voted the Wolfpack to finish fourth in the league, behind only Clemson., Florida State and North Carolina. After a narrow win against a hapless Virginia program, expectations have dropped sharply among media around the team and many in the fanbase. But this is where coach Dave Doeren has been at his best in the past — backs to the wall, counted out by everyone, needing a win. NC State going with all-black unis with another Friday game on deck.

6. Mars Hill (3-0)

Week 4: Beat Barton 16-14.
Next Game: Saturday at Limestone

The Lions rode the kicking leg of Lon Teachey (from Teachy, N.C.) and a stern defense to another grind-it-out victory. Mars Hill has only surrendered 44 points in its first three games. They’ll face another high-scoring opponent this week in Limestone (29 ppg) as they continue their pursuit of the South Atlantic’s Mountain Division title.

5. North Carolina Central (3-1)

Week 4: Beat Mississippi Valley State 45-3
Next Game: Saturday vs. Campbell

The Eagles played without superstar quarterback Davius Richard on Saturday — he’s nursing an ankle injury — and didn’t miss a beat. Backup Walker Harris threw five touchdown passes and earned MEAC player of the week honors. NCCU is enjoying its highest-ever ranking in the AFCA coaches poll, moving up to 13th this week. NC Central players and coaches likely haven’t forgotten the 48-18 loss to Campbell a year ago.

4. Western Carolina (3-1)

Week 4: Beat Charleston Southern 77-21
Next Game: Saturday at The Citadel

Coach Kerwin Bell said he saw “Championship DNA” in his team earlier in the season. The Catamounts certainly seem to be on a mission to win the Southern Conference this fall. This week could bring another round of scoreboard fireworks. The Citadel is 0-4.

3. Lenoir-Rhyne (4-0)

Week 4: Won at Carson-Newman 24-7
Next Game: Saturday vs. UVA Wise

The Bears have outscored foes 155-24 thus far, with Carson-Newman’s touchdown the only opposing points from a conference team. Lenoir-Rhyne now finds itself ranked No. 14 in the latest D2Football.com poll and 15th in the coaches poll. The team to beat in the SAC Piedmont? They look the part so far.

2. North Carolina (4-0)

Week 4: Beat Pittsburgh 41-24
Next Game: October 7 vs. Syracuse

Can we finally shed the label of “bad defense” from this team? Maybe. Hopefully. Things started shaky against the Panthers but then UNC made adjustments and clamped down after a rough first quarter — something we haven’t seen much of in recent years, so there has been progress. Mack Brown’s team gets a bye this week, then three straight at home — Syracuse, Miami and Virginia.

1. Duke (4-0)

Week 4: Won at Connecticut 41-7
Next Game: Saturday against Notre Dame

You can’t get more fabulous than being undefeated, ranked 17th in the nation by the Associated Press, having ESPN College GameDay coming to your city and playing the most iconic college program in the land. Is this the biggest home game in Duke football history? Bigger than the team’s opportunity to host the Rose Bowl in 1942 during World War II?

Three big questions surround Saturday’s monumental day: How will Notre Dame bounce back from a stinging loss to Ohio State? How well will Duke handle the spotlight? And who will be the Duke-centric guest prognosticator chosen to sit alongside Lee Corso and the gang to make CFB picks?

Knocking On The Door

Wingate (2-2), UNC Pembroke (2-2), Fayetteville State (2-2) and Winston-Salem State (2-2) all got to .500 this past weekend, one of the criteria we use for determining our Fabulous 14. Watch for those four schools to contend for a spot in the poll in the coming weeks. Don’t count out Davidson, Catawba and Guilford either.

Fabulous 14 Notes

We choose our Fabulous 14 from among all 35 of the state’s schools that compete at the NCAA Division I (FBS and FCS), Division II and Division II levels, as well as the NAIA and junior college ranks.

This is not as much about predicting who we think will win head-to-head match-ups (though that may play a role if it happens) as it is about the splash teams are making within their own realm of play. Hence, why you see Division II schools ranked ahead of FBS teams, etc.

Schools must have at least a .500 record to be considered for the Fabulous 14 each week. As long as schools have .500 records or better, we will include at leaset one team from each level of play: D1, D2, D3/NAIA/JUCO.

We love feedback on our Fabulous 14. Feel free to leave comments here or on our Twitter account: www.twitter.com/NCFootballNews