NC Fabulous 15 College Football Rankings: Wingate Leads, Duke Tops Triangle Rivals

Growing up in Raleigh, my family belonged to a wonderful neighborhood swim club known as Fairfax Hills. 

It is no longer, alas, but many memories remain. Such as our Fourth of July celebrations, which each summer featured the famous “greased watermelon” contest. 

Someone would oil up the biggest melon they could find – still not quite sure what they used, maybe I don’t want to know – and folks would dive into the deep end, attempting to be the one to hoist it out of the water and onto the pool deck.

If only YouTube existed then. There would be viral videos of people of all ages trying their best – and failing in hilarious ways – to get a grasp on the most slippery of summer trophies.

Crafting our NC Football News Fabulous 15 statewide rankings this season has felt a bit like those greased watermelon contests of old. Just when we think we have a handle on a team’s trajectory – for better or worse – we lose our grip and are left floundering in deep water.

Our criteria for the Fabulous 15 is pretty simple. We scan through the credentials of our state’s 34 college football teams – FBS, FCS, Division II, Division III, NAIA and junior college — and we try to rank which schools are having the most special seasons. 

We’re not so much concerned about who would win a head-to-head match-up – D3 Brevard’s never going to beat UNC for example. Mostly we’re ranking our schools based on which ones are generating the most buzz and grabbing the most positive headlines within their own level, which is why you sometimes see Brevard ranked ahead of UNC (like this week).

Only that task has been a slippery proposition in 2024. So far, we’ve had five teams occupy the top spot. A couple only lasted a week (and our preseason No. 1 isn’t even ranked this week). Other schools have jumped in and out of the Fab 15 more times than that watermelon from summers past changed hands. We’ve underestimated teams, then overestimated them only to see them fall off again. A few squads, to be honest, we’ve kind of given up on. 

So here we are after Week 11 of the season attempting to do it all over again. This will be the penultimate Fabulous 15 of the regular season, since many of our D2 and D3 schools will be wrapping up the 2024 campaign on Saturday. Others have already finished.

Who will make the final list, to be released when the season is complete? Who will be our 2024 Fabulous 15 champion, following in the footsteps of 2022 North Carolina Central and 2023 Lenoir-Rhyne?

Wingate, this week’s No. 1, has the inside track for now. But as I saw over several summers during childhood, completing the task of earning a trophy — while all around you want to dunk you under the water — can be the most daunting of assignments. Good luck to our teams the rest of the way!

Thanks again to The North Carolina Sports Network, home to The David Glenn Show and the always entertaining and enlightening Fifth Quarter Show with Mike Waddell and coach Jim Collins, for sponsoring this season’s Fabulous 15 – and giving us the chance to talk about it during one of their segments. Without further ado (or any more childhood memories), this week’s list:

NC College Football Fabulous 15 | After Week 11

1. Wingate Bulldogs (8-1) | D2

Next Game: Saturday in the SAC championship vs. Carson-Newman

One thing is clear, these ‘Dogs have earned their spot at the top of the Fab 15 for now. Driven by a solid defense, Wingate has won every game but one and shut out three foes, including Newberry on Saturday 38-0. This Saturday, they’ll try to be the first (only?) team from our state to win a conference title. Their foe will be the one team that tripped them up earlier in the season. 

2. Louisburg Hurricanes (8-2) | JUCO

Next Game: Waiting for possible JUCO championship berth

Louisburg leads its division of junior college football in sacks (70), interceptions (18), fumble recoveries (16) and defensive touchdowns (6). The ‘Canes are awaiting the final NJCAA Division III rankings, which will determine whether they will play for the NJCAA D3 national title. The top two teams advance. Louisburg is tied for the No. 2 spot.

3. Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (8-2) | D2

Next Game: Saturday vs. Anderson

The Bears will miss out on the chance to defend their SAC championship, but the D2 playoffs are still very much in play. Lenoir-Rhyne, listed fifth in the latest Super Region 2 rankings, needs to win its finale and hope the rest of the region shakes out in a favorable way. 

4. Duke Blue Devils (7-3) | FBS

Next Game: Saturday, Sept. 23 vs. Virginia Tech

The Blue Devils can flex as the undisputed Triangle champions with head-to-head wins over NC State and North Carolina. Duke will have a chance to sweep its last Big Four foe later this month at Wake Forest. Credit Manny Diaz for learning how to win with the pieces he inherited and others he brought in after the coaching change. Not always pretty on the stat sheets, but the scoreboard has been favorable.

5. Johnson C. Smith Golden Bulls (8-2) | D2

Next Game: ??? D2 Playoffs ???

The Bulls dropped their last two games and will miss out on the CIAA title game this weekend in Salem, Va. Like NCAA hoops teams on the bubble in March, JCSU will wait to see how the final weekend of D2 play turns out – and hope that its resume is enough to impress the selection committee.

6. North Carolina Central Eagles (6-3) | FCS

Next Game: Friday vs. Howard 

Howard derailed NC Central’s MEAC title hopes a year ago. The Eagles will welcome the chance for some get-back in front of a nationally televised audience Friday night on ESPNU. NCCU still lurks in this year’s MEAC race but needs South Carolina State to falter a couple times down the stretch. Stranger things have happened.

7. Winston-Salem State Rams (7-3) | D2

Next Game: Season Complete … Maybe…

Like Johnson C. Smith, Winston-Salem State will nervously sweat out the selection process. The Rams need a lot of things to break their way to get into the D2 playoff field. They are currently ranked 10th in Super Region 2 (reminder that seven teams will be selected from each region for the final bracket). But the resume is solid and as said above, stranger things have happened with playoff selections. Regardless, WSSU took some big steps forward this fall.

8. Mars Hill Lions (5-3) | D2

Next Game: Saturday at Limestone

The Lions’ only stumbles in regular season conference play came against the Mountain Division champion (Carson-Newman) by one point and the Piedmont Division runner-up (Lenoir-Rhyne) by a touchdown. Hurricane Helene canceled in September what would have been a marquee match-up between Mars Hill and Wingate that, alas, we here at NC Football News hoped to see in the SAC title game.

9. UNC Pembroke Braves (5-5) | D2

Next Game: Saturday at Concord

The Braves have scored 62, 79 and 58 points in their last three games – all comfortable wins. They scored 67 in mid-October, another blowout. Had coach Mark Hall’s team, which dealt with some injury issues early on, been able to harness this offensive firepower in September, we might very well be talking about the Braves in D2 playoff projections right now.

10. Shaw Bears (6-4) | D2

Next Game: Season Complete

There was a hole in the football schedule this past weekend, with the annual rivalry game between Shaw and St. Augustine’s absent (St. Aug’s did not field a football team this fall). The Bears still can celebrate finishing fifth in a very competitive CIAA and being a Fabulous 15 regular for the past few months. 

11. Brevard Tornados (5-3) | D3

Next Game: Saturday at Kentucky Christian

Like last season, the Tornados stayed in the hunt for the USA South championship into November. North Carolina Wesleyan scored an upset win this past weekend to knock them out of the hunt for the 2024 crown, but Brevard still will finish with a winning record and likely a number of all-conference awards.

12. Livingstone Blue Bears (6-4) | D2

Next Game: Season Complete

This might be the most underappreciated team in our state. While we focused a lot of our CIAA energies on Johnson C. Smith, Winston-Salem State and Shaw, the Blue Bears grinded their way to a winning season – including an upset of JCSU to finish things off and a pleasing win over rival Fayetteville State. Livingstone led the CIAA in interceptions (16) and fumble recoveries (9) and finished second in sacks (25). 

13. North Carolina Tar Heels (5-4) | FBS

Next Game: Saturday vs. Wake Forest

This might be the greasiest greased watermelon team in the state. We dared to get our hopes up with the 3-0 start, then wrote the Heels off completely after the debacle against James Madison. The losses continued to mount – four in a row – but then this group found another layer of fight and rose up again to beat Virginia and Florida State. While much more has been expected than delivered in Chapel Hill the past few seasons, it would be a tribute to resiliency to see UNC finish strong and collect a bowl berth after all it has been through.

14. East Carolina Pirates (5-4) | FBS

Next Game: Thursday at Tulsa

The Pirates also rank high on our slippery meter. Since Mike Houston was dismissed, though, ECY has won two games impressively, outscoring foes 105-48. Quarterback Katin Houser has looked like a superstar, throwing for 612 yards and 10 touchdowns, against one interception. Granted the level of competition hasn’t been that great the past few weeks, but the explosive outputs have been salve for the beleaguered program.

15. Davidson Wildcats (6-4) | FCS

Next Game: Saturday, Nov. 23 at Valparaiso

The ‘Cats have been one of those roller coaster teams, some weeks churning out other-worldly rushing numbers and other times struggling to get out of neutral. Saturday’s triumph over Morehead State ended a two-game skid and assured the program of its seventh consecutive winning season – a remarkable feat.

Dropping Out: NC State Wolfpack (5-5), Western Carolina Catamounts (5-5), Fayetteville State (4-5), Wake Forest (4-5). FSU and Wake are disqualified based on not having a win-loss record of .500 or better. The Pack and Catamounts still have chances to battle their way back in. 

How Last Week’s Fabulous 15 Fared In Week 11