7. North Carolina

When Quarterback Oscar Davenport was named MVP of the Gator Bowl in January, Chris Keldorf, the Tar Heels' regular signal-caller, was among the first to congratulate him. Never mind that Keldorf had led the Tar Heels to their regular-season record of 9-2 or that he had been the first Tar Heels quarterback in two decades to be named All-ACC. What mattered most to Keldorf, who sat out the 20-13 victory over West Virginia because of a fractured and dislocated left ankle suffered in the regular-season finale at Duke, was not that he'd had to miss the final game of his finest season but that his team had exceeded nearly everyone's expectations and won the Gator Bowl trophy.

As for that other trophy, the one earned by Davenport for his 14-for-26, 175-yard passing performance? "Oscar deserved it," Keldorf says without a trace of envy.

Nearly eight months later, after ankle rehab and surgery to remove a pair of ruptured discs in his back, Keldorf, 6'5", 227 pounds, has thrown aside the crutches and resumed his role as Carolina's starting quarterback. The words "Heisman hopeful" have even been bandied about in Chapel Hill. Not bad for a guy who enrolled at three schools (one of which tried to turn him into a tight end) before finding his niche in baby blue. Not bad for a guy who a year ago was one of the team's biggest question marks after he transferred from Palomar Junior College in San Marcos, Calif. "If the young guys in our areas of concern this year perform as well as Chris Keldorf did last year, we'll have another good football team," says Tar Heels coach Mack Brown.

But North Carolina is aiming for more than "good" this year. It's thinking national championship. The Tar Heels have 17 starters back, including nine from a defense ranked first in the country. Senior end Greg Ellis is one sack away from breaking the school record set by current Tampa Bay Buc Marcus Jones. Cornerback Dre' Bly, who snagged 13 interceptions (two in the Gator Bowl) last season, tops in the nation, has fans and teammates asking, Can he do it again? "I think so," Ellis says, "but I would hope quarterbacks would know enough not to throw his way."

The area of greatest concern for Brown is his offense. Although Keldorf is healthy, the backfield was decimated by the departures of tailbacks Maurice McGregor and Leon Johnson, the ACC's alltime leader in all-purpose yardage, and fullback Chris Watson. Seniors Mike Geter and Jonathan Linton will attempt to fill the void at tailback after rushing for a combined 295 yards on 79 carries in '96. Sophomore fullback Deon Dyer has carried the ball only four times, for 58 yards.

"Can we step up when we're behind in a football game?" Ellis wonders. "Can we bounce back?" Last year the Jar Heels couldn't. They disintegrated at Virginia, squandering a 14-point lead in the final 10 minutes. That loss, coupled with a 13-0 defeat at Florida State, knocked Carolina out of the running for a berth in one of the Alliance bowls. This year the Tar Heels play the Cavaliers and the Seminoles—as well as a dangerous Stanford team—at home and can expect to have record crowds behind them: The expansion of Kenan Stadium by 8,000 seats, to 60,000, is a testament to Carolina's continuing emergence as a football power.

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