Duke-UNC could be battle of ranked teams on Nov. 7

While North Carolina and Duke are focused on their own games and keeping pace in the Coastal Division race this week, there’s some potential history to keep an eye on for the Tar Heels and Blue Devils.

If UNC can topple No. 23 Pittsburgh on the road Thursday night and No. 22 Duke (6-1, 3-0 ACC) can handle Miami (4-4, 1-2 ACC) at home on Saturday night, there’s a real chance both teams will be ranked by the Associated Press for their Nov. 7 showdown in Chapel Hill.

A Duke-Carolina game with both sides ranked in the top 25, even the top 10, is a regular occurrence in basketball but it happens about as often as Halley’s Comet in football.

The last time both teams were ranked when they met on the football field was 1939. It has been 76 years since both the Tar Heels and Blue Devils entered their annual game ranked by the AP.

No. 13 Duke beat No. 7 UNC in Durham on Nov. 18, 1939. The rivals have played 76 times since then and it has yet to happen again.

The two sides came closest in 1994. UNC was ranked for 11 straight weeks and for 15 of the 16 weeks in the season.

The only week the Heels were not ranked? When they faced No. 24 Duke on Nov. 19, 1994. The Tar Heels edged Duke, 41-40 in Durham to improve to 8-3 and jump back into the rankings at No. 21 a day later.

It also almost happened in 1946. UNC was ranked No. 14. The Blue Devils were No. 20 (back then the AP ranked only 20 teams) on Nov. 11 but mysteriously fell out of the rankings after a 39-0 win over South Carolina. The Tar Heels beat Duke, 22-7 on Nov. 23 and finished the regular season at 8-1-1 and No. 9 in the country.

It is a season-opening loss to South Carolina that has kept the Tar Heels from cracking the top 25 this year.

UNC (6-1, 3-0 ACC) enters its Thursday night game at Pitt (6-1, 4-0 ACC) two spots out of the top 25. A win over the Panthers, who are firmly ahead of No. 24 UCLA and No. 25 Mississippi State, should put the Tar Heels back in the top 25 for the first time since the second week of the 2014 season.

To put the potential meeting of ranked teams in perspective, the AP poll goes back to 1936. UNC and Duke have played 80 times since then and have both been ranked at the time of their meeting only once or 1.25 percent of the time.

In basketball, the AP rankings go back to the 1948-49 season. The two sides have both been ranked 71 times in 174 meetings or 40.8 percent of the time.

Of the 71 games, 44 of them were when both teams were ranked in the top 10. In the year 1979 alone (spanning both the 1978-79 and 79-80 seasons) UNC and Duke met four times and all four times both teams were ranked in the top 10.

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Duke-UNC could be battle of ranked teams on Nov. 7."