UNC football cheers and traditions to know before game day

Anyone entering Kenan Stadium for a home game this fall will be met with the deafening roar of students, alumni and fans.

Much of this noise could be attributed to fan reactions from UNC football's latest touchdown, but every so often, organized chants emerge from the crowd.

These chants have a history in college fanfare — even beyond UNC — and have become a large part of UNC football tradition.

“The more the fans interact, the better,” Luke Boyle, a member of UNC's marching band, the Marching Tar Heels, said. “I think it brings more energy to the stadium, it brings more excitement to the teams and it kind of pushes them along.”

The Marching Tar Heels start and maintain a variety of chants throughout the game. These include chants in which students repeatedly spell out U-N-C and C-A-R-O-L-I-N-A with their arms. 

Band members lead the song "Go, Fight, Win," and perform “2, 3, 4,"  a coordinated chant in which band members alternate in back-and-forth movements.

Perhaps the simplest UNC chant begins in the student section — the "Tar Pit" — with students shouting "TAR" and the rest of the stadium responding with "HEEL."

Other chants started by UNC cheerleaders are variations on the phrases, “Let’s go, Tar Heels” and “Here we go, Tar Heels.” 

Most of these are common cheers that originated outside college sports, but have since been adapted to different schools.

Some traditions are cued by different stages of the game. Students are told to remain completely silent while UNC is on offense, but to make as much noise as possible while on defense, Lydia Waddell, Carolina Fever co-chair, said. 

When the opposing team gets to a third down, the band steadily increases its pitch, and students raise their arms higher and higher until the band reaches its final high note.

A fan-favorite tradition comes in the fourth quarter, heralded by a mash-up of “Hells Bells” by AC/DC and “Can’t Be Touched” by Roy Jones Jr. 

A video compilation of UNC Football’s best moments plays as fans hold up four fingers and swing their arms forward in a fanning motion.

“I just love it," Waddell said of the fourth quarter tradition. "Everything about it. It just gives me chills.”

Throughout the game, attendees may also hear the familiar sound of “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond. The song was released in 1969, but it got its start in sports fanfare in 1997 when it was played at a Boston Red Sox game. It has been played across sports, schools and countries ever since.

A UNC win prompts the Marching Tar Heels to play “Carolina Victory,” which was written by Robert McManeus, class of 1938. 

After every game, win or lose, the band plays the University’s alma mater, “Hark the Sound,” as well as the fight song, “I’m a Tar Heel Born.” Both songs emerged in the early 1900s as a response to the University becoming more involved in intercollegiate sports. 

Written by William Starr Myers, “Hark the Sound" was first performed in 1897, and the fight song was reportedly first sung at a baseball game in 1903. Despite this, one is rarely played without the other.

At the end of games, it's common to hear “Carolina in My Mind” by James Taylor, which was released in 1968 as Taylor’s ode to Chapel Hill, where he grew up. It has since become an unofficial anthem of the University and the state. 

UNC's unique collection of chants and cheers has contributed to a rich game day tradition, whether they originated within the University or far outside.

“It's really about unity and knowing that we're all in this together,” Vanessa Walcott, a sophomore orientation leader, said. 

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