SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Because they always win. Consider the history:
1972: Unfortunately there are gaps in the Post Standard Archive and they don’t have the Sunday Herald American for the day after the 1972 and 1974 games but I have scraped together some details from other editions of the paper and other sources plus my memories for these first two summaries. North Carolina State had not been a very successful program in their history up to this point. Their most famous coach was Earle Edwards, from 1954-1970 and he had a losing record: 77-88-8. They’d just hired 35 year old Lou Holtz from William and Mary but who the heck was he? He came from Ohio and had recruited a couple of skinny but talented kids from there: the Buckey twins: Dave 6-0 167 and Don 6-0 177. Dave became the Wolfpack’s all-time leading passer at his graduation and Don their all-time leading receiver. 1972 was the first year freshmen were eligible: they’d debuted the previous week in a 24-24 tie with Maryland. Against Syracuse they played pitch and catch the whole afternoon. I don’t have all their individual numbers but the Pack outgained us on this day, 308-452. They out-rushed us 145-232 and out-passed us 163-220 and out-scored us 20-43. Dave Buckey passed for one score, ran for another and set a third up with a 57 yard run. Don caught 4 passes for 112 yards and ran for 22 more. SU’s star tackle Joe Ehrmann was unable to do much to stop them, being double-teamed on every play and suffering leg cramps. SU went on to a deceiving 5-6 record, Ben Schwartzwalder’s first losing season since his first in 1949. They were outscored 141-229, including 7-31 losses to Wisconsin, 0-17 to Penn State, 0-37 to Boston College and 12-43 to West Virginia. It presaged the total collapse the next season, Schwartzwalder’s last. Final Score: NC STATE 43 SYRACUSE 20
1974: Two years later NC State was the established program and SU was trying to rebuild under Frank Maloney. Holtz had led them to consecutive 8-3-1 and 9-3 records and they were off to a 3-0 start in 1974, (and would finish 9-2-1). SU was coming off a 2-9 season and would have another in Maloney’s first year. The Pack had routed Wake Forest, Duke and Clemson, all by 2-3 touchdowns. Maloney had won his first game over Oregon State, 23-15 but then lost to Kent State 14-20, showing we still had a ways to go and then Michigan State 0-19. It shouldn’t have been a close game but it was.
SU was down only 14-21 in the fourth period when a 56 yard punt return by the Wolfpack’s Ralph Stringer set up a score to make it 14-28. SU drove deep into Pack territory but Ken Kinsey fumbled. But we got the ball back and Jim Donohue completed some passes to set up a 3 yard TD run by Kinsey. We went for two and made it but lost an on-sides kick in the final minute and the Pack ran the clock out. Frank Maloney complained after the game about the “miserable” attendance: “I know it takes time to build up fan support but we’ve had some exciting football out here at Archbold. I wish the people would try as hard to come out here and support us as we are to giving them a good football team. “ Final score: NC STATE 28 SYRACUSE 22.
1977: It seemed like an even match-up between a couple of bad teams. NC State was coming off a 3-7-1 season and had just broken a four game losing streak with a win over a Virginia team that would win only one game. Syracuse had been 3-8 and had lost 5 in a row. Frank Maloney had told people that the Oregon State team we had lost to in our opener was “the most improved team on the west coast”. The game turned out to be one of all-time routs as NC State rolled up 528 yards, 395 on the ground to 169 for SU, which never penetrated Wolfpack territory until the fourth quarter and then never got past the 46. Billy Ray Vickers ran for 180 yards on 16 carries (no scores) but the real star was Ted Brown who got 140 yards in only 10 carries and scored 3 times, including a 95 yarder in the fourth quarter that is still the longest run from scrimmage against SU in its history. I got a huge laugh by announcing after Brown’s run: “NC State is the most improved team on the east coast!” But I don’t go to the games for laughs. Final Score: NC STATE 38 SYRACUSE 0
1978 SU had rallied to a 6-5 record in 1977 thanks to quarterback Bill Hurley, running back turned receiver Art Monk and a new running back, Freshman Joe Morris. State had gone on to a 7-4 record and then beat Iowa State in the Peach Bowl. Hurley had been knocked out of the Florida State opener with bruised ribs after the Seminoles held him up and intentionally speared him to get him out of the game. He would miss the entire season but was on the sideline, helping to signal in plays to his replacement, Tim Wilson. The Orange were two touchdown underdogs and immediately got punched in the gut as State took a 0-10 first quarter lead. But we kept playing. Wilson, on his first collegiate pass, found Monk on a 59 yard scoring play to make it 7-10. Four David Jacobs field goals, (an SU record), actually got SU a lead in the third quarter, 19-17. State grabbed it back with a field goal but then turned the ball over. Wilson, who ran for 102 yards on 24 carries that day, got the team down to the Wolfpack 4 but then threw an ill-timed interception. State then marched 98 yards for the clinching score. Ted Brown had another big day with 198 yards but it took him 33 carries to get that much and he only scored one time. We were out-grained only 323-379. But Syracuse stumbled to a 3-8 record while State did the reverse and then beat Pitt in the Tangerine Bowl. But at least we’d given them a battle. Final Score: NC STATE 27 SYRACUSE 19
1997: In a generation, things had turned around. Syracuse had re-established itself as a respected national program. They’d had 10 straight winning seasons and had opened the 1997 season with a 34-0 demolition of highly-touted Wisconsin. There was talk of a run for the nation al title and a possible move to the Big Ten to make it the Big 12. Why not? We were strong in football and stronger in basketball, the two main sports. And we could renew acquaintances with old rival Penn State. Meanwhile NC State was coming off consecutive 3-8 seasons under Coach Mike O’Cain. I’d seen them in action the previous year when I was visiting my parents who had retired to North Carolina. I’d watched them on TV losing to Virginia 14-62 in a game that looked as if it could have been 0-100 if the Cavaliers had wanted it that way. SU was a 25 point favorite and I went to the game with the feeling that I could relax and watch the Orange roll it up on the Pack.
Donovan McNabb hit Quentin Spotswood for a 67 yard TD on the game’s first play and it seemed like we were taking candy from a baby. We could name the score. We scored again before the quarter was over to make it 14-0. But like SU in 1978, the Wolfpack kept playing. It was 17-10 at the half and 17-17 going into the fourth quarter. Then Spotswood caught a bouncing punt along the NC State sideline and ran 72 yards for the go-ahead score. But the Pack again tied it up. McNabb found Spotswood with a long pass at the Wolfpack 5. He lept between two defenders to bring it down. The game was in the final seconds and all SU needed was a field goal. But in trying to milk the clock and position for the field goal, we got close to the goal line and freshman running back Dee Brown decided to be a hero and stick the ball over the goal line. It got slapped away and recovered by the Wolfpack. Overtime was new and hundreds of SU fans made for the exits, thinking they’d seen a tie game. McNabb hit Roland Williams for the first score of OT and Nate Trout kicked the extra point. It was the thirteenth consecutive game in which Syracuse had scored 30 or more points. But it wasn’t enough. Tremaine Stephens went over from the one to make it 31-30. SU sent its extra point team in. But O’Cain kept the offense in, producing confusion on the SU sidelines. Paul Pasqualoni rushed to get his regular defense in or get a time out but he was too late “The Orange were in disarray, unprepared for a team that dared to be different” per Donnie Webb in the Post Standard. Jaime Barnette who threw for 279 yards and 3TDs in this game, found Torrey Holt open in the corner of the end zone and we’d lost the game. In a marvelous display of sportsmanship, “Holt came streaming down the sideline in front of the Orangemen wagging his finger and sticking out his tongue. Teammates followed. Some screamed at the Orangemen, who were too stunned to talk.” O’Cain wasn’t: “They’re playing a team ranked 75th and we’re 13th so this can’t be happening to us but for whatever reason they didn’t win.” Final Score: NC STATE 32 SYRACUSE 31
(And, yes that wasn’t the only bad thing that happened that day. The game was a noon game. I didn’t go home afterwards: I went to Carousel Mall, did some shipping and had some dinner, then went over to the brand new P&C Stadium to watch the Skychiefs finish their dismal first season in their new palace- they finished last- 55-87- despite having both Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter in their pitching rotation. They lost their last game 2-11 and I remember Steve Hyder and Ted Deluca commiserating with fans who had seen both games that day. I then went out to the parking lot to find I’d somehow left my lights on and my battery was dead. I eventually got home and flipped on the TV and found there had been an accident in Paris and Princess Diana had been killed. Years later I got a few laughs by suggesting on the board that Di and Dodie had crashed because they were listening to the Syracuse NC-State game on the car radio and couldn’t believe what they were hearing. But at the time I just decided to climb into bed. This day had to end.)
1998: Revenge time. SU was really on a roll. They’d lost to eventual national champion Tennessee 33-34 in the opener on a controversial call, then run defending national champion Michigan out of the Big House 38-28 in a game that was 38-7 going into the fourth quarter. Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr asked “How do you stop that offense?” Then they put up seven dimes on poor Rutgers in the Dome, 70-14. Now it was time to gain revenge on the Wolfpack. I’d just come back from visiting my parents and had done some braggin’ on the Orange. They had to be a super-motivated team. And the game was a Thursday Night game on national TV, a great time to make a statement. I had a strong feeling that this was our year, despite the opening loss. If you were going to lose, that’s the time to do it and that’s the margin and the opponent was a strong one. If we run the table and no more than one other team does, we could get both a national championship and a Heisman Trophy for McNabb.
The headline was “NC STATE WALLOPS SU ON NATIONAL TV” The game had started well, with SU driving swiftly downfield to score on their first possession. They looked just like they did vs. Michigan. We had the Pack stuck on 3rd and 20 but went into a “prevent” defense with a three man rush and Barnette found Holt over the middle for 41 yards. It started a demoralizing 10-38 run. SU seemed to be playing in a fog. McNabb was seen looking at the sidelines and shrugging his shoulders as if to ask “What can I do?” He had his first two interceptions of the season. Spotswood dropped a touchdown pass and caught another without staying in bounds. We were 1 for 11 on third down: they were 9 for 14, including the one against the “prevent defense”. We were out-gained 335-525. We wound up 8-3, also losing to West Virginia but winning a famous confrontation vs. Virginia Tech and overwhelming Miami 66-13 in a dream Dome finale. The season ended with another dismal performance against Florida in the orange Bowl. McNabb never even made it to New York for the Heisman ceremony. This game put me in such a dark mood for days afterward that I wondered if being a sports fan was really worth it. But I got over it, as you can see. Final Score: NC STATE 38 SYRACUSE 17
How can you optimistic with that history? Syracuse + NC State = loss. It’s as simple as that.
- This year? Oh, yeah. How good are we this year? We lost a close game to Penn State, which has been something of a disappointment. We got clobbered by the only two really good teams we have played, Northwestern and Clemson and clobbered two light-weights, Wagner and Tulane. My “winning plays” analysis for those games goes like this:
Penn State 78-110; Northwestern 92-113, Wagner 115-52, Tulane 107-75, Clemson 65-136. I think our performance has not so much varied as our opposition has and that we really haven’t been played a caliber of ball that will allow us to defeat the ACC teams we will now play, with the possible exception of Wake Forest and Boston College.
- NC State has been up and down as well. I have no “winning plays” analysis for them but they played Clemson much closer than we did (14-26 as opposed to 14-49). Their wins are against Louisiana Tech, Richmond and Central Michigan, (just as ours are against Wagner and Tulane) and they just lost to Wake Forest. But you always need to assume that your opponent will be at their best. We will have to be at our best, too. But I don’t know what that is. It had better be better than what we’ve seen so far.
- If you want to win a football game, you can’t have a weak secondary. Otherwise the opposition will just play pitch and catch all day. They’ll get a first down or even a touchdown every time they need one. Just like Penn state, Northwestern and Clemson did to us because we have a weak secondary.
- The NC State secondary is said to be as good as Clemson’s, which means we will again have no passing game in this one.
- Maybe the worst part of our loss to Clemson was our lack of focus. Three false starts by offensive linemen. Blown coverages on defense. And sending the punt return team in on third down. If we couldn’t concentrate on beating Clemson, in the Dome, how concentrated will our effort in Raleigh be. It may look a lot like the old days.
1972: Unfortunately there are gaps in the Post Standard Archive and they don’t have the Sunday Herald American for the day after the 1972 and 1974 games but I have scraped together some details from other editions of the paper and other sources plus my memories for these first two summaries. North Carolina State had not been a very successful program in their history up to this point. Their most famous coach was Earle Edwards, from 1954-1970 and he had a losing record: 77-88-8. They’d just hired 35 year old Lou Holtz from William and Mary but who the heck was he? He came from Ohio and had recruited a couple of skinny but talented kids from there: the Buckey twins: Dave 6-0 167 and Don 6-0 177. Dave became the Wolfpack’s all-time leading passer at his graduation and Don their all-time leading receiver. 1972 was the first year freshmen were eligible: they’d debuted the previous week in a 24-24 tie with Maryland. Against Syracuse they played pitch and catch the whole afternoon. I don’t have all their individual numbers but the Pack outgained us on this day, 308-452. They out-rushed us 145-232 and out-passed us 163-220 and out-scored us 20-43. Dave Buckey passed for one score, ran for another and set a third up with a 57 yard run. Don caught 4 passes for 112 yards and ran for 22 more. SU’s star tackle Joe Ehrmann was unable to do much to stop them, being double-teamed on every play and suffering leg cramps. SU went on to a deceiving 5-6 record, Ben Schwartzwalder’s first losing season since his first in 1949. They were outscored 141-229, including 7-31 losses to Wisconsin, 0-17 to Penn State, 0-37 to Boston College and 12-43 to West Virginia. It presaged the total collapse the next season, Schwartzwalder’s last. Final Score: NC STATE 43 SYRACUSE 20
1974: Two years later NC State was the established program and SU was trying to rebuild under Frank Maloney. Holtz had led them to consecutive 8-3-1 and 9-3 records and they were off to a 3-0 start in 1974, (and would finish 9-2-1). SU was coming off a 2-9 season and would have another in Maloney’s first year. The Pack had routed Wake Forest, Duke and Clemson, all by 2-3 touchdowns. Maloney had won his first game over Oregon State, 23-15 but then lost to Kent State 14-20, showing we still had a ways to go and then Michigan State 0-19. It shouldn’t have been a close game but it was.
SU was down only 14-21 in the fourth period when a 56 yard punt return by the Wolfpack’s Ralph Stringer set up a score to make it 14-28. SU drove deep into Pack territory but Ken Kinsey fumbled. But we got the ball back and Jim Donohue completed some passes to set up a 3 yard TD run by Kinsey. We went for two and made it but lost an on-sides kick in the final minute and the Pack ran the clock out. Frank Maloney complained after the game about the “miserable” attendance: “I know it takes time to build up fan support but we’ve had some exciting football out here at Archbold. I wish the people would try as hard to come out here and support us as we are to giving them a good football team. “ Final score: NC STATE 28 SYRACUSE 22.
1977: It seemed like an even match-up between a couple of bad teams. NC State was coming off a 3-7-1 season and had just broken a four game losing streak with a win over a Virginia team that would win only one game. Syracuse had been 3-8 and had lost 5 in a row. Frank Maloney had told people that the Oregon State team we had lost to in our opener was “the most improved team on the west coast”. The game turned out to be one of all-time routs as NC State rolled up 528 yards, 395 on the ground to 169 for SU, which never penetrated Wolfpack territory until the fourth quarter and then never got past the 46. Billy Ray Vickers ran for 180 yards on 16 carries (no scores) but the real star was Ted Brown who got 140 yards in only 10 carries and scored 3 times, including a 95 yarder in the fourth quarter that is still the longest run from scrimmage against SU in its history. I got a huge laugh by announcing after Brown’s run: “NC State is the most improved team on the east coast!” But I don’t go to the games for laughs. Final Score: NC STATE 38 SYRACUSE 0
1978 SU had rallied to a 6-5 record in 1977 thanks to quarterback Bill Hurley, running back turned receiver Art Monk and a new running back, Freshman Joe Morris. State had gone on to a 7-4 record and then beat Iowa State in the Peach Bowl. Hurley had been knocked out of the Florida State opener with bruised ribs after the Seminoles held him up and intentionally speared him to get him out of the game. He would miss the entire season but was on the sideline, helping to signal in plays to his replacement, Tim Wilson. The Orange were two touchdown underdogs and immediately got punched in the gut as State took a 0-10 first quarter lead. But we kept playing. Wilson, on his first collegiate pass, found Monk on a 59 yard scoring play to make it 7-10. Four David Jacobs field goals, (an SU record), actually got SU a lead in the third quarter, 19-17. State grabbed it back with a field goal but then turned the ball over. Wilson, who ran for 102 yards on 24 carries that day, got the team down to the Wolfpack 4 but then threw an ill-timed interception. State then marched 98 yards for the clinching score. Ted Brown had another big day with 198 yards but it took him 33 carries to get that much and he only scored one time. We were out-grained only 323-379. But Syracuse stumbled to a 3-8 record while State did the reverse and then beat Pitt in the Tangerine Bowl. But at least we’d given them a battle. Final Score: NC STATE 27 SYRACUSE 19
1997: In a generation, things had turned around. Syracuse had re-established itself as a respected national program. They’d had 10 straight winning seasons and had opened the 1997 season with a 34-0 demolition of highly-touted Wisconsin. There was talk of a run for the nation al title and a possible move to the Big Ten to make it the Big 12. Why not? We were strong in football and stronger in basketball, the two main sports. And we could renew acquaintances with old rival Penn State. Meanwhile NC State was coming off consecutive 3-8 seasons under Coach Mike O’Cain. I’d seen them in action the previous year when I was visiting my parents who had retired to North Carolina. I’d watched them on TV losing to Virginia 14-62 in a game that looked as if it could have been 0-100 if the Cavaliers had wanted it that way. SU was a 25 point favorite and I went to the game with the feeling that I could relax and watch the Orange roll it up on the Pack.
Donovan McNabb hit Quentin Spotswood for a 67 yard TD on the game’s first play and it seemed like we were taking candy from a baby. We could name the score. We scored again before the quarter was over to make it 14-0. But like SU in 1978, the Wolfpack kept playing. It was 17-10 at the half and 17-17 going into the fourth quarter. Then Spotswood caught a bouncing punt along the NC State sideline and ran 72 yards for the go-ahead score. But the Pack again tied it up. McNabb found Spotswood with a long pass at the Wolfpack 5. He lept between two defenders to bring it down. The game was in the final seconds and all SU needed was a field goal. But in trying to milk the clock and position for the field goal, we got close to the goal line and freshman running back Dee Brown decided to be a hero and stick the ball over the goal line. It got slapped away and recovered by the Wolfpack. Overtime was new and hundreds of SU fans made for the exits, thinking they’d seen a tie game. McNabb hit Roland Williams for the first score of OT and Nate Trout kicked the extra point. It was the thirteenth consecutive game in which Syracuse had scored 30 or more points. But it wasn’t enough. Tremaine Stephens went over from the one to make it 31-30. SU sent its extra point team in. But O’Cain kept the offense in, producing confusion on the SU sidelines. Paul Pasqualoni rushed to get his regular defense in or get a time out but he was too late “The Orange were in disarray, unprepared for a team that dared to be different” per Donnie Webb in the Post Standard. Jaime Barnette who threw for 279 yards and 3TDs in this game, found Torrey Holt open in the corner of the end zone and we’d lost the game. In a marvelous display of sportsmanship, “Holt came streaming down the sideline in front of the Orangemen wagging his finger and sticking out his tongue. Teammates followed. Some screamed at the Orangemen, who were too stunned to talk.” O’Cain wasn’t: “They’re playing a team ranked 75th and we’re 13th so this can’t be happening to us but for whatever reason they didn’t win.” Final Score: NC STATE 32 SYRACUSE 31
(And, yes that wasn’t the only bad thing that happened that day. The game was a noon game. I didn’t go home afterwards: I went to Carousel Mall, did some shipping and had some dinner, then went over to the brand new P&C Stadium to watch the Skychiefs finish their dismal first season in their new palace- they finished last- 55-87- despite having both Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter in their pitching rotation. They lost their last game 2-11 and I remember Steve Hyder and Ted Deluca commiserating with fans who had seen both games that day. I then went out to the parking lot to find I’d somehow left my lights on and my battery was dead. I eventually got home and flipped on the TV and found there had been an accident in Paris and Princess Diana had been killed. Years later I got a few laughs by suggesting on the board that Di and Dodie had crashed because they were listening to the Syracuse NC-State game on the car radio and couldn’t believe what they were hearing. But at the time I just decided to climb into bed. This day had to end.)
1998: Revenge time. SU was really on a roll. They’d lost to eventual national champion Tennessee 33-34 in the opener on a controversial call, then run defending national champion Michigan out of the Big House 38-28 in a game that was 38-7 going into the fourth quarter. Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr asked “How do you stop that offense?” Then they put up seven dimes on poor Rutgers in the Dome, 70-14. Now it was time to gain revenge on the Wolfpack. I’d just come back from visiting my parents and had done some braggin’ on the Orange. They had to be a super-motivated team. And the game was a Thursday Night game on national TV, a great time to make a statement. I had a strong feeling that this was our year, despite the opening loss. If you were going to lose, that’s the time to do it and that’s the margin and the opponent was a strong one. If we run the table and no more than one other team does, we could get both a national championship and a Heisman Trophy for McNabb.
The headline was “NC STATE WALLOPS SU ON NATIONAL TV” The game had started well, with SU driving swiftly downfield to score on their first possession. They looked just like they did vs. Michigan. We had the Pack stuck on 3rd and 20 but went into a “prevent” defense with a three man rush and Barnette found Holt over the middle for 41 yards. It started a demoralizing 10-38 run. SU seemed to be playing in a fog. McNabb was seen looking at the sidelines and shrugging his shoulders as if to ask “What can I do?” He had his first two interceptions of the season. Spotswood dropped a touchdown pass and caught another without staying in bounds. We were 1 for 11 on third down: they were 9 for 14, including the one against the “prevent defense”. We were out-gained 335-525. We wound up 8-3, also losing to West Virginia but winning a famous confrontation vs. Virginia Tech and overwhelming Miami 66-13 in a dream Dome finale. The season ended with another dismal performance against Florida in the orange Bowl. McNabb never even made it to New York for the Heisman ceremony. This game put me in such a dark mood for days afterward that I wondered if being a sports fan was really worth it. But I got over it, as you can see. Final Score: NC STATE 38 SYRACUSE 17
How can you optimistic with that history? Syracuse + NC State = loss. It’s as simple as that.
- This year? Oh, yeah. How good are we this year? We lost a close game to Penn State, which has been something of a disappointment. We got clobbered by the only two really good teams we have played, Northwestern and Clemson and clobbered two light-weights, Wagner and Tulane. My “winning plays” analysis for those games goes like this:
Penn State 78-110; Northwestern 92-113, Wagner 115-52, Tulane 107-75, Clemson 65-136. I think our performance has not so much varied as our opposition has and that we really haven’t been played a caliber of ball that will allow us to defeat the ACC teams we will now play, with the possible exception of Wake Forest and Boston College.
- NC State has been up and down as well. I have no “winning plays” analysis for them but they played Clemson much closer than we did (14-26 as opposed to 14-49). Their wins are against Louisiana Tech, Richmond and Central Michigan, (just as ours are against Wagner and Tulane) and they just lost to Wake Forest. But you always need to assume that your opponent will be at their best. We will have to be at our best, too. But I don’t know what that is. It had better be better than what we’ve seen so far.
- If you want to win a football game, you can’t have a weak secondary. Otherwise the opposition will just play pitch and catch all day. They’ll get a first down or even a touchdown every time they need one. Just like Penn state, Northwestern and Clemson did to us because we have a weak secondary.
- The NC State secondary is said to be as good as Clemson’s, which means we will again have no passing game in this one.
- Maybe the worst part of our loss to Clemson was our lack of focus. Three false starts by offensive linemen. Blown coverages on defense. And sending the punt return team in on third down. If we couldn’t concentrate on beating Clemson, in the Dome, how concentrated will our effort in Raleigh be. It may look a lot like the old days.
