Goal-line stand at Clemson propelled NC State to 1979 ACC title

On a warm day in late October at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium, the Tigers were all the way down on the NC State 2-yard line with less than two minutes to play. All 61,722 spectators at the game knew the outcome would likely decide the conference title. Both teams had three games remaining, but only one league contest each.

It was a defensive struggle throughout the game — as was expected since the Tigers’ entered the game ranked third in the nation, allowing just seven points a game. The Wolfpack’s defense, however, made the biggest impact, with an interception by Donnie LeGrande on Clemson’s fifth offensive play of the game and a Ricky Etheridge fumble recovery two offensive plays later.

The Wolfpack managed to turn that good fortune into a pair of Nathan Ritter field goals.

The Pack scored on a 5-yard pass from Scott Smith to Mike Quick to end a 17-play, seven-minute drive that took up most of the second quarter and give the Pack a 13-3 halftime lead.

Clemson kicker Obed Ariri hit his second 38-yard field goal of the game in the third quarter, and Chuck McSwain scored the Tigers’ only touchdown of the day just before the start of the fourth quarter to tie the score at 13.

With 9:08 remaining in the game, Wolfpack returner Woodrow “The President” Wilson ran back a Clemson punt 53 yards to the 20-yard line. The offense yet again couldn’t move the ball, but Ritter, the smallest player on either team, came back on the field to kick a 25-yard field goal and give the Pack a 16-13 lead.

“This is the busiest game I’ve had all season,” said Ritter, who had gone more than three games without kicking a field goal before the Clemson contest. “I didn’t feel rusty.”

Clemson had plenty of time to answer, though. Tiger quarterback Billy Lott broke free on a 38-yard run down to the NC State 4-yard line.

That set the stage for the one of the most famous goal-line stands in Wolfpack history.

On four consecutive plays, first-year coach Danny Ford instructed Lott to hand the ball off to senior tailback Tracy Terry, a native of Roxboro, North Carolina, who particularly wanted to knock the Wolfpack out of ACC title contention.

On the first play, Wolfpack linebacker David Shelton stopped Terry at the 2-yard line. On the next two plays, fearsome defensive tackle Bubba Green stopped Terry trying to sneak around the right side.

Clemson called timeout while Ford pondered whether he wanted to give Ariri a chance to tie the game with a short field goal or if he wanted to make a big statement and go for the win.

In front of a small knot of NC State fans, the Tigers decided to try for the kill.

Wolfpack defensive line coach Bobby Morrison thought the Tigers would throw on the final play. Linebackers coach Chuck Amato expected another run up the middle. Amato was right.

Terry was met one more time at the goal line and knock backwards by Green, who was credited with holding that Tiger on three consecutive goal-line plays.

The play was close enough that the Clemson cheerleaders, as was the tradition, set off a cannon that was fixed on the sidelines to celebrate the score. However, the officials never signaled for a touchdown.

“We expected just what they did, and we were prepared for it,” Amato said. “We were expecting the tailback to run at us, and we stopped him.”

The Wolfpack ran a little time off the clock, but punter John Isley boomed a 53-yard punt from deep in his end zone to give the Tigers one more chance. They quickly drove down to the 20-yard line, but when Lott tried to throw a pass to receiver Joey Smith, Wolfpack safety Mike Nall stepped in front of him for an interception with 53 seconds to play.

The Wolfpack and its small cadre of fans erupted in celebration over a win that all but certainly clinched the seventh ACC title in school history, more than any other team at the time.

There was massive disappointment in the Clemson locker room and a little whining over the goal line stand.

Terry and Lott were certain the tailback crossed the goal line.

“Maybe I let up a little, I don’t know,” Terry said. “I heard the cannon go off and I thought I had scored. Maybe I let up a little when they fired it — I just don’t know.”

Lott said: “It was a touchdown as far as I’m concerned. Tracy’s forward progress went into the end zone and then the defender pushed him back out. I went over to the ref and told him that, but he wouldn’t call it. There was no way he could tell what happened from his angle. None of the officials would call it.”

Clemson rebounded with wins over Notre Dame, Wake Forest and North Carolina before losing its season finale to South Carolina.

NC State followed with a loss to South Carolina and future Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers in Columbia, then suffered the most disappointing loss in school history, a 9-7 setback against Penn State at Carter-Finley Stadium that was decided when Herb Menhardt’s field goal bounced off, then through, the uprights.

The Pack did clinch the ACC title in the final week of the season, with a relatively easy 28-7 victory over Duke.

However, despite winning the league championship, the Wolfpack did not receive an invitation to the Gator Bowl, the top postseason game with a league tie-in. It went instead to North Carolina, which was 7-3-1 overall, but fifth in the ACC with a 3-3 conference record.

The Tigers, which finished second to the Pack, were invited to the Peach Bowl, where they lost to Baylor.

The Wolfpack was invited to play in the Garden State Bowl, a startup postseason game in New Jersey that coincided with NC State’s exam schedule.

The team chose to stay home. It is the sixth time among NC State football’s eight conference championship seasons that the Wolfpack did not play in a postseason game afterwards.

Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu.