A deadly epidemic, an economic meltdown and overall athletics uncertainty caused NC State and Mississippi State to cancel one of the few regular-season games ever scheduled between the regional rivals.
This year’s anticipated out-of-conference game on Sept. 12 at Carter-Finley Stadium, which is officially kaput after the ACC released new schedules for all teams?
Nope.
All of those things were factors in deciding to cancel a Dec. 7, 1929, game between NC State College and Mississippi A&M in Starkville, Mississippi.
Both teams were having horrible seasons. The Wolfpack of NC State was just 1-6, its lone win coming against long-time rival Wake Forest, 8-6, at Riddick Field. The Wolfpack had already played a snow-covered game in Philadelphia, and what turned out to be the season-finale against South Carolina at Riddick Stadium drew just 2,000 spectators on an afternoon when the temperature reached only 18 degrees. The Gamecocks won 20-6.
The Bulldogs of A&M, as Mississippi State was then known, were certainly nothing to clang a cowbell about, either, owning a 1-5-2 record, with a win over Mississippi College and ties against Millsaps College and Ole Miss.
“Both of these schools have had a disastrous season and both schools think that if the game were played it would be a poor drawing card, and being late in the season, and the last game for both institutions, it is thought it would be a losing proposition,” reported Technician, NC State’s student newspaper, in its Nov. 22 edition.
Economic factors, of course came into play. Both teams played through the historic stock market crash of October and November. However, as the nation began to realize the severity of the economic disaster that led to the Great Depression, the schools had little reason to move forward with the final contest, since neither of the league was in the running for the 23-team Southern Conference championship.
And while it was nowhere near the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, Southern states were dealing with a flu outbreak that closed classes in the early part of the year at NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest and Duke, then lingered into the next fall.
No one seemed too upset about the loss of the regional contest, even though it might have lifted one of the two teams out of the winless column in league play. At least not nearly as much as losing out on a chance to leave the state.
“Of course, it’s a nice trip, and it being the last game, the boys could have a good time afterwards,” said team captain John Lepo. “But we have had a hard schedule this year and have been worked mighty hard with green material trying to have a winning team, so we had rather not play the game.”
The schools agreed to move around future schedules, moving the game in Starkville to 1931 and playing in Raleigh in 1930. NC State won both contests, 14-0 and 6-0, the only two games they faced each other as conference rivals.
They met again in 1940, after Mississippi State had moved to the Southeastern Conference. They have also played each other three times in bowl games, with the Wolfpack winning the 1993 Peach Bowl in Atlanta and Mississippi State winning the 1963 Liberty Bowl in Philadelphia and the 2015 Belk Bowl in Charlotte.
Mississippi State now joins North Carolina as the only team that has canceled multiple regular-season games against the Wolfpack. The Tar Heels opted out of games in 1905-18, 1944-46 and 1952.
Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu.
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