(Note: For the purposes of this story, we stipulate that every decade on the calendar ends, not begins, with the numeral zero. There was no year 0000. Besides, would you rather 2020 be the end of an era or the start of one?)

Eras often end with a bang, and that has especially been true for the NC State-North Carolina football rivalry that dates back to the 19thcentury, when the state’s first university dominated the agricultural school in the state capital for exactly 25 years.

North Carolina held a 9-0-4 advantage during that time, which included some 17 seasons that the two teams did not play because — in what should be a surprise to no one — the two schools were arguing.

Saturday’s game noon game in Chapel Hill, however, will mark the 100thanniversary of NC State’s first victory in the series, an amazing 13-3 win thanks to the smallest farmer on the field on Oct. 21, 1920.

Since then, there have been some remarkable outcomes, from Russell Wilson’s famed 2-yard “Hail Mary” in 2010 to Philip Rivers’ touchdown catch in 2000 to Damon Hartman’s record-breaking 56-yard field goal with no time remaining in 1990.

Carolina has had its share of important wins during that time as well, none bigger than a 28-8 win at Kenan Stadium in 1980 against the defending ACC-champion Wolfpack that played a big role in the Tar Heels winning their most recent league championship.

So, while Saturday’s contest might be just the second time in series history that both team are simultaneously in the national polls, these 10 games are excellent examples of why rivalries are about more than just rankings.

Nearly 8,000 spectators — “all available space on the field was crowded by sweltering humanity“ in the 6,610 seats of Riddick Field — showed up for this Thursday afternoon contest in the lopsided series.

Coach Bill Fetzer’s Farmers, one year before they became the Wolfpack, were in the midst of a post-war revival, in which the team won its final four games of 1919 and its first two games of 1920. Shutout losses at Georgetown (27-0) and Penn State (41-0) didn’t dampen the spirits of the game against the Tar Heels, which was promoted as “The Football Classic of the South.”

As it almost always did, Carolina grabbed an early lead, thanks to a 32-yard dropkick field goal at the end of the first quarter.

Neither team scored in the second quarter, but on its first possession of the second half, State received a great boost when tiny quarterback J.T. “Runt” Faucette of Raleigh — all 5-foot-6, 155 pounds of him — rambled around the left end for a 45-yard gain to the Carolina 3-yard-line. W.I. Johnson scored on the next play to give the Farmers a rare 6-3 lead.

“Faucette handled the team like Marshal Foch handled the French army in the Battle of the Marne,” wrote the Agromeck.

The State defense held strong for the rest of the game. Carolina did not get a first down in the fourth quarter and Faucette, with another big play, returned an interception 55 yards to the UNC 15-yard-line. NC State scored shortly thereafter and added an extra point kick.

For Faucette, it was sweet redemption. The previous year, the first time the two teams met in 14 years, Carolina blocked a Faucette punt and ran it back for a touchdown for the deciding scoring in a 13-12 victory. In 1921, Faucette scored the lone touchdown in a 7-0 Wolfpack victory in Raleigh.

“Carolina had boasted and bragged of what she would do,” wrote an editorialist for Technician, NC State’s newly created student newspaper. “She had the chance to do something. Why didn’t she do it? The answer is simple – because she faced a team that was her superior. She faced a team that did not know how to lose.

“What did her boasting avail her? Nothing. Flukes do not always happen as they did in 1919. Defeat for her was inevitable. Her chance for the State championship is gone, while NC State has only [one] more game between her and the coveted title.”

State finished the season with seven wins for the second year in a row, and Carolina lured Fetzer away to serve as co-head coach of the Tar Heels with his brother Bob. Bill Fetzer eventually became the longest serving athletics director in UNC history.

NC State had six head coaches over the next 20 years and the only one to beat UNC was dual basketball-football head coach Gus Tebell, who led the Wolfpack to a 19-6 victory at Riddick Stadium in 1927. The win broke a string of four consecutive shutouts by the Tar Heels.

Fetzer is one of three head coaches that switched from one school to the other. In 1904, Willis Kienholz left NC State after one season and then ended up at UNC in 1906. In 1908, Eddie Greene left UNC after one season to take over at NC State, where he coached for five years and led the Farmers to a pair of SIAA championships.

Decades later, Mike O’Cain went from NC State’s head coach to UNC’s offensive coordinator.

The game was part of what was perhaps the weirdest season in NC State football history, in which Iowa high school coach John Van Liew was hired to coach the Wolfpack sight unseen on the recommendation of Notre Dame head coach Knute Rockne.

Unfortunately, Van Liew fell off a horse the summer before he arrived in Raleigh, suffering a severe head injury. He was prone to forgetfulness thereafter and wandered away from the sidelines in the middle of a game against Mississippi State. He was found sitting on the banks of a stream that runs through NC State’s campus.

Perhaps Van Liew’s biggest problem was his offensive scheme, in which the quarterback lined up butt-to-butt with the center, facing away from the defense, and pitched the ball to one of two halfbacks after receiving the blind snap.

Fired after the Mississippi State game, one of only two victories State had that season, Van Liew was replaced by R.R. “Doc” Sermon, who became the first among five consecutive coaches (Clipper Smith, Hunk Anderson and Williams “Doc” Newton) who did not beat the Tar Heels during his coaching tenure. Sermon’s first game as interim coach was a 2-0 loss to Presbyterian.

The State-Carolina game was moved from Saturday to Friday, so it wouldn’t conflict with the Duke-Kentucky game in Durham. Classes were canceled at noon at both schools and a special train was reserved to take State students and faculty to Chapel Hill.

Heavily favored, Carolina took a 13-0 lead, but State had an interception return for a touchdown and opened its offense to generate two big plays that took them deep inside UNC territory. However, the Wolfpack was unable to convert for scores.

For the 12th consecutive year, NC State was unable to defeat the Tar Heels, despite taking an early 7-0 lead in the second quarter and a 13-7 advantage in the third.

The play of the game happened as the clock was winding down, when the Wolfpack was backed up to its own 1-yard line. It lined up to punt the ball away, but the center snap did not go to the punter. Instead, the ball was hiked to back Pat Fehley, who then lateraled the ball in the end zone to the punter. He ran 30 yards forwards, then pitched the ball back to a trailing Fehley, who took off unobstructed down the sidelines.

“As he crossed midfield the stands were in pandemonium,” reported the Agromeck.

Alas, UNC’s Jim Lalanne caught a tiring Fehley from behind and tackled him at the 16-yard-line. State advanced to the 7, but came up short on fourth down, and Tar Heels held on for yet another win.

Thanks to the punt-blocking heroics of Woody Jones, the Wolfpack finally broke its losing streak to the Tar Heels in 1941 and again in ’42. UNC then cancelled the series for the remainder of World War II, plus another two years.

Both teams entered this season-opening contest with high expectations, and high energy. It seems the students at both schools decided to paint each other’s bell towers in opposing colors.

“Some spirited souls had too much energy stored up to remember that friendly rivalry does not mean vandalism,” scolded The Daily Tar Heel.

Carolina, ranked No. 20 in the preseason poll, was looking to replace All-America tailback Charlie “Choo-Choo” Justice, while the Wolfpack was expecting a big season from backs Alex “Big Red” Webster, Ed “Scooter” Mooney and Ted Potts, with ample input from new backfield coach Darrell Royal, the former Oklahoma All-American.

Running behind All-America tackle Elmer Costa, the State backs were the focus of the Wolfpack offense. Not much was expected from a newcomer at offensive end, senior Norman Sloan, previously of the NC State basketball team.

North Carolina scored early on a 73-yard touchdown run, but the Wolfpack answered in the third quarter when Mooney threw a touchdown pass to Webster, one of the amazingly high total of 14 passes in Royal’s offensive scheme.

The Tar Heels put together their only sustained drive of the game, scoring the go-ahead touchdown on the second play of the fourth quarter.

Late in the game, State had the opportunity for the win, but it went to the Royal’s passing offense once too often. After advancing to the UNC 25, Mooney tried to throw another touchdown pass to Webster but the ball was tipped and intercepted by the Tar Heels at the 10 to preserve the win.

Four weeks later, the Wolfpack scored one of the biggest pre-ACC victories in school history when it beat defending national champion Maryland and head coach Jim Tatum, 16-13, in the first televised game in NC State history.

Tatum later became head coach at UNC, his alma mater, with huge plans to return the Tar Heels to their Choo-Choo Justice-era glory. However, Tatum lost all three of his games against the Wolfpack and tragically died of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever after only three seasons with the Heels.

Disaster struck early on in NC State’s annual meeting with the Tar Heels when starting linebacker Tom Dellinger was injured in the game’s first quarter.

Dellinger, also the team’s backup quarterback, was the defensive leader on a squad that eventually finished second in the ACC standings, thanks to this early-season shutout.

Dellinger, the team’s co-captain, was an inspirational leader who rarely came off the field when the other team had the ball, and his backup was inexperienced at the position, even though he was a gifted multi-sport athlete and the biggest player on the NC State roster.

The Wolfpack scored in the second quarter on a 21-yard field goal by Jake Shaffer, but otherwise the offense stalled against the defense of second-year UNC head coach Jim Hickey. That lead, however, didn’t seem to be quite enough to hold on for the Pack’s fourth win against the Heels in five seasons.

And wouldn’t you just know it? The Tar Heels got the ball late in the game and drove it down the field, picking on the substitute linebacker whenever they could. He had the last laugh of course.

First, midway through the fourth quarter, the linebacker hit Carolina’s quarterback at the goal line so hard, the ball flew out of his hands, over the goal line and into the waiting arms of Wolfpack All-America defender Claude “Hoot” Gibson.

The Tar Heels got the ball back quickly, however, and were driving for what would surely be a late game-winning touchdown. With just 1:20 remaining on the clock, Carolina dropped back to pass on third-and-goal at the NC State 5-yard-line. The reserve defender again stepped in to make a big play, intercepting the pass to preserve the victory.

The cheers went up for the few NC State faithful who made it to Kenan Stadium that day to root for the Pack. And the loudest were for the little-used linebacker who saved the day in the only 3-0 victory for either team in the 109-game history of the rivalry.

Oh, the reserve linebacker’s name? Roman Gabriel. The junior from Wilmington also played quarterback.

NC State went to Chapel Hill looking for its fourth consecutive win against the Tar Heels, which would have been its longest ever streak at that point in the series. North Carolina was the preseason pick to win the ACC and needed a good start in its league opener for that to come true.

The Wolfpack suffered a demoralizing loss to open the season, a 21-6 setback at Richmond, so things were not going well for longtime Wolfpack coach Earle Edwards, who had not lost to Tar Heel coach Bill Dooley in their first three meetings.

All-America senior running back Don McCauley was too much for the Wolfpack defense, rushing for 171 yards in the regionally televised contest. That was a big deal for a team that hadn’t been on television since 1964.

The Tar Heel offense was overwhelming, outgaining NC State 411 to 11 in rushing yardage. State finished the game with just 122 yards in total offense.

The game, and the tie and five losses that followed, hastened the end of Edwards’ tenure as head coach. He retired the following summer with a still-standing school record of 77 victories in 17 seasons, including nine wins over the Tar Heels, more than any coach in NC State history.

The defending ACC-champion Wolfpack gave up scores on a fake punt, a fumble and an interception, and the Tar Heels won in dominating fashion en route to their most recent ACC championship.

The Tar Heels entered the contest ranked No. 8 in the country and looking to go to 6-0 for the first time since 1948. The Wolfpack was 3-2, with losses to Wake Forest and South Carolina under first-year coach Monte Kiffin.

The game went awry early in the second quarter when Tar Heel punter Steve Streater decided on his own to take off on a fourth-down play on the Wolfpack 37 and raced to the end zone untouched. Two plays later, linebacker Lawrence Taylor’s bone-crunching tackle knocked the ball out of quarterback Tol Avery’s hands, and UNC tackle Donnell Thompson recovered it inside the red zone, to the delight of the sellout crowd and giving notice to the representatives of the Peach, Liberty, Sugar and Orange bowls scouting the contest.

Early in the second half, UNC’s Calvin Daniels intercepted Avery and returned it inside the Wolfpack 20-yard-line to set up its third score of the day. The Wolfpack eventually averted the rivalry’s first shutout in a decade when reserve quarterback Ron Laraway scored on a keeper with five minutes to play.

In a game filled with field goals, the longest was the most important.

With a single second remaining on the clock, NC State senior placekicker Damon Hartman trotted onto the field for his fifth attempt of the day, in the hopes of breaking a 9-9 tie.

He and North Carolina kicker Clint Gwaltney had matched each other make-for-make and miss-for-miss, in what was an epic defensive battle between the two old rivals.

Neither team gained more than 250 yards in total offense. Carolina’s defensive created four turnovers, State’s two.

At the half, State led 9-3 on Hartman kicks of 45, 40 and 44 yards, the last coming with 11 seconds remaining before intermission.

State was driving to increase its lead midway through the fourth quarter, but fumbled the ball away to set up Gwaltney’s second score of the day, a 41-yarder. Then the Pack’s Joe Johnson intercepted a pass and took it back to the UNC 29-yard line. However, Hartman’s second 44-yard attempt of the day was wide to the left.

Carolina got the ball with 4:06 remaining and put together its longest drive of the day, advancing to the 5-yard line before NC State’s defense dug in on three straight plays. Gwaltney tied the game on a 21-yard field goal with 1:06 to play.

That gave NC State quarterback Charles Davenport just enough time to put together a drive, even though he had only one timeout to use. A defensive pass interference penalty started the possession with a bang, and Davenport completed four consecutive passes to get the Wolfpack to the UNC 38.

Head coach Dick Sheridan called timeout with one second remaining and sent in Hartman — who had kicked a school-record 54-yarder two years before in Kenan in a 48-3 win over the Tar Heels — for the longest kick of his career.

The low-lining kick barely made it over the line of scrimmage but sailed over the east end zone crossbar without incident in what turned out to be the third win in a stretch of five straight Wolfpack victories in the rivalry.

And they danced.

Right there on the logo in the middle of the field at Kenan Stadium, dozens of NC State players, along with parents and fans who pock-marked the light blue crowd, celebrated with rookie head coach Chuck Amato after ending a streak of seven straight losses to the Tar Heels.

Amato dug deep into offensive coordinator Norm Chow’s playbook of trickery and fun to deliver a thorough beating in what he considered the most important game on the schedule.

“I have a class ring that says North Carolina State on it,” said the two-time graduate of the school. “I know what this rivalry is all about.”

Forty years after future NFL quarterback Roman Gabriel played linebacker against the Heels, freshman Philip Rivers was a receiver, catching a 19-yard pass from wideout Bryan Peterson on a double reverse to score the game’s first touchdown. The star-in-the-making later threw a scoring pass to Peterson, making the two the first Wolfpack players to team up for touchdown passes and receptions in the same game.

Rivers wasn’t the game’s only star. Reserve running back Cotra Jackson, who had gained only two yards on three carries in the Wolfpack’s first four games, replaced injured Ray Robinson in the fourth quarter and chewed up the Kenan turf before the rest of the team did so, running for 94 yards and two touchdowns in the game’s final period. His scores were more than enough to secure the win, with the Tar Heels managing just a field goal in the second half.

The only time the Ronald Curry-led offense threatened after halftime, defensive lineman Shane Riggs sacked the Tar Heel QB on a passing play and knocked the ball out of his hands. It was recovered on the 15-yard-line by linebacker Dantonio “Thunder Dan” Burnette, now NC State football’s director of strength and conditioning.

It was a huge day of celebration for the Wolfpack, one the Tar Heels pointed to the next season when they beat Amato’s second squad 17-9 at Carter-Finley Stadium.

As “Hail Marys” go, this one did not set any distance records.

But the rambling, scrambling play by quarterback Russell Wilson on a 2-yard pass on fourth-and-goal to Owen Spencer is still among the most talked-about plays of the Super Bowl-winning quarterback’s career with the Wolfpack — and a flaming red sore spot for Tar Heel fans.

North Carolina had built a 19-10 lead in the first three quarters, but mostly settled for field goals instead of scoring touchdowns. Wilson kept his team in the game, and midway through the third period he added to his legend.

First, on third-and-18 near midfield, he scrambled away from the Tar Heel rush, circled back around the pocket and cut down the sideline for 34 yards. A late-hit penalty on UNC put the ball on the 4-yard line, but the offense was unable to cross the plane on its first three plays of the possession.

Deciding to cut the lead to two instead of five, head coach Tom O’Brien put the ball in Wilson’s hands to see what would happen.

Wilson dropped back and scrambled backwards on three separate occasions too avoid pressure, escaping the grasp of Donte Paige-Moss. He finally threw the ball into a mass of players in the right rear corner of the Kenan Stadium end zone.

North Carolina's Da'Norris Searcy tipped the ball, and State’s Darrell Davis, falling out of bounds, batted it backwards, into Spencer’s waiting arms for an unlikely touchdown.

“I rolled out, and there was nothing there,” Wilson said. “I tried to fake them out with a spin move, to try to get free. Then I realized it was fourth-and-two, so we had to get something. I was pretty sure I was throwing to Jarvis [Williams]. I saw a couple of big guys back there. I knew there were three of them back there.

“It was crazy.”

An official replay confirmed the result of the play, even as a player from each team was ejected for an altercation after the score.

“It was a prayer, and it was answered,” O’Brien said.

That play, however, only closed the gap. State needed another big play to take the lead, and junior sprinter T.J. Graham took a Tar Heel punt at the 13-yard-line and raced 87 yards for the go-ahead touchdown midway through the fourth period. It was the longest punt return for any opponent against North Carolina.

A field goal with 5:21 remaining extended State’s lead to 27-19, but the Pack needed its defense to provide the final big plays in the emotional game. First, it batted down a Tar Heel pass on a two-point conversion that would have tied the game with two minutes to play and then sacked quarterback T.J. Yates in the end zone with 27 seconds remaining for a safety that provided a bigger-than-needed four-point margin.

“This is the greatest highlight of my career so far,” said linebacker Nate Irving, who would later play in a Super Bowl against Wilson.

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

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