The overwhelming story of this weekend’s featured game between old rivals NC State and Clemson at Carter-Finley Stadium is the Tigers’ eight-game winning streak and the total dominance they have enjoyed in recent years in this 120-year-old series.
The Tigers have won 15 of the last 16 games dating back to 2004, the first game in the rivalry without Philip Rivers, who beat Clemson in his junior and senior seasons.
There was a time, however, when the Wolfpack had a similar dominance. During the Golden Age of NC State athletics, names like signal caller Charlie Noggle, wide receiver Don Montgomery, defensive tackle Dennis Byrd, running back Willie Burden, quarterback Dave and wide receiver Don Buckey and ball carrier Ted Brown were the Wolfpack stars and ACC championships were a regular occurrence in Raleigh.
From 1963 to ’80, NC State won 11 of 16 games against the Tigers, a span that includes six of the Wolfpack’s seven conference titles.
Remarkably, it didn’t matter who the Wolfpack coaches were at that time. Earle Edwards began the run, winning three of four games from 1963-66. (The only loss in that stretch came in 1965, when Clemson beat NC State 21-7 in Death Valley and both teams were in the middle of the ACC final standings until the league office made South Carolina forfeit its wins over the Wolfpack and Tigers for using ineligible players and declared State and Clemson co-champions.)
From 1971-76, three different Pack coaches combined to record six consecutive wins over the Tigers: interim Al Michaels, Lou Holtz and Bo Rein. Holtz was undefeated against Clemson coaches Cecil Ingram and Red Parker during his four years with the Wolfpack, with an average winning margin of 26.8 points (147-40).
In some ways, those were the dark days of Tiger football, with the program trying to transition from their success under old-style coach Frank Howard into the modern era. The rivalry changed with the arrival of Danny Ford in 1979.
He lost his inaugural game that year to the Pack, when the Wolfpack defense famously stopped Clemson on a goal-line stand that helped the Wolfpack win its most recent ACC title.
Ford, however, dominated during the final two years of Monte Kiffin and the three-year reign of Tom Reed, putting together a five-game winning streak against the Pack.
Dick Sheridan, a University of South Carolina graduate, was successful against Clemson and is the last NC State coach to have a winning record against the Tigers (4-3).
His inaugural team’s nationally televised 27-3 win over Clemson on a rainy October afternoon in 1986 firmly established the success his teams enjoyed throughout his seven-year tenure.
Clemson graduate Mike O’Cain also had underappreciated success against his alma mater, winning at Clemson in his second season in 1994 (29-12) and finishing with back-to-back wins in 1998 (46-39) and 1999. O’Cain was a four-year letterman for the Tigers from 1974-76 and the team’s most valuable player his senior year.
Chuck Amato also won two in a row against the Tigers, but his success came to an abrupt halt after Rivers graduated.
The Tigers set a series record with seven consecutive wins from 2004-10, before the Wolfpack ended it, 37-13,with three passing touchdowns from quarterback Mike Glennon against the No. 7 Tigers on Nov. 19, 2011.
They have since broken that record with eight straight victories against teams coached by Tom O’Brien and current head coach Dave Doeren.
The two teams did not meet last year during the pandemic-adjusted season, the only break in the series since 1969-70, when the two teams were not slated to face each other because of the ACC’s unbalanced schedule.
Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu.
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