The Wolfpacker countdown to NC State football: 70

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Published Jun 24, 2020

The Wolfpacker countdown to NC State football: 70

Justin H. Williams • TheWolfpackCentral

Staff Writer

@JustinHWill

In May, we started a countdown to NC State football's season and ACC opener against Louisville, a game that was originally scheduled for Thursday, Sep. 3.

In mid-June, the game was moved up a day to Wednesday, Sep. 2 in order to not conflict with the Kentucky Derby which was postponed from the traditional first Saturday in May to Saturday, Sep. 5 over Labor Day weekend.

Today, June 24 marks 70 days from the Wolfpack's season opener for now.

Each day, The Wolfpacker will do a countdown to the season with a reflection on the significance of that number to NC State.

70'- The last year of Earle Edwards' career at NC State

Earle Edwards was the longest-tenured football coach in NC State and led the team from 1954 to 1970.

A former football player at Penn State in the late 1920s, Edwards went on to take assistant coaching positions at Penn State and Michigan State before ending up in Raleigh for the entirety of his head coaching career.

Considered the father of modern-day football at NC State, Edwards' work in the late 50s and early 60s made Carter Stadium, now Carter-Finley Stadium a possibility.

Before Carter Stadium opened in 1966, the Wolfpack played most of its games on the road in larger stadiums because its home field, Riddick Stadium, never held more than 23,000 seats at any time. In order to help grow the limited football budget compared to other ACC schools, Edwards elected to play a majority of games on the road in order to generate more ticket revenue.

Edwards finished his 17-year career at NC State with a 77-88-8 overall record and a 55-45-5 record in the ACC. During his tenure, the Pack won five ACC titles, including three straight from 1963-1965. To put the accomplishment in perspective, only Florida State's Bobby Bowden and Clemson's Dabo Swinney have more ACC titles in their coaching careers.

NC State earned its first bowl victory in school history under Edwards in 1967, a 14-7 victory over Georgia in the Liberty Bowl. The legendary head coach recruited and coach Wolfpack All-Americans Dick Christy, Roman Gabriel, Dennis Byrd, Don Montgomery, Fred Combs, Gerald Warren, Ron Carpenter and Carey Metts during his tenure.