There is no other way to describe NC State’s trip to play Miami in the rain-doused Orange Bowl 50 years ago other than a slippery, hot mess.
Both teams were playing late in the season for first-year head coaches, the Hurricanes’ Fran Curci and the Wolfpack’s Al Michaels. Though interim, Michaels already knew he was not likely to succeed his longtime boss Earle Edwards, who had suddenly retired just prior to the season after 17 years .
The Wolfpack had lost seven of its eight games, including embarrassing setbacks against Kent State, East Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina and Duke.
Only 20,000 fans showed up to see Cursi’s home team play in the Friday night contest, likely because his team was installed as a 24-point favorite against what they thought was a hapless opponent.
Yet, something remarkable happened, setting in motion the most successful era of Wolfpack football.
Playing in sloppy conditions, the Michaels-coached Wolfpack defense caused nine Miami fumbles, recovering three of them, and intercepted two Hurricane passes, posting a 13-7 upset that caught everyone a little off guard.
The night was a particularly rough for Miami quarterback John Hornibrook, who threw both interceptions and lost two of his five fumbles trying to get the ball into the hands of future NFL star Chuck Foreman.
The Wolfpack offense established its running game with sophomore backs Willie Burden and Charley Young and quarterback Bruce Shaw, threatening in the first quarter before a blocked field goal, then taking a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard dive by Burden after defensive tackle Dan Medlin recovered a fumbled snap on Miami’s 2-yard line.
The Pack scored again after a Miami turnover early in the second half, taking a 13-0 lead on Shaw’s 7-yard pass to wingback Mike Stultz. Miami eventually scored late in the fourth quarter and drove deep into Wolfpack territory near the end of the contest, but was unable to win the game.
The Hurricanes entered Wolfpack territory eight times on its 12 drives during the game, but relinquished the ball by turnover, downs and a missed 31-yard field goal on the 2-, 8-, 14-, 19-, 33- and 35-yard lines.
“We were unexciting, unemotional, dull and sloppy — that’s my football team,” said a brutally frank Cursi after the game.
Burden ran for 98 yards against the Hurricanes, establishing a school record in rushing for a single season. He finished the year with 910 yards and eight rushing touchdowns. He eventually became the Wolfpack’s first 1,000-yard rusher and was named the 1973 ACC Player of the Year.
It was a spark that helped the Wolfpack finish Michaels’ only season strong. It lost 35-3 at Penn State the next week, but ended the year with a 31-23 victory at Clemson to prevent the Tigers from having a winning season.
Five days after the season ended, NC State athletics director Willis Casey named 33-year-old Lou Holtz as the Wolfpack’s new head coach, despite a 13-20 record in his three years at William & Mary.
The decision was fully embraced by NC State Chancellor John T. Caldwell, who said the program needed “a fresh offensive style and verve” to go along with Michaels’ traditionally strong defense.
Holtz, however, retained Michaels as his defensive coordinator throughout his four-year tenure at State, which helped the Wolfpack win the 1973 ACC title and twice defeat perennial power Penn State. Holtz always gave credit to Michaels for holding the program together in his lone season as interim coach.
“It didn’t matter who came here to coach in 1972, NC State was going to win,” Holtz said during a visit to Raleigh in 2010. “There was talent here. There were athletes here. The four running backs that were here when I arrived — Willie Burden, Charley Young, Roland Hooks and Stan Fritts — were as fine as I have ever had anywhere. The team was tired of losing. All they wanted was a little bit of direction and somebody to say ‘sic ‘em.’
“My coming to NC State didn’t make a difference. They could have brought in Sister Mary Joseph, and she could have won here.”
With Michaels by his side, Holtz directed State to four consecutive bowl games, one ACC championship and a top-10 finished before he left for the NFL’s New York Jets following the 1975 season.
Head coach Dave Doeren and his team head to Miami this weekend hoping to replicate what the Wolfpack did a half century ago: beat Clemson and Miami in the same season, something that has happened only twice in program history (1942 and ’71.)
Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu.
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