University of North Carolina Athletics
CAR - O - LINES: The Duke Game is Here
November 18, 2003 | Football
Nov. 18, 2003
by Rick Brewer, Sports Information Director Emeritus
Anytime Carolina faces Duke in football, fans begin to talk about previous games.
That doesn't have anything to do with that year's meeting. It's just that this rivalry has featured so many famous games that fans immediately think about those of the past.
It really doesn't matter if the two teams both have losing records such as this year. Both could be fighting for a conference championship and people would still be remembering their favorite Carolina-Duke game.
That's because there are plenty to choose from in the history of this series.
Recently the series has been one-sided. Carolina has now beaten Duke 13 straight times. That's the longest winning streak by either team in the history of the rivalry. However, four of those wins were by a grand total of 10 points.
That includes last year's 23-21 victory in Durham. Dan Orner, after missing two earlier field goal attempts, hit a 47-yarder with no time on the clock to account for the winning points.
The Tar Heels have actually won 22 of the last 27 games between the two teams. A touchdown or less has decided thirteen of those 27 games.
The best Carolina-Duke game?
It depends on which shade of blue one prefers. Just some of the favorites from a Tar Heel standpoint might have been in 1940-49-59-60-63-70-76-78-86-92 or 94.
Tailbacks like Don McCauley, Mike Voight, Amos Lawrence, Kelvin Bryant, Tyrone Anthony, Ethan Horton Natrone Means and Leon Johnson sparked many of those wins.
Six of the top 10 rushing performances in Tar Heel history have come against the Blue Devils--Kennard Martin with 291 in 1988, McCauley's 279 in 1970, Voight's 261 in 1976, Means with 256 in 1990, Bryant's 247 in 1981 and Anthony with 232 in 1983.
McCauley's performance against the Blue Devils in 1970 allowed him to pass O.J. Simpson and set the NCAA single-season rushing record.
In the last dozen years quarterbacks have begun to take center stage for Carolina--Mike Thomas, Jason Stanicek, Oscar Davenport, Chris Keldorf, Ronald Curry and Darian Durant.
ut, the most exciting of all the Tar Heel wins? It would be hard to top 1949, 1976, 1978 or 1994.
Charlie Justice never played in a losing game against Duke, but the Blue Devils caused plenty of problems in 1949. Justice played on a bad leg, but was sensational just the same. He threw for one touchdown and caught another scoring pass himself.
Duke drove deep into UNC territory late in the game, but was apparently beaten, 21-20, when the clock ran out and fans stormed the field. However, lue Devil athletic officials argued that the old scoreboard clock still had four seconds on it.
After a long wait while the field was being cleared, the game was finally resumed.
Mike Souchak lined up what would have been the winning field goal. But, Art Weiner rushed in untouched and smothered the ball before it ever left the ground to preserve the win.
Voight ran for 261 yards and scored four touchdowns in 1976 in a 39-38 victory. The Tar Heels needed that effort because Duke quarterback Mike Dunn was almost as good. He ran for 130 yards, passed for 109 and scored four times.
The lead changed hands five times in the final quarter. Carolina trailed 38-31 until Matt Kupec threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Billy Johnson with 37 seconds left. On the two-point attempt, Kupec ran right on an option and pitched to Voight who bolted into the end zone for the winning points.
Carolina had 552 yards of offense and Duke piled up 458 in 1994. The biggest Tar Heel stars were Marcus Wall with an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown; Leon Johnson who ran for 140 yards, including 131 in the second half; Thomas who hit 10 of 14 passes for 210 yards; and Octavus Barnes with six catches for 165 yards.
arnes turned a short pass over the middle from Thomas into a 71-yard scoring play with 2:01 to go for the winning touchdown.
However, to many, 1978's win in Kenan Stadium might be the best of all.
Carolina trailed 15-3 when the Tar Heels got the ball on their own 34-yard line with 4:14 to play in the game. But, Matt Kupec directed Carolina 66 yards in eight plays for a touchdown.
Every play in the drive was a pass and Kupec completed six of his eight throws. The touchdown came on a 10-yard pass to Bob Loomis.
The Tar Heels then elected to use their timeouts on defense. After a Duke punt, Carolina regained possession on its own 39 with just 1:42 on the clock.
On third-and-12 from the 37, the Tar Heels ran a sprint-draw and Lawrence picked up 18 yards to the Duke 45.
Four plays later Carolina had a fourth-and-one at the 36. Kupec planned to pass, but spotted a change in the Duke defense and audibled at the line of scrimmage. It was another sprint-draw and Lawrence ran 21 yards to the 15.
Then with only 18 seconds to play at the 11-yard line, Carolina again went to the sprint-draw. It was a risky call because if Lawrence did not get out of bounds or into the end zone, the clock almost certainly would have run out.
However, Lawrence exploded through a hole created by Ron Wooten and Rick Donnalley, broke a tackle at the two and spun into the end zone for a 16-15 victory. It completed one of the most remarkable comebacks in school history.
There have been other frantic finishes to Carolina-Duke games, but none in which the situation seemed quite as hopeless as it did that day in Kenan Stadium. Fans from both schools had left their seats with four minutes to play because the game, for all practical purposes, was over.
If history has proven anything, it's that no one should ever assume that.
