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Ruer seven years or cube vizry, uic?c,
the East Carolina
and th e Tar Heels wan t to survive .. .
. By CLIFTON BARNES
Saturday the North Carolina Tar Heeis. will have
escaped the East Carolina series in fairly good shape if it
wins. .
- But if it loses, a bitter taste will remain in the mouths
of UNC players and fans from a series which began in 1972
and now comes to an end. .
UNC holds a 5-1-1 advantage but the Pirates will reap
the benefits, win or lose, because big-time college foot
ball's Tar Heels were expected to win.
Carolina was smart enough to play ECU only at Kenan '
Stadium, a decision that Pirate fans did not like. But East
Carolina is like a hungry shark looking for respect when it
plays the Tar Heels. What Ram wants to fight a hungry
shark in its own environment?
East Carolina officials tried to get a home-and-home
schedule for the series back when Pat Dye was head
coach but UNC nixed that.v
In 1979 UNC told ECU that the Pirates would be drop
ped from the schedule after the 1981 game. Dye and
Pirate Club members were upset and disappointed over
the decision but they also were tired of having to play
UNC in Chapel Hill.
The North Carolina athletics program, while under. the
direction of Bill Cobey, adopted a policy of not schedul
ing in-state opponents except for members of the Atlantic
Coast Conference.
But hope still lingers for more Tar HeelPirate games.
"We're trying to keep an amiable relationship." John
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tough ECU team won by 38-17 in 1975
Stallings, assistant sports information director at ECU,
said this week. "The channels are open because the times
are unsettling right now. With the economy the way it is
in college athletics there may come a day when North
Carolina will want to play someone closer to home."
"They (ECU) have contacted us, but not recently" UNC
athletic director John Swofford said last week. "If I were
them I'd want to play us too; But if s something that's not
productive for me to talk further about it."
North Carolina!s schedule, which was handed to Swof
ford when he took over in 1980, has been basically com
pleted through 1994. Swofford admits that this is too far
in advance. -
In fact Pittsburgh called Swofford recently about
scheduling a game after the two teams meet next year at
Pitt. But Swofford was forced to say that 1995 was the
next chance. -
The schedule is generally firm, Swofford said, but by
mutual agreement Oregon State was taken of f the sched
ule along with Utah State. So economics cannot be ignored
though UNC athletics is doing pretty well financially. It
does not look as if UNC will ever have to play somebody
in Greenville because of monetary difficulties. ,
It may sound like East Carolina does not get much
respect, but respect is something ECU has been fighting
for a long time. A North Carolina series is just what the
Pirates needed to catapult them into the spotlight,
1972- UNC 42-19: ast Carolina came to Chapel Hill
for the first time ever. Under Sonny Randle the Pirates
had a 9-1 record but no bowl invitation and the team let
it be known that this was their bowl. The Tar Heels, 9-1,
were headed to the Sun Bowl.
The Daily Tar Heel sports editor David Zucchino wrote
before the game, "It's only East Carolina, .a little
school that deserves a better fate." After the game. he
wrote "Now (ECU) can go back to their little pond in
Greenville."
1973- UNC 28-27: Carlester Crumpler, ECU's all-time
leading rusher, threw a scare into the Tar Heels. North
Carolina was struggling through a losing season but most
thought the Heels could handle East Carolina.
It took a 67-yard drive in 12 plays, capped by a Billy
Paschal touchdown pass to fullback Dick Oliver with 50
seconds left to give the Tar Heels a 27-27 tie. Ellis Alext
ander kicked the extra point for the wiru The tables were
turned a little. Sports editor Elliot Warnock said the game
gave North, not East, Carolina a little self-respect.
1975 - ECU 38-17: It happened. UNC lost and lost big.
Critics marked this as the time ECU joined the big time.
UNC had had two tough losses in a row, to Notre Dame
and N.C. State, but this assured the Heels of a losing
record.
"I expected us to be a little flat, but I still thought we
would win," UNC coach Bill Dooley said after the game.
A crowd of 42,000 watched ECU run the wishbone to
perfection in running up 370 yards and passing for 33
more. The bright spot for UNC was Mike Voight's 209
yards on 42 carries.
1976 UNC 12-10: East Carolina came in with six wins,
no losses and a No. 20 ranking in the national polls. UNC
was unranked but still it was generally accepted that the
Tar Heels would, or at least should, win:
Two field goals by Tom Biddle and a 49-yarder by Jeff
Arnold put the Tar Heels up 9-0. But the Pirates came
back to take a 10-9 lead in the fourth quarter.
Biddle kicked a 17-yard field goal with six minutes left
in. the game to snap ECU's 12 game win streak.
1978 UNC 14-10: Assistant sports editor Pete Mit
chell called it an ever-growing rivalry. New coach Dick
Crum called it a game he wished were not his first.
"It's not in our best interests," Crum said sounding like
an attorney. "If it's close, it's a moral victory for them. If
they win, it's a disaster."
The Tar Heels, in their newly adopted veer offense, did
not play well but ECU defensive back Gerald Hall sum
med up the game.
"We beat Carolina in every phase but the score," he
said. "It's just that every time they needed a big play they
got it."
1979 tie 24-24: This is probably the most talked
about and controversial game in the series. The Tar Heels
blew a 21-10 halftime lead to go behind 24-21 in the final
quarter.
With 18 seconds left. Crum elected to send in Jeff
Hayes to attempt a field goal of 47 yards for a tie. Hayes
earlier had missed a 35-yarder but this time the kick was
true and UNC had not lost. That was the important thing
not losing.
The UNC players and fans did not like the tie, some of
which questioned why big time North Carolina was, settl
ing for a tie with little ECU. But in retrospect the Gator
Bowl selection committee probably would not have
selected a team with four losses. The Tar Heels finished
8-3-1 after its win over Michigan in the bowl.
1980 UNC 31-3: It was North Carolina's year all the
way and nobody thought ECU would win and they were
right. More was written about the following week's game
with Oklahoma than the East Carolina game. UNC
coaches feared the team might not be ready for the
Pirates. They were.
"They tied us last year, and we didn't want it toi be
close," defensive tackle Donnel I. Thompson said. ""We
just wanted them to know they were outclassed."
East Carolina has one more chance to prove they are
not outclassed. North Carolina has one more game to
survive. OS
C7ton Barnes is sports editor for The Daily Tar Heel
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Spotlight, September 10, 1981