North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Spurrier Helped Christen Carter Stadium
9/2/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. – The upset was in the making, and, quite frankly, was there for the taking.
For the 24,000 spectators who showed up on Oct. 15, 1966, to see the second game ever played at Carter Stadium, tension was high as NC State, which had lost three of its first four games that season, entered the fourth quarter with a 10-3 lead over eighth-ranked Florida.
To that point, they had seen an amazing display by the Wolfpack defense, which allowed a Gator quarterback named Steve Spurrier to advance his offense deep into State territory on four different occasions, but yielded just three points.
When State kicker Harold Deters – breaking a string of eight consecutive missed field goals – connected on a 38-yard attempt with 14:17 remaining in the game, the Wolfpack owned a 10-3 lead over the unbeaten Gators and their brash-talking quarterback.
The game featured a pair of quarterbacks who would go on to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, for their all-star playing and national championship coaching careers.
Spurrier, a senior, eventually won the 1966 Heisman Trophy and found success as the self-proclaimed "Old Ball Coach" in stints at Duke, Florida and his current school, South Carolina.
NC State's Jim Donnan, a junior, would help the Wolfpack win its first ever bowl game, beating future employer Georgia in the 1967 Liberty Bowl. He coached Marshall to four Division I-AA championship games, winning the title in 1992, and led Georgia to four consecutive bowl wins. Donnan, inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame earlier this year, is now a commentator at ESPN.
While the 1966 NC State-Florida didn't exactly have a circus-like atmosphere, there was something special in the air since this was the first time since 1928 that an NC State football game was played across the street from the North Carolina State Fair. (From 1857-1927, the fair was held across Hillsborough Street from campus, not far from old Riddick Stadium.)
Spurrier, who brings his South Carolina team to Carter-Finley Stadium Thursday at 7 p.m. for the 2009 season opener, needed a nudge to remember all the details from that game, in which he led the Gator offense on two fourth-quarter touchdowns to avoid the upset.
"It was a good game up there, a tough game," Spurrier said. "We fortunately had two drives to score in the fourth and held them when they came back on us."
For more than three quarters, the Wolfpack fans were more amazed by the game's events than seeing the world's smallest horse or the state's largest pumpkin. Their team, which had lost 31-21 to South Carolina the week before on the day the gleaming concrete stadium was dedicated, had kept Spurrier completely confused and under wraps for most of the game.
"Most of the 24,000 in new Carter Stadium were limp with visions of one big State play after another," read the News & Observer account of the game.
To this day, Spurrier claims his poor play was because of the pronounced hump in the middle of the then-new field, something his Gamecocks won't have to worry about Thursday, in the first game played at the 43-year-old stadium with a perfectly flat surface, thanks to off-season renovations.
In the first quarter, Spurrier had the ball stripped out of his hands by Wolfpack defensive end Mark Capuano on State's 17-yard line. On the next possession, Spurrier drove his team to the 16, but missed a 32-yard field goal after the drive stalled.
"A lot of people thought the only one I attempted was against Auburn [the famous kick later in the 1966 season that gave Florida a 30-27 victory and boosted the quarterback's claim on the Heisman Trophy]," Spurrier said. "But I actually kicked two in the opener against Northwestern, missed another one against somebody, and this one [against NC State] before the Auburn kick."
But on that day in Raleigh, the renown quarterback just could not find the end zone, even after he was given the ball on the 7-yard-line following a blocked punt. The Gators settled for a 27-yard field goal that caromed off the right upright by Wayne Barfield, for a 3-0 lead with 1:15 remaining in the first half.
The Wolfpack answered with Bobby Hall's 29-yard kickoff return, which was boosted by a Florida facemask penalty to put the ball on the Florida 45. Donnan missed on his first two passes on the drive, but got a first down with a 12-yard strike to Hall and State's only touchdown of the day on a 33-yard scoring pass to diminutive receiver Gary Rowe with 53 seconds remaining before halftime.
Spurrier tried to answer before intermission, but NC State linebacker Ron Jackson intercepted his pass at the State 33-yard line, allowing his team a brief sigh of relief as they gathered on the sidelines for halftime. (Finley Fieldhouse didn't open until 1967.) It was just the second interception in five games for Spurrier.
Early in the second half, Spurrier again failed to reach the end zone after advancing the ball to the Wolfpack 19-yard-line. But the Wolfpack defense stood firm, throwing Steve Smith for a two-yard loss and successfully defending a pair of Spurrier passes. On fourth down, Spurrier hit Smith on a swing pass that was successful later in the game. But on this occasion, it lost a yard and gave the Wolfpack the ball.
State padded its lead early in the fourth quarter when Deters booted a 38-yard field goal. Earlier, Deters had missed a 48-yard attempt on the Wolfpack's first possession of the game. Gerald Warren, who in 1967 would set the NCAA record for field goals in a season, missed a 41-yard attempt, short and wide, continuing coach Earle Edwards' frustration with his special teams.
As the fourth quarter slowly ticked away, Spurrier needed to make something happen. And, as he has so often done in his coaching career, he did.
He led the team on a 74-yard, game-tying drive that included a little razzle-dazzle that didn't exactly work. Sophomore Larry Smith hit Spurrier on a halfback pass, but it only went six yards. The Gators fared better with Spurrier's arm and Smith's legs, as the quarterback threw for 43 yards and the halfback ran for 30 yards on the drive. Smith's one-yard plunge gave Florida its first touchdown of the day.
Rowe tried to answer for the Wolfpack, returning the ensuing kickoff 54 yards. Donnan led his team down the field to the Florida 25, but was intercepted by Steve Heidt at the 23-yard line.
That gave Spurrier one more chance to find the end zone. This time, he needed just six plays. He threw for 62 yards and ran for another nine. The winning play came on a 31-yard pass to flanker Richard Trapp with 3:07 remaining in the game.
"He ran a little curl pattern, and he juked two or three guys and ran about another 20 yards and took it in," Spurrier recalled.
Donnan, recently inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, had one more chance to answer Spurrier. With four completions, he advanced the Wolfpack from its 16 to the Florida 26, as time slowly ticked down. Donnan was thrown for a 5-yard loss on a sack, and then missed on third- and fourth-down passes to end the game.
Spurrier returns Thursday, his memory of that first trip here refreshed and with no worries that his players will be slowed down by Carter-Finley's removed crown.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
