Here’s a look at five of NC State’s most memorable season-opening football games

Dave Doeren’s sixth season as coach at N.C. State begins Saturday with a home game at Carter-Finley Stadium, one that Wolfpack fans will be expecting to win.

A year ago, the season-opener was in Charlotte against South Carolina at Bank of America Stadium. The Gamecocks ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown and held off the Pack, 35-28.

James Madison will come into Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday (noon, ESPNU) looking to spoil the day. The Dukes won the Football Championship Subdivision championship in 2016 and played for the FCS title again last season, going 28-2 over the two seasons.

“We know what kind of team they are,” senior receiver Stephen Louis said. “There’s a reason they went to back-to-back national championship games.”

Through the years, the Wolfpack has had lopsided victories in season-openers at home — 67-0 over Western Carolina in 1990, 57-8 over East Carolina in 1973. There also have been a few surprising losses — 18-12 to Furman in 1976 comes to mind — and some close calls, as Doeren can attest.

Here are five of the most memorable season-openers at Carter-Finley Stadium:

Aug. 30, 2014

N.C. State 24, Georgia Southern 23

Doeren’s first season at N.C. State ended with eight straight losses and the 2014 opener almost made it nine straight. The Eagles led 17-3 at halftime and 20-10 in the third quarter.

But with Georgia Southern a yard away from another touchdown, possibly a back-breaker for the Pack, Eagles quarterback Kevin Ellison fumbled. The Pack recovered and went 99 yards to score as quarterback Jacoby Brissett spurred the comeback win, hitting running back Matt Dayes with a 35-yard TD pass with 1:37 left in the fourth quarter.

“The beauty of football is it’s a four-quarter game,” Doeren said after the game.

The Wolfpack went 8-5 in 2014, beating Central Florida in the St. Petersburg Bowl. But had it lost that season-opener ...

Sept. 16, 1967

N.C. State 13, North Carolina 7

It was the first time N.C. State opened a season at what was then Carter Stadium. It was the only time the Wolfpack has played North Carolina in the season-opener at the stadium.

And, in an interesting twist, it was a day/night doubleheader at the stadium. Gov. Dan K. Moore proclaimed it “Big Four Day” as the Pack hosted the Tar Heels in an afternoon game, then Duke and Wake Forest played that night (Duke won 31-13).

The N&O reported the State-Carolina game had an overflow crowd of 42,300 in the 42,000-seat stadium and that an estimated 300 fans “sat on grass” at the south end of the stadium. It was Bill Dooley’s first game as UNC’s coach and the Heels led 7-6 in the fourth quarter before Pack quarterback Jim Donnan and wide receiver Harry Martell hooked up on a 55-yard touchdown pass.

The Pack would go on to start the season 8-0 and was ranked third nationally before a 13-8 loss at Penn State. A win in the Liberty Bowl over Georgia capped a 9-2 season.

After the Carolina game, Wolfpack coach Earle Edwards was asked about some of his players wearing white shoes, smiling and saying, “Ah, they wanted some identity.”

Sept. 2, 2000

N.C. State 38, Arkansas State 31 (2 OT)

Chuck Amato had waited a long time for the moment. At 54, that moment had come at N.C. State. In his first game as a head coach, he made an 18-year-old freshman, Philip Rivers, the starting quarterback. Rivers would start 50 more in his record-setting career.

The opponent was Arkansas State — not Arkansas, mind you, but Arkansas State. It also was a team that was well-prepared, one that led 17-7 in the second half.

But Rivers led the Pack (with 397 passing yards and three touchdowns) into field-goal range, in a driving rainstorm, in the final seconds of regulation, to force overtime. Ray Robinson’s short TD run in the second overtime won it.

Amato first came to N.C. State as a chesty linebacker from Pennsylvania. As a senior in 1967, he painted his football shoes white and convinced others to do it, creating the identity of the “White Shoe Defense.” He was an assistant coach at NCSU in the 1970s, then helped Bobby Bowden build a national power at Florida State the next two decades.

Finally, it was his turn as a head coach. “I’m as happy as a lark,” Amato said after the game.

Sept 9, 1972

N.C. State 24, Maryland 24

As a coach, Lou Holtz lived and breathed offensive football, and N.C. State fans got a quick taste of it.

Holtz’s first game as the Wolfpack coach would end in a tie and have him apologizing for it. But his split-back veer offense mesmerized State fans in the crowd of 31,000, producing 462 yards. The Pack led 24-10 in the third quarter and threatened to add to the lead before a pass was picked off in the end zone.

“I couldn’t decide whether to sit on the lead or go out and get some more points, and the result was I didn’t do either,” Holtz said after the Terrapins, under first-year coach Jerry Claiborne, rallied for the tie.

The biggest sports news that September weekend was the U.S. Olympic basketball team losing to the Soviet Union in Munich. The controversial 51-50 defeat ended the U.S. dominance in the Games.

But Wolfpack fans got a glimpse of their football future — 33 wins, the 1973 ACC championship and four bowl games in the next four years under Holtz. The Pack, which had scored 40 or more points in a game once in the previous five seasons, did it five times in 1972, setting records for total offense and scoring.

Sept. 5, 1987

East Carolina 32, N.C. State 14

The front-page Sunday headline in The News & Observer said: “Victorious ECU fans rush onto field; fists fly after Pirate-Wolfpack game.”

In 1985, after an ECU win in Raleigh, Pirates fans had rushed the field, flattening a fence in the south end of the stadium. State won in 1986 and before the ‘87 game, letters appeared in the student newspapers of both schools urging calm and good sportsmanship..

ECU won again and the fans rushed the field again, flattening the fence and pulling down the goalposts. The N&O quoted Wolfpack fan A.J. Haynes of Raleigh as saying: “All hell broke loose.” NCSU security estimated 2,000 fans were on the field and that there were 35 injuries.

The melee overshadowed a strong second-half surge by the Pirates led by quarterback Travis Hunter before a crowd of 56,800, then the sixth-largest in stadium history.

The State-ECU series was discontinued because of the postgame altercation. It took some legislative wrangling before more regular-season games were scheduled, although the two did face off in the Peach Bowl after the 1991 season, the Pirates rallying late to win 37-34 in Atlanta.

This story was originally published August 30, 2018 at 12:20 PM.