June 30, 2006

BY TIM PEELER

RALEIGH - After filtering through more than 100 responses, here are the five additional games that will be considered for the poll gopack.com will conduct to select the top seven games ever played at NC State's Carter-Finley Stadium, as part of a year-long celebration of the stadium's 40th anniversary.

Overwhelmingly, the game most Wolfpack fans wanted added to the list was the 51-37 victory over Virginia in 2003, a game that was decided when hobbled tailback T.A. McLendon broke free on a 38-yard touchdown with 23 seconds remaining.

"I never heard CFS so loud," wrote Dr. Ben Thompson, who graduated from NC State in 2000.

The game many others - begrudgingly - thought should be on the list was the 9-7 loss to Penn State on Nov. 10, 1979, when the ACC-champion Wolfpack was beaten at home in a non-conference game when kicker Herb Menhardt's 54-yard wobbly field goal attempt bounced off the right upright and through the goalposts for a deflating Nittany Lion victory.

"Worst loss ever," wrote Harold West.

"That one still hurts!" said Richard T. Bryant.

The other three games include the 24-20 victory over Maryland in 1977 that ended the Terrapins' 21-game ACC winning streak and a 24-23 victory over 18th-ranked Duke in 1994 that propelled the Wolfpack in to the Peach Bowl. Fans tore down the goal posts after Terry Harvey's passing heroics wiped out a 23-7 deficit with eight minutes to go in the third quarter in the latter game.

I caught a little grief from Wolfpack fans for not including any games against rival East Carolina on my original list. That has been changed by adding the 37-24 victory in 1997, a game that assured the Wolfpack a winning 6-5 record.

I got blasted by a couple dozen East Carolina fans for not including the Pirates' 1999 win over Miami among the candidates, a game that was moved to Raleigh from Greenville in the aftermath of devastating Hurricane Floyd. Sorry, Pirate fans, as good as that game was, it won't make an NC State list of best games ever played at Carter-Finley.

There were a couple of novelty games that some wanted included, such as the Oct. 9, 1971, victory over Wake Forest. The Wolfpack was leading 15-14 with 22 seconds remaining in that game, when the Demon Deacons lined up for a potential game-winning field goal in a steady downpour. But the Wake kicker slipped on the 52-yard attempt, and the ball squirted out to the side and into the hands of NC State's Bill Miller. As he was running it in for a touchdown, Wake Forest quarterback Larry Russell ran off the sidelines and tackled Miller to prevent him from scoring. He was eventually awarded the score, and the Wolfpack won 21-14 for interim coach Al Michael's first career victory as a head coach.

There was the much talked-about game against Marshall on Oct. 19, 1991, when Dick Sheridan's team pulled off a remarkable rally in the final minute to beat the Division I-AA Thundering Herd, which was coached by former Wolfpack quarterback Jim Donnan. The 11th-ranked Wolfpack - aided by back-to-back pass interference penalties on the first touchdown and an offsides penalty that negated a Marshall interception on the second - scored two touchdowns to erase a 14-3 deficit. Donnan was last seen chasing an official off the field to discuss the penalties, as the Wolfpack celebrated its sixth consecutive win to start the season. However, Sheridan's team finished the rest of the year 3-3, including a 37-34 loss to East Carolina in the Peach Bowl.

Just as many people said the sparsely attended Marshall game should not be included - there were only 41,000 fans on hand - because the Wolfpack should have never been in that position to begin with.

The same reasoning was applied by some to the 2000 double-overtime win over Arkansas State, in the debut of freshman quarterback Philip Rivers and first-year head coach Chuck Amato. But that was a remarkable game, in which Rivers first revealed just how exciting the next four years would be. Still, it was trumped in most people's eyes by the Thursday night overtime victory over Georgia Tech three weeks later.

There were others who wanted more wins over North Carolina, particularly the 40-6 victory in 1989 that stands as the Wolfpack's biggest home rout over the Tar Heels. But it did not receive enough votes to make the list.

So here is the final list of the top 20 of the 239 games ever played (by NC State) at Carter-Finley. Vote on your top seven by Aug. 1 and at each home game this season we will reveal the top vote getters.

Top 20 games at Carter-Finley Stadium

1. NC State 42, Virginia 21, Oct. 29, 1966: Carter Stadium opened two weeks earlier with a 31-21 loss to South Carolina. On this day, however, head coach Earle Edwards, who long pined for a modern stadium to replace the crumbling on-campus Riddick Stadium got his first victory at the Wolfpack's new home.

2. NC State 13, North Carolina 7, Sept. 16, 1967: The night before this season-opening contest, Wolfpack linebacker Chuck Amato convinced his teammates on defense to paint their shoes white with the case of shoe polished he bought from the Man-Mur Barber Shop on Hillsborough Street. Thus inspired, the Wolfpack beat the Tar Heels for the first win in an eight-game winning streak, thanks to a 55-yard touchdown pass from Jim Donnan to Harry Martell. It was the first of eight games that year that the "White Shoes Defense" held an opponent under 10 points. It was also the first game in a day-night double-header at Carter Stadium, with Duke and Wake Forest playing later in the day, the first only time in the history of the Big Four that the quartet played each other on the same day in the same location.

3. NC State 28, North Carolina 26, Oct. 6, 1973: Out to a 21-3 lead behind the leadership of quarterback Dave Buckey, NC State needed fourth-quarter, fourth-and-one touchdown by running back Willie Burden to seal the win over the Tar Heels, to break a two-game losing streak. The win sparked a four-game winning streak that season to give the Wolfpack its only ACC Championship of the Lou Holtz era.

4. NC State 12, Penn State 7, Nov. 9, 1974: Coming into the game, the Nittany Lions had the nation's top-ranked rushing defense, but it was a third-quarter defensive stand that won this game for the Wolfpack, ending an 11-game losing streak to Penn State. Running back Stan Fritts gained 112 yards, rushing for one touchdown and throwing an option pass to Pat Hovence for the other. The Wolfpack defense - guided by coordinator Al Michaels, a Penn State grad - stopped the Nittany Lions on four straight plays after a first-and-goal on the 6-yard line. Michaels received the game ball for his defensive squad's performance.

5. NC State 8, Florida 7, Sept. 20, 1975: Trailing the 13th-ranked Gators 7-0 with less than four minutes to play, Wolfpack defensive back Dan Meier recovered a fumble on the Florida 38-yard line. On the next play, Dave Buckey hit Elijah Marshall on a post pattern for a late touchdown. Holtz sent sophomore Johnny Evans in as a fullback, and he took the pitch in for a two-point conversion to give the Wolfpack a much-needed win.

6. NC State 27, Indiana 0, Oct. 4, 1975: What happened in this game may have been even bigger than the upset of Florida, because of the legacy it left. After sitting on the bench the first three weeks of the season and not making the trip to Michigan State for the fourth game, freshman Ted Brown was elevated to the varsity team for the first start of his career. He rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns in this game, then added 106 yards and two touchdowns against North Carolina in the Wolfpack's next home game, a 21-20 victory that was saved when the defense stopped a two-point conversion attempt with 14 seconds remaining. Brown went on to become the ACC's all-time leading rusher with 4,602 career rushing yards, a title he has held for more than a quarter century.

7. NC State 24, Maryland 20, Oct. 1, 1977: The Terrapins came into the contest riding a 21-game ACC winning streak and a three-game winning streak over the Wolfapck. The Terps led 20-17 in the final minutes of the game, when quarterback Johnny Evans engineered a remarkable 69-yard drive. He scored the winning touchdown on a two-yard dive with 27 seconds remaining. The next week the Wolfpack won at Auburn.

8. Penn State 9, State 6, Nov. 10, 1979: In perhaps the most heartbreaking home loss in school history, Penn State earned a last-second victory over the Wolfpack when Herb Menhardt's wobbly kick bounced off the right upright and through the goalposts with one second to play. The Wolfpack had taken the lead with a 72-yard scoring drive with 1:18 remaining and was ready to celebrate the stunning victory over Joe Paterno's Nittany Lions, especially when they were backed up in a fourth-and-24 with time expiring. But a 36-yard pass to earn the first down left Paterno just enough time to get Menhardt on the field to attempt the game-winning kick.

9. NC State 28, Duke 7, Nov. 17, 1979: Defensive back Eric Williams had three interceptions in this win over the Blue Devils that clinched the Wolfpack's seventh ACC title in 22 years. However, despite being conference champions, the Wolfpack did not go to a post-season bowl game, being overlooked in favor of North Carolina for the Peach Bowl and declining an invitation to the Garden State Bowl because it conflicted with the school's exam schedule.

10. NC State 27, Clemson 3, Oct. 25, 1986: In a season that was defined by comebacks and close finishes, the Wolfpack scored a virtual blowout against the No. 16 Tigers in a game regionally televised by CBS. It was the first home win over a ranked team by first-year head coach Dick Sheridan, who guided the Wolfpack to an 8-3-1 record in his inaugural season.

11. NC State 23, South Carolina 22, Nov. 1, 1986: When the clock expired, the Gamecocks were leading, 22-17, thanks to the heroics of quarterback Todd Ellis, who erased an early 17-0 deficit. But when several South Carolina players taunted NC State quarterback Erik Kramer at the line of scrimmage on the final play, they were flagged for being offsides, giving the Wolfpack one final play from the USC 33-yard line. The Wolfpack sent four receivers to the end zone, and a hobbled Kramer scrambled away from the rush and threw the ball in the direction of three of them in the south end zone. Danny Peebles, a track-star-turned-wide-receiver, found himself open and caught Kramer's wobbly pass for what is probably the most exciting finish to a game in school history.

12. NC State 43, Duke 43, Sept. 1988: History may not remember this tie as a great game, but there were certainly some offensive fireworks going on at the fairgrounds. The two teams combined for 979 yards in the contest, as NC State juggled its quarterbacks on rushing and passing downs. Shane Montgomery came in to throw, while Charles Davenport was in to run the ball. Montgomery threw three touchdown passes to Nasrallah Worthen to tie the school record, and Damon Hartman connected on a 37-yard field goal as time expired to force the tie.

13. NC State 28, Georgia Tech 21, Oct. 5, 1991: Thanks to a pair of defensive touchdowns, the Wolfpack scored its second consecutive win over a ranked opponent, defeating the defending national champion Yellow Jackets. Linebacker Tyler Lawrence returned an interception 32 yards for a score and Ricky Turner returned a fumble 26 yards for another score.

14. State 24, Duke 23, Nov. 15, 1994: For nearly three quarters, 18th-ranked Duke controlled the game, owning a 23-7 lead with eight minutes to play in the third quarter in front of a crowd of 53,900, the largest to ever see a game in this series. The Wolfpack's comeback began with an 82-yard pass from Terry Harvey to Adrian Hill on a third and eight from the Wolfpack 8-yard line. In the fourth quarter, Harvey hit a 53-yard bomb to Greg Addis to set up a field goal. And Harvey hit a 2-yard pass to Mike McGuffie with 5:50 remaining to give the Wolfpack their first lead of the day. The Blue Devils missed three field goals in the fourth quarter, including a 51-yarder late in the game. Afterwards, Wolfpack fans tore down the goal posts in celebration of the win that propelled Mike O'Cain's team into the Peach Bowl, where it beat Mississippi State 28-24 to cap a 9-3 season.

15. NC State 37, East Carolina 24, Nov. 22, 1997: The year before in Charlotte, the two intense rivals renewed a series that had been put on hold for more than a decade because of violence that occurred following a game in 1985. The Pirates won that game 50-29, so the Wolfpack was looking for revenge when the two teams met at Carter-Finely to renew the on-campus rivalry. The 51,500 fans in attendance were not disappointed as the teams entered the final minute of play tied 24-24. With 51 seconds to play, Wolfpack quarterback Jamie Barnette pushed his way in from 1-yard out to give his team the winning points. In the final seconds, linebacker Clayton White intercepted an ECU pass and returned it 34 yards for a touchdown and the final scoring margin. No fights ensued. 16. NC State 24, Florida State 7, Sept. 12, 1998: After giving up a touchdown on the second play of the game, the Mike O'Cain-led Wolfpack intercepted first-year quarterback Chris Weinke six times en route to beating the No. 2 ranked Seminoles. It is the highest ranked opponent the Wolfpack has ever beaten at Carter-Finley, and the highest ranked team State had beaten since 1967 when it beat second-ranked Houston on the road.

17. NC State 38, Syracuse 17, Oct. 1, 1998: The unranked Pack upsets the No. 11 Orangemen and future All-Pro quarterback Donovan McNabb for the second year in a row, in a nationally televised Thursday night contest.

18. NC State 30, Georgia Tech 23 (OT), Sept. 21, 2000: The legend of quarterback Philip Rivers was born a few weeks earlier in a double-overtime win over Arkansas State, but he was introduced to a national television audience in this Thursday night ESPN thriller in Chuck Amato's first year as head coach. Rivers, the freshman quarterback, brought the Wolfpack back from a 13-0 halftime deficit with three touchdown passes to sophomore wide receiver Koren Robinson, including a 23-yard game-winner in overtime.

19. NC State 17, Florida State 7: Nov. 23, 2002: After losing three consecutive games, the Wolfpack seemed to be reeling after its school-record 9-0 start to the season. But the defense ruled the day against the Seminoles, earning the Wolfpack a bid to the Gator Bowl, where it beat Notre Dame to cap off a school-record 11-win season.

20. NC State 51, Virginia 37, Nov. 1, 2003: In a game that featured two of the ACC's most prolific passers, NC State's Philip Rivers and Virginia's Matt Schaub (the reigning ACC Offensive Player of the Year), the guy who made the difference was a semi-healthy T.A. McLendon. With 23 seconds remaining in a tie game, the tailback who had two arthroscopic knee surgeries in the previous 16 days broke free for a 38-yard touchdown that sent the sell-out crowd into a frenzy. Safety Victor Stephens provided the final points when he intercepted a pass in the final seconds and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown.

You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.