The Cameron Crazies tent every year for a chance to see Duke and North Carolina face off in Cameron Indoor Stadium, but the game on the gridiron is also full of rich history. The two rivals have competed every year since 1922, and The Chronicle has covered the matchup every step of the way.
The Victory Bell, first earned by North Carolina in 1948, is the prized traveling trophy given to the winner. The series was initially back-and-forth, and although the Tar Heels took a commanding lead in the latter half of the 20th century, the Blue Devils have made the rivalry more competitive in recent years. Here are some of the game’s biggest moments for Duke.
1922
The first meeting documented by The Trinity Chronicle came in 1922, when then-Trinity College traveled down Tobacco Road for a meeting with the Tar Heels. Anticipation for the game was high, as North Carolina was coming off a strong showing against powerhouse Yale, and the Blue Devils were prepared to put on the fight of their lives.
Before the game, The Chronicle wrote: “Interest in the game which has been smoldering ever since the game was scheduled last year has reached the fever point and now is the sole topic of conversation on the campus.”
Despite a rousing pep rally and a well-traveled crowd, though, Duke fell 20-0 to the Tar Heels. The lopsided score still provided a moral victory for the Blue Devils, as they were expected to lose by four or five touchdowns. The Chronicle took an optimistic stance, printing “Trinity holds crack Carolina team to three touchdowns.”
1962
The Bill Murray coaching era brought enormous success to Durham. The Blue Devils were the premier ACC program in the mid-20th century.
Murray, who was hired in 1951 and stayed at the helm until 1965, brought Duke to win six of the first 10 ACC championships. Although there was no formal conference championship game until 2004, the Blue Devils won three straight crowns from 1960-62, determined by regular-season round-robin play.
In that final season, Duke defeated North Carolina 16-14 to clinch the league championship. This capped off an undefeated ACC slate for the team. Kicker Billy Reynolds connected on a game-winning 20-yard field goal with 46 seconds left, one of three for him in the contest. The Tar Heels led 7-6 going into the final quarter, but the Blue Devils went down the field on a 92-yard drive to take the lead.
The Chronicle’s Bill Wood wrote that the drive “featured a steady ground attack mixed with two important passes from [Walt] Rappold to Mark [Leggett].”
The headline from the game comically read, “DUKE 16, institution in chapel hill 14.”
1989
Duke football struggled in the aftermath of Murray’s departure, going through 20 years of mediocre seasons and finding itself at the bottom of the league it once dominated. However, that all changed when Steve Spurrier took the job in Durham in 1987.
By 1989, the Blue Devils had a chance to clinch a share of the ACC title, which would be its first since the aforementioned 1962 season. Once again, the Tar Heels stood in the way.
Although the 1962 game was a last-minute win, this one involved total domination. Duke traveled to Chapel Hill and trounced North Carolina 41-0, the team’s first shutout in 11 years. The Chronicle’s Rodney Peele covered the event.
“It was a good win,” Spurrier said after the win. “We were a little better team than North Carolina. This team set a bunch of very high goals at the end of spring practice last year and we hit every one of them.”
Blue Devil wide receiver Clarkston Hines had a standout day with 162 receiving yards, securing his third straight 1000-yard reception season — the only player in history to lead the ACC in receiving for three consecutive seasons.
2013
The most recent Duke-North Carolina game with a trip to the ACC championship on the line took place in 2013, when the 24th-ranked Blue Devils played in Chapel Hill with a chance to win the ACC Coastal division. Led by quarterback Anthony Boone and future NFL wideout Jamison Crowder, Duke pulled off a nail-biting 27-25 victory.
Boone returned to lead the Blue Devils to an ACC title game appearance after missing the early part of the season with a broken collarbone. In his absence, Duke got off to a 2-2 start and seemed an ocean away from a 10-win season. However, the Blue Devils rattled off eight straight wins to close out the regular season. The Tar Heels were Duke’s 10th victims.
“One of David Cutcliffe’s messages to his team at the beginning of the 2013 season was to play games to win, rather than playing to avoid losing,” wrote The Chronicle’s Nick Martin. “Ten victories later, the Blue Devils head coach’s words ring as true as the Victory Bell.”
Unfortunately for the team, Duke’s rise to the top would end there. Its 45-7 loss in the ACC championship game to Florida State would be followed by a comeback defeat at the hands of Texas A&M and Johnny Manziel in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. The Blue Devils have been searching for another 10-win season since 2013, and they still are, now with a 4-0 start under head coach Manny Diaz.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Dom Fenoglio is a Trinity junior and a sports managing editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.
Ranjan Jindal is a Trinity junior and sports editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.