Oct. 10, 2008

by Rick Brewer, Sports Information Director Emeritus

When fans here talk abut the Carolina-Notre Dame series, they almost always start with a 1960 Tar Heel win or Joe Montana leading an Irish comeback victory in 1975.

But, they might have never even been played except for a 1949 game at Yankee Stadium. That was the first meeting ever between the two schools.

Notre Dame was looking for an opponent to play in New York. The Irish had been playing Army there almost every year. But, the Cadets had rotated off their schedule.

Carolina seemed a perfect fit. The Tar Heels had gone 9-1-1 in 1948, finishing third in the Associated Press poll. The Irish were in a streak of 39 games without a loss and were about to win their third national title in four years. It was expected to be a showdown between two of the top teams in the country.

The game was billed as a matchup of two All-Americas, Irish fullback Emil Sitko and the Tar Heels' Charlie Justice. Carolina officials felt this was a chance to get Justice the extra national attention he might need to win the Heisman Trophy. He had already finished second in the Heisman voting twice and a great performance against Notre Dame in front of the New York media could finally get him the award.

But, the Tar Heels went to New York with just a 5-2 record after losses to LSU and Tennessee. Even worse, Justice had severely sprained an ankle the previous week against William & Mary. He was held out to get ready for the final two games against Duke and Virginia. However, the ankle was so bad he could only see spot action at Duke.

Thousands of Carolina fans still made the trip to New York. They brought traffic to a halt in Times Square the night before the game with a huge pep rally at Broadway and 42nd Street.

The game was a letdown as the Irish rolled, 42-6. It was 6-6 at the half and the Tar Heels only trailed 15-6 entering the final period. Notre Dame then scored 27 points in the fourth quarter behind quarterback Bob Williams.

Chuck Erickson, soon to be the Carolina athletic director, was already handled scheduling and was good friends with Irish Athletic Director "Moose" Krause. They agreed to continue the series up through the 1960's and later arranged two more games in the 1970's.

It has been an attractive series for Carolina, but not a successful one. There hasn't been suffering like Cubs fans, but the losses have been just as hard for Tar Heel players.

Notre Dame has won 16 of the 17 games the schools have played. However, the Irish have had some close calls, despite usually having better teams. Nine games in the 1950's came during a low point in Tar Heel football history.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame was nationally-ranked seven times in that stretch and was the No. 1 team in 1950 and 1953. The top-ranked Irish escaped with a 14-7 win at South Bend in 1950 and then held on for a 12-7 victory in Kenan Stadium the following year. The Tar Heels also had good opportunities for wins in 1956 and 1958.

Carolina finally topped the Irish, 12-7, in 1960. Neither team had great seasons as Notre Dame finished 2-8 and the Tar Heels were 3-7. But, after the frustrating close losses, Carolina counted it as a major win.

Mike Greenday, a defensive end from Pennsylvania, was the big star in Kenan Stadium. The Tar Heels were already leading 6-0 when he intercepted a Daryle Lamonica pass and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown.

Greenday still remembered every detail years later.

"Notre Dame went into a formation they had been in only once before and on that play they had thrown a halfback flare pass to the other side. In the second quarter when they went into the same formation on my side, I played the halfback in the flat, looking for them to throw to him."

Greenday cut in front of the pass and had an open field in front of him

"I wasn't very fast," he said. "The thing I remember most was when I got into the end zone, I dropped the ball. I thought about it and jumped back on it. I didn't want to catch hell if it wasn't a touchdown and I had fumbled. It was such a different experience scoring a touchdown in college that I wanted to make sure I did it correctly."

Carolina shut down Lamonica in a 12-7 win.

The 1975 game here ranks as one of the most heartbreaking losses in school history. After a scoreless first half the Tar Heels took a 14-0 lead in the third quarter. Mike Voight, who finished with 169 yards rushing, had a 12-yard scoring run and Bill Paschall capped a 90-yard, 10-play drive with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Mel Collins.

Notre Dame cut that to 14-6 when Al Hunter scored early in the fourth period. But after their next possession ended with a punt, the Irish changed quarterbacks. Sophomore Joe Montana replaced Rick Slager. Montana led a quick 73-yard drive. Hunter scored on another two-yard run and Montana threw a two-point conversion pass.

The running of Voight and one pass by Paschall got Carolina into field goal range. But Tom Biddle missed from 41 yards.

The Irish took over on their own 20 with 1:19 left. On second down Montana found Ted Burgmeier on the left sideline and he went 80 yards for the winning points in a 21-14 win.

Notre Dame Coach Dan Devine called it "his greatest win ever". Tar Heel Coach Bill Dooley, as usual, gave credit to the opponents. Then he talked about how well his young team had played. A couple of costly mistakes were the only difference.

Now Notre Dame has another star quarterback in Jimmy Clausen who is coming off his best college performance. Such mistakes must be avoided Saturday if the Tar Heels are to have a chance against another nationally-ranked Irish team.