My boss called me into his office the first week of August. “I need you to go to Boston the Thursday and Friday before Labor Day.” Sure boss, whatever you say. I called my company’s travel office to book my flight. “Ummm, you do realize that flying on the Friday before Labor Day will cost an arm and a leg. If you can stay over until Sunday, the airfare is so much cheaper that we still come out ahead even with the two extra nights of hotel.” Free weekend in Boston? Sure, twist my arm.
The first thing I did was check the Red Sox schedule. Damn, it, they’re away. Oh well, there’s tons of great stuff to do in Boston without the Red Sox. And then my Wolfpack wheels started turning. Wait a minute – we play at Syracuse that Saturday. Hmmmm.
Let’s look at the map. It’s only 250 miles! Yeah, we’ll lose, but it will be fun to see the Carrier Dome and checkout upstate New York. I would go by myself if I had to, but ideally, I needed a road trip partner. My good friend Jeff hails from Holyoke, MA and was going home that weekend anyway. “Hey Jeff, have you been to a college football game before? No? Get ready. You’re going with me to the State-Syracuse game. I’ll come get you in Holyoke and off we’ll go. You’ve got friends in Syracuse we can stay with? Perfect.”
The plan was set. Given that I was in my first real job, saving my meager salary was important and here I had flights and lodging to Boston and Syracuse taken care of. All I needed was a rental car and game tickets. A quick call to Hertz and then one to the NC State ticket office and I was all set.
As I left my apartment that Thurday morning, I made sure to do a quick mental checklist and made sure I had everything. Suits for work? Check. You’re going to upstate New York, you’d better bring a State sweatshirt. Check. Plane tickets? Check. Wait a minute, I’ve got a rental car. I’ll pack my car flags and slap those puppies on Friday afternoon. Yeah!
Boston was great, the client was happy and I cruised out of Beantown with my old diamond logo car flags flapping in the breeze. Jeff’s Mom fixed us an awesome dinner and with a good night’s sleep, we were on the road by six am. The kickoff was at noon and we were nearly three hours away. As we rode across upstate New York, we passed many Orangemen, but no Wolfpackers. The looks and double takes we received with the car flags were priceless.
Syracuse has the problem that every other school with an on-campus stadium has – there’s no parking. We met Jeff’s friends and parked a long ways away, bringing the twelve-pack with us knowing we’d have it downed by the time we reached the Carrier Dome. As we walked by all the Orangemen tailgates, the trash talk was heavy. They barely knew who NC State was and just assumed that an ass-kicking was in the offing. I let it go.
We get to the stadium and walk around to the small section of a few hundred Wolfpackers who made the trip. Immediately, familiar faces that I know start high-fiving me and offering hugs or giving the wolfie sign. Jeff was perplexed. “How do you know all these people?” “Well Jeff, I don’t know them per se, but we’re all Wolfpack family and see each other at all the games. This is how we greet each other.” This was to be the first of many lessons Jeff learned that day about rabid college football fans.
A few minutes into the game, I was sweating buckets. Remember that sweatshirt I just had to bring? Syracuse fails to tell you that the Carrier Dome – named after Carrier Heating & Air Conditioning, isn’t actually air conditioned. The thermometer on the field read 81 degrees. With all the bodies packed in, it felt like 101 degrees. I lost the sweatshirt.
As much as I’d like to provide you with a play-by-play through the quarters, this was 14 years ago and my memory is fuzzy. I do recall that I was surprised at how well we were playing and basically matched them score for score. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we kept Donovan McNabb somewhat in check. And of course, the few hundred Wolfpackers were raising hell!
Naturally, the Syracuse folks didn’t like that and there was more trash talking. At some point, I was up protesting a call and got an earful from a fellow a few rows back, giving me the stereotypical southern hillbilly bit, ending in a “Carolina sucks.” That gave me the opening I needed. I turned around, stared him down and said – “You’re right, Carolina DOES suck, but you’re playing NC State. Or do they not teach scoreboard reading up here?” Everyone, including the Syracuse fans laughed and the offender was appropriately STFU.
Fast forward to the 4th quarter and State scores to tie the game at 24. On the next Syracuse possession, McNabb hits a deep route and they’ve got first and goal with about 24 second left. Oh well, we played with them most of the game. It was a good showing. Even if we stop them, it’s a chippie field goal. Jeff asked if I wanted to go and I said no, let’s just stay until the end.
On the next play, McNabb got greedy. On a called QB sneak he tried to hold the ball out over the goal line for the score. Seeing the ball basically sitting in midair like that, the Wolfpack defense smacked it right out of his hands and recovered the fumble. Great, at least we managed a tie. No dummy, they changed the rules this year and college football now has an overtime format! Yes! The announcer had to remind the several thousand fans who started streaming for the exits.
On the first Syracuse possession, they score with relative ease and it’s now 31-24. OK, let’s see what the Pack can do. The first three downs went for nothing and I recall thinking the play calling was unimaginative. One down went for a loss, so it was 4th and forever when Barnette heaves a prayer down the right sideline that is caught for a first down. A couple of plays later, we score and it’s now 31-30 Syracuse. OK, let’s get this extra point and see if we can hold McNabb.
Wait a second. We’re not sending in the field goal unit. “O’Cain – what the hell are you doing?” That cry came from more than a few Wolfpackers. Great. We’ll go for the win and not get it. Oh well, let’s see what happens.
Syracuse was just as surprised that we weren’t going for the extra point. It confused them and they didn’t have the right personnel on the field. The Syracuse coaching staff is trying like crazy to get the timeout called, but they can’t get the referee’s attention before Wolfpack QB Jamie Barnette takes the snap. Torry Holt rubs off a linebacker and is wide open across the middle. Barnette hits him in stride and just like that, the game is over. NC State 32-Syracuse 31. Coach O’Cain goes from goat to genius in three seconds. (He would later tell the media that he just felt like it was time to stick the knife in their throat and finish them off.)
Bedlam ensues. Wolfpackers are whopping, jumping and hugging for joy. Remember my friend Jeff, whose first game it was? Jeff was sitting on the aisle and some lady Wolfpacker (who was somewhat larger in stature than Jeff) grabs him up in a bear hug and takes him up and down the steps! The look on his face was somewhere between thrill and horror.
And now it was our turn to talk the smack. I’ll bet they know who NC State is now. The walk back to the car was one of the sweetest hikes of my life. There was nothing they could say in return.
Before any of this happened, Jeff’s friends told us that we had to go to Dinosaur Barbecue after the game. That was the post-game place to go for all the Orange fans. Being a North Carolina native, I was totally on board with that plan because I will eat barbecue anywhere and everywhere.
We get to Dinosaur and what was supposed to have been a sea of orange was a sea of red. The Wolfpackers literally took the place over. We drank their beer, ate their barbecue, sang the fight song and did cheers until the wee hours of the morning.
A few hours after that,I got back in the car to go back to Boston for the flight home. I was taking with me yet another wonderful Wolfpack memory.
What’s your best Wolfpack road trip story?
