Critics and commentators keep debating over the Duke game.

Despite the classic in Durham the other night, here is what they say:

  • The Blue Devils aren’t the football rival that N.C. State has been over the years (statistically incorrect, by the way).
  • We need to play more “name opponents” in our non-conference games for people to get excited about football.
  • Is it “just another game” or does it really mean anything beyond a win?

I’ve been watching Carolina-Duke football since I was at UNC and witnessed the Blue Devils beat us in 1969 on the infamous “shoestring” trick play. QB Leo Hart pretended to be lacing up his cleat when the ball was snapped to another back who took it to the house for the winning touchdown.

My lede in the Daily Tar Heel after that game was “What a bummer!”

Now, there have been years when either Duke or Carolina wasn’t very good in football, but as rivalry games go that doesn’t matter. What matters is the Victory Bell and having it on your sideline and keeping it there.

As recently as 2019, when Chazz Surratt snatched victory from the jaws of almost certain defeat, a tussle erupted near the Duke bench when the Tar Heels ran over to reclaim the Bell they hadn’t had in three years.

In 2014, Carolina took back the Bell with a 45-20 blowout in Durham, and the Tar Heels were ready with a duffle bag full of light blue paint canisters. After pulling the bell trolly across the field, they not only doused it with the right hue but lost their minds in the visiting locker room, painting THAT light blue, too. Duke was really pissed, and Bubba Cunningham and Larry Fedora wound up paying the six-figure restoration fee out of their own pockets.

The funniest episode I can remember was in Butch Davis’ first season, 2007, when the Blue Devils were about to beat Carolina for the second time in 16 years. They had a chip shot field goal to win with only seconds to play. So many Blue Devils started running across to get the bell as the ball was snapped, they could have been flagged for way too many men on the field. Then the kick hooked left, and the Heels won in OT.

Heck, I once took an old girlfriend who knew NOTHING about football to the game at Duke, and all she wanted to do after UNC won was ring the bell.

So don’t tell me it doesn’t matter.

 

Featured image via Associated Press/Ben McKeown

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