By Lee Pace
It began on a rainy Saturday afternoon in late November 1972 when a school only five years removed from its official name being East Carolina Teacher's College traveled to Chapel Hill and was pounded by what would, in hindsight, be the most successful Tar Heel squad of the Bill Dooley decade. Carolina cruised to a 42-19 win over East Carolina University in the Greenville school's first year in the consolidated UNC System en route to an 11-1 record, ACC championship and Sun Bowl win over Texas Tech.
"They had been talking about this being their bowl, about how they were going to beat us," Carolina's All-America guard Ron Rusnak said.