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This date in 1897 marked the fifth meeting between a team bearing North Carolina's name and the Farmers and Mechanics, and the third match against Chapel Hill's Varsity team. The series had been a continual embarassment for the Raleigh boys, and this year's meeting would be no different. Heading in to this game, A&M had lost three straight meetings afainst the Varsity team, outscored by a total margin of 96 - 0--and the spread likely could have been higher had UNC played their full starting team in the second matchup of 1894, with the Tar Heels gifting the Farmers a 16-0 loss; the next closest match was from 36 - 0 in their first meeting of 1894.

In 1894, North Carolina's coach was W. A. Reynolds, a star player and former coach of Princeton's football team. The Tar Heel's captain, Joel Whitaker, was reported as "jubilant" over the "splendid showing" of new men on the team, with reportedly six men weighing over 200 pounds. Other new players to have joined the team over the summer were Jim McRae, who was "for 2 years captain of the team of the University at Nasheville," and another man named Conrad, "who played end on the V. M. I. team last year" (News and Observer, September 21st, 1897, p. 1). UNC's team was managed by Warren Kluttz, and as previously mentioned, initially captained by Joel Whitaker (The Western Sentinel, September 16th, 1897, p. 1).

One big talking point around Chapel Hill's team coming in to the season was bringing in a man of some local fame, William Austin, "the giant blacksmith of Stanley county." Austin reportedly measured 6 feet, 9-3/4 inches tall, and weighed upwards of 240 pounds. Reportedly, at only 19 years of age he could carry a 500-pound bale of cotton around 25 yards, and had recently been offered $5,000 (about $155,000 in 2019) to train to fight the champion of the world (Washington Progress, July 21st, 1897, p. 1). Other reports said that Austin would have been the largest football player in the country. Sadly for UNC's football team, Austin was simply too clumsy to make the final team (The Commonwealth, August 26th, 1897, p. 4; The Press-Visitor, September 21st, 1897, p. 1). Austin's size would have been a welcome addition to the team, though, as the Heels were an unusually light team, averaging "only" 147 pounds (Barrier, p. 25).

Another last-minute pivot made by the Tar Heel football team was the status of Whitaker, former standout for the Farmers and Mechanics and the previous year Chapel Hill's star quarterback. Though originally slated to be their starting quarterback and team captain, Whitaker instead left for New York to study dentistry. In New York, he planned to play quarterback on the Orange Athletic Associatoin Foot Ball team (The Tar Heel, October 1st, 1897, p. 1; The Tar Heel, October 8th, 1897, p. 3).

A&M's team left Raleigh on the morning of the game, October 2nd, at the early time of 3:30 AM, and arrived in Chapel Hill around 1 PM, quartering themselves at a hotel identified as Pickard's (likely what was later referred to as University Inn due to Pickard opening another hotel in 1906 called Pickard's Hotel) before their game. Reportedly, one hundred "rooters" also joined the team on their trip to Chapel Hill. Raleigh's Daily Times bore the following optimistic report: "The A. and M. boys do not expect a victory, as the team is not a very strong one so far this season" Daily Times, October 1st, 1897, p. 1). Chapel Hill's student newspaper was somewhat more flattering of the Raleigh team, writing "The fifteen long-haired farmer boys... were of good size and it looked as if the 'Varsity was to have some little trouble in their first encounter." While it was true that A&M's team averaged a reported 151 pounds, just 9 pounds lighter than UNC's team, their inexperience would soon prove to be much greater (The Tar Heel, October 8th, 1897, p. 1; Charlotte Daily Observer, October 3rd, 1897, p. 8).

NC A&M's team was captained by Hugh McCollum Curran, a junior out of Westboro, Massachusets, while Belden captained the Chapel Hill boys. The articles available do not specify which team won the coin toss, which is somewhat unusual for the time; regardless of who won, Asbury kicked off for "Capt. Curran's youngsters" to start the first half, which was 20 minutes in length. The Farmers started the game defending the East goal, kicking off to UNC. Asbury's kick was described succinctly as "a poor one," and traveled only 15 yards before Neville fell on it for North Carolina. The Tar Heels started the drive with a pass from their quarterback, Fannie Osborne, to their left halfback, Howell, who immediately ran 60 yards. The very next play resulted in a touchdown for the Heels, with McRae running the ball across the line for the touchdown. After 1 minute and 4 seconds, UNC had scored and kicked their point after, putting UNC up 6-0.

Asbury again kicked off for the Farmers, kicking 20 yards this time. Schull recovered the ball for UNC and advanced the ball three yards before he was stopped by the Red and White. The Chapel Hill boys shrugged off the stop with an 18 yard run by McRae and another long run for a touchdown by Howell. After a total of 58 seconds, the White and Blue had scored their second touchdown; Belden's kick made soon made the score 12-0.

For the third time in just over 2 minutes, Asbury kicked the ball, again netting 20 yards. Osborne fell on the ball for the Tar Heels. The first play for the Tar Heels was a fumbled ball that McRae advanced just 1 yard, but the near-accident was inconsequential; the following play resulted in a 70-yard touchdown run by McRae. McRae's run was the fifth-longest recorded run in Tar Heel history (Barrier, p. 12). Belden again kicked the point after the goal, and the score sat at 18-0, UNC, after just 3 minutes and 56 seconds of play. For those keeping track, that was UNC's slowest drive of the game, taking just 1 minute and 56 seconds of play. The 20-minute half was not even a fifth of the way over.

"The A. and M. now braced up," starts the UNC article describing A&M's fourth straight kickoff. Asbury kicked the ball the farthest yet, reaching 25 yards; Osborne again recovered the ball and this time advanced it 10 yards. McRae made an 8-yard gain, followed by a two 8-yard gains by Howell. The rest of the drive consisted of a 7-yard gain by McRae, an 8-yard gain by Belden, a 15-yard gain by Howell, a 5-yard gain by Howell, and finally a 3-yard gain by Belden for the touchdown. With the game time now to seven and a half minutes, the drive took UNC just over three and a half minutes; Belden completed the drive with his fourth kick of the day to make the score 24-0.

The Red and White kick again, kicking the ball 25 yards before Osborne again recovers the ball, advancing the ball 5 yards. McRae ran the ball the next play, "a beautiful jumping run" in which he hurdled an A&M linesman, gaining eight yards by slightly injuring himself in the process; McRae was replaced by Collins. Collins was less impressive than McRae, gaining just 3 yards on his first carry and 1 yard on the next, but Collins' greenness was of minor inconvenience to the Tar Heels, as Howell advanced the ball 10 yards on the next play. Collins carried the ball again, but is stopped for no gain after "being checked by a beautiful tacle by Capt. Curran." Collins then makes a "short gain," followed by a 4-yard run by Howell. Collins finally makes a decent play, running for 6 yards, however, his good run is nixed by fumbling the ball, giving the Farmers their first possession of the ball game.

A&M's first drive of the game went poorly. Starting around their own 38-yard line, McKinnon got the ball first and lost a yard; Curran, who UNC's student paper described as "as plucky as the best" despite weighing just 127 pounds stripped, ran the ball 15 yards. Based on the approximate distances given so far, this would mean that the Farmers crossed midfield, and started their subsequent plays from UNC's 48-yard line, but a writeup the following morning in the Daily Charlotte Observer quoted a source from Chapel Hill as saying "We did not have the ball to cross our 50-yard once." Despite Curran's efforts, the following three plays were "vain" and failed to cross the line of gain; the Tar Heels regained possession of the ball, if not across midfield, then very near to it. UNC made short work of their next drive, with a pass from Osborne to Howell going the distance. Belden "missed an easy goal," leaving the score at 28-0.

Asbury kicked off 35 yards--his longest of the game to this point--but this is nullified by the fact that Belden returned the kick for 75 yards. Though it is not clear in the game summary, it appears as if Belden fumbled the ball on A&M's 10 yard line, and A&M was able to advance it an unspecified distance that was past their own 30 yard line. Asbury started this drive for A&M by passing the ball to "little Daggett, who squeezed through the line for two yards." Daggett's gain was followed by a 2-and-a-half-yard plunge by Curran, and then another 2 yards by Daggett. Unfortunately, Asbury fumbled the ball on the following play, returning the ball to UNC's control. Howell and Belden advanced the ball together to the 30-yard line, and then Howell ran the ball in for a 30-yard touchdown run. Belden "again missed an easy goal," leaving the score at 32-0. The first half was nearly over, after 18 minutes of play.

Not much of consequence happened in the remainder of the half, which was only 15 minutes in length. Asbury kicked his worst kick of the game, advancing the ball just 10 yards before Abbott fell on the ball for UNC. Collins then carried the ball for no gain, followed by a 7-yard gain by Howell. The half ended with a 5-yard gain and an 8-yard gain by Collins before Mr. Graham called time.

The Farmers and Mechanics got some time to rest up between the halves; unfortunately, so did the Tarheels. Belden kicked the ball three yards, and Asbury returned the ball 15 yards. Sadly, the Raleigh boys lost the ball almost immediately, after failing to reach the line of gain in three tries. Howell started UNC's possession with a 10-yard gain, followed by an 8-yard gain for Collins and another run for Howell, this time for 18-yards. According to UNC's student paper, the final play of the drive went as follows: "Belden called to Osborne, 'You know the play,' and in a pretty manner struck the line for three yards and a touchdown." Belden missed his third kick of the game, and after three minutes of play in the second half, the score stood 36-0. Though it would seem from this description that Belden ran in the touchdown, a summary of the game in the Charlotte Daily Observer gives Collins a touchdown which is otherwise unaccounted for. If the Charlottean summary is to believed, that means Collins scored this touchdown. It is, however, possible that the summary is mistaken, as it gave Howell 4 total touchdowns when he only earned 3, and gave McRae only 1 touchdown when he earned two.

Asbury kicked delivered another 35-yard kick to Belden, who advanced the ball 20 yards. Collins initiated the drive with a run for no gain, followed by a 10-yard gain by Buxton, and then a 2-yard loss by Collins. Buxton then gained seven yards. After that play, Collins was removed from the game and replaced by Martin, and Turner took the place of Kluttz for the Tar Heels. Immediately after coming in, Martin ran for 5 yards, and then another 10; reportedly, Schull was "slightly hurt" for the White and Blue but decided to stay in the game anyways. The Tar Heels' substituted again, replacing Belden with Graves. On the following play, Kerner was off sides for UNC, resulting in a turnover.

Despite the gifted turnover, A&M did little with the ball. Curran "tried to gain" but was tackled 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage by Martin of the Tar Heels; on the subsequent play, Curran was again tackled by Martin, this time after gaining 5-and-a-half yards. The ball was turned over to Carolina after the Farmers failed to make the line of gain.

The Chapel Hill boys' drive started sloppily with a fumble by Osborne, but Buxton recovered the ball and ran 10 yards. Buxton ran the ball the next two plays, gaining 10 yards and then 2 yards; Martin gaining another 5 yards, and on the following play Buxton ran the ball the remainder of the length of the field for a touchdown. This time Graves attempted the kick, but he missed as well. That would prove to be the final score of the game, with the score reaching 40-0 in favor of the local team.

The remaining 5 minutes of the second half were not described in detail. Schull and Morton were both injured, with Morton being replaced by Bost and Schull being replaced by Cromartie. The second half ended with the ball on midfield.

The game was umpired by Dr. Baskerville, a former UNC player who umpired for the 1895 game as well; George Phineas Butler, a former fullback for UNC, acted as the referee and linesman; and Mr. George Graham, of Durham, acted as the timekeeper.

UNC's paper noted that "Curran... was fearless and it is to his credit that his little band of pigskin chasers fought a steady battle until the last." The Charlotte Daily Observer agreed, noting briefly that "Curran did good work for the Agricultural and Mechanical College" in a short report otherwise devoid of any mention of the Raleigh-based school. The Press-Visitor, of Raleigh, reported the game with an almost pollyanaish hint of optimism. Despite noting that "The game was a very one-sided affair" and that "the A. & M. boys were over-classed," the paper believed that A&M "played very good ball and came very near to making a touch down at one time" (The Press-Visitor, October 4th, 1897, p. 1).