| Date | Opponent | Ranking | Location | Result | Attendence | Time | Length | Event | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/27/1952 | at Maryland (AP: 2; Coaches': 3) | Byrd Stadium - College Park, MD** | N/A | N/A | N/A | Sanctioned by Conference | |||
| 9/27/1952 | George Washington | Riddick Stadium - Raleigh, NC | L, 0 - 39 | 7,500-8,000 | 8 PM | 60 min. | |||
| 10/4/1952 | at Clemson | Memorial Stadium - Clemson, SC** | N/A | N/A | N/A | Sanctioned by Conference | |||
| 10/4/1952 | at Georgia (Coaches': 20) * | Sanford Stadium - Athens, GA | L, 0 - 49 | 22,000 | 2 PM | 60 min. | |||
| 10/11/1952 | at North Carolina | Kenan Memorial Stadium - Chapel Hill, NC | N/A | N/A | 2 PM | N/A | Polio outbreak at UNC | ||
| 10/11/1952 | Davidson | Riddick Stadium - Raleigh, NC | W, 28 - 6 | 5,500 | 2 PM | 60 min. | Originally 11/15; then 10/4 | ||
| 10/18/1952 | Duke (AP: 5, Coaches': 8) | Riddick Stadium - Raleigh, NC | L, 0 - 57 | 11,500 | 2 PM | 60 min. | North Carolina State Fair | ||
| 10/25/1952 | Florida State * | Riddick Stadium - Raleigh, NC | W, 13 - 7 | 6,000 | 2 PM | 60 min. | Homecoming | Originally 10/4; then 11/29 | |
| 11/1/1952 | at Furman | Sirrine Stadium - Greenville, SC | N/A | N/A | N/A | Furman rescheduled | |||
| 11/1/1952 | at Wake Forest | "Old" Groves Stadium - Wake Forest, NC | L, 6 - 21 | 12,000 | 2 PM | 60 min. | Originally 10/25 | ||
| 11/8/1952 | at Washington & Lee | Wilson Field - Lexington, VA | W, 25 - 14 | 4,000 | 2:30 PM | 60 min. | |||
| 11/15/1952 | at Pittsburgh (AP: 14, Coaches': T-13) * | Pitt Stadium - Pittsburgh, PA | L, 6 - 48 | 12,746 | 2 PM | 60 min. | |||
| 11/22/1952 | at William & Mary | Cary Field - Williamsburg, VA | L, 6 - 41 | 3,000-5,000 | 2 PM | 60 min. | |||
| 12/6/1952 | at Texas Tech * | Jones Stadium - Lubbock, TX | L, 7 - 54 | 11,000 | 2 PM (CST) | 60 min. |
* Non-conference games
** Location could not be confirmed and is assumed from scheduling conventions of previous years.
This schedule went through at least 4 iterations. The first edition, though unpublished (as best as I can find), featured contests against Clemson and Maryland. After those schools accepted post-season bowl bids for the 1951 season (in defiance of the Southern Conference), the league voted to prohibit teams from meeting the two renegades for the coming season, forcing a massive league-wide schedule rearrangement. (As an aside, this was a major factor in leading the schools which eventually formed the ACC to break away from the Southern Conference).
The second schedule was released shortly after the announcement of the expungement of Maryland and Clemson in mid-December 1951, and featured a simple replacement of Maryland with George Washington and Clemson with Florida State, followed by a game at North Carolina (October 11), at home against Duke (October 18), at Wake Forest (October 25), at Furman (November 1), at Washington & Lee (November 8), at home against Davidson (November 15), and at William & Mary (November 22) (The Asheville Citizen, December 17th, 1951, p. 11).
A third schedule was released in January 1952. Changes include moving the date with Florida State from October 4th to November 29th; the dropping of the Furman game; the movement of the Davidson game from its original date to October 4th, the original date of the Florida State game; and the replacement of Davidson's original date, November 15th, with Pittsburgh (The Charlotte News, January 2nd, 1952, p. 5-B). By March, the Florida State game had moved a third time, now from November 29th to October 25th, the original Wake Forest game date; Wake Forest filled the date of the dropped Furman game (November 1st); and finally, a tenth game against Texas Tech was scheduled for December 6th (North Carolina State College News, Vol. XXIV No. 9 (March 1952), p. 2). Most of these changes were all likely caused by other teams trying to fill holes in their own schedules caused by the Southern Conference's bans on Maryland and Clemson.
The schedule was more or less finalized until the beginning of the season, when UNC's football team was struck with a polio epidemic. On October 2nd it was announced that Harold "Bull" Davidson, a fullback on UNC's football team, had contracted the disease. NC State agreed to travel to Athens, Georgia, in place of the Tar Heels, but this was problematic because NC State was supposed to play Davidson on that date.
Davidson refused to release the Wolfpack from their scheduled game, and refused to postpone the game to either October 11th or November 29th, both open dates on the Wildcat schedule. Initially, the Wolfpack had intended to play Georgia in the afternoon and Davidson that evening, pending approval from the school's Athletic Council (Durham Morning Herald, October 3rd, 1952, Section IV, p. 1). Though the Council met the next morning to discuss the possibility*, Davidson relented that same day and agreed to move the game to October 11th, which was open for both teams owing to Davidson's schedule and UNC's cancelation (The Asheville Citizen, October 4th, 1952, Section 2, p. 1; Durham Morning Herald, October 4th, 1952, Section 2, p. 2).
Unfortunately, the game against UNC was lost in the scuffle. Though NC State had an open date on November 29th, UNC was obligated to meet Miami, and though UNC could play the game after Thanksgiving, NC State had already agreed to play Texas Tech on December 6th. As such, the two teams failed to meet for the first time since 1947 and only the fourth time since 1919 -- the other three such times occurring during the Second World War. The teams have met continuously every year since.
* Interestingly, if the Athletic Council did meet, they took no minutes and left no documentation as to what their final edict was; meeting minutes in the "Athletic Council Meeting Minutes, 1949-1953" jump from September 6th to December 20th, while records from the Faculy Athletic Committee feature a gap from September 16th to December 15th (UA 022.001 Athletics Council meeting minutes 1949-1953 (Box 1, Folder 8) and Faculty Athletic Committee meeting minutes 1949-1953 (Box 2, Folder 1) - North Carolina State University, Committees, Council on Athletics Records, UA 022.001, Special Collections Research Center, NC State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC).
Last updated: 11/27/2023