North Carolina: 7
Georgia Tech: 20

The Yellow Jackets would open the 1943 season at home against the North Carolina Tar Heels. Carolina had finished the 1942 season at 5-2-2, while the Jackets compiled a record of 9-2. Tech would have been favored, but had several players injured going into the season and was therefore expected to drop the opener to the Tar Heels.

The Jackets caught a break in the first quarter when Willie Smith recovered Billy Myers’s fumble at the Carolina 18 yard line. But a tough Tar Heel defense held the Jackets to just 6 yards in four plays and Tech faced 4th and 5 from the 12. Coach Alexander decided to go for the score, and Frank Broyles hit M.E. Hill for a 12 yard touchdown to give the Ramblin’ Wreck a 7-0 lead.

A scoreless second quarter would send the Jackets to intermission ahead by seven.

The Yellow Jackets kicked off to start the second half and, on Carolina’s first play from scrimmage, Walt Kilzer recovered bob McCollum’s fumble at the Tar Heel 24 yard line. Tech would add its second score just six plays later on a 2 yard run by Eddie Prokop. Broyles setup the score with an 8 yard run in which he faked a handoff to Mickey Logan and raced to within two yards of the visitors’ end zone. Prokop then crossed the goal line to put Tech up 14-0.

Carolina cracked the scoreboard later in the period with a 34 yard run by Jack Fitch. The score capped off a 4 play, 54 yard drive to get the Tar Heels within a score at 14-7.

The Tar Heels stepped up their play and threated again in the final period. But deep in Tech territory, Carolina came up short on fourth down when Wilbur Stein threw Myers for a loss and the Jackets took over at their own 21 yard line.
One play later, Prokop ran through the line and raced 79 yards down the right sideline to increase the Ramblin’ Wreck lead to 20-7.

The Jackets would hang on to win by 13 and jump out to a 1-0 record on the young season. The Tar Heels would lose just two more games to finish at 6-3, with both losses came at the hands of the Duke Blue Devils. The teams first met in Durham on October 16th, where the Blue Devils came away with a 14-7 victory. The second meeting came on November 20th, where Duke again triumphed 26-7.

Statistics:

First Downs:
UNC – 14
GT – 5

Rushing Yards:
UNC – 210
GT – 142

Passing (Comp-Att-Yds):
UNC – 4-12-16
GT – 4-10-53

Fumbles lost:
UNC – 3
GT – 0

Interceptions thrown:
UNC – 3
GT – 4

Penalty yards:
UNC – 20
GT – 25

References:
Troy, Jack. “21,000 Watch Tech Trample North Carolina.” The Atlanta Constitution. 1943 Sep. 26