Perhaps after 47 years, North Carolina can finally get some revenge on those rascally Richmond Spiders.

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Well, with the Spiders visiting Kenan Stadium on September 13 to face Bill Belichick’s Tar Heels, they will bring with them a one-game win “streak” over UNC, albeit a stretch that has lasted 47 years.

That is the last time these programs met on the gridiron, and while probably not remembered in most circles, it was historic and also head scratching.

Richmond 27, North Carolina 18. It was November 4, 1978, at City Stadium, a somewhat disheveled mess nearly 50 years after it was built. For some reason, UNC made the two-hour drive north to play at Richmond in football. And it didn’t work out too well.

"This was a very frustrating afternoon," UNC coach Dick Crum told the media afterward. “I certainly want to congratulate Richmond. Their team played so well. I thought we practiced well this week, but it was tough to keep our minds on the game, and that had me worried.”

So much went wrong that day for the Tar Heels falling to a club that entered the game with a 1-7 record and losers of three straight games to the likes of Villanova, VMI, and East Carolina.

The Spiders were a Division 1-A Independent for several years in the 1970s before settling in 1-AA (now FCS) a few years later. The classifications weren’t yet specific in 1978. UR also played Chattanooga and William & Mary that season.

As for UNC, the Tar Heels were paced by legendary running back “Famous” Amos Lawrence who ran for 151 yards on 29 carries and had another 79 yards on four receptions. With his numbers, one might think the Heels ground out a win and moved on. Only they didn’t.

Richmond ran for 263 yards and got a 69-yard interception return for a touchdown by Jeff Nixon for a 14-0 Spiders lead. Richmond led 21-6 at halftime to the delight of the 15,000 fans that crammed into the old stadium.

The Heels made a push but Richmond usually had answers, and it stunned the ACC team that finished nationally ranked the previous season.

“I guess this is the bottom,” UNC quarterback Chuck Sharpe told the Charlotte Observer after the game. “This is a game we really shouldn’t have lost.”

Richmond running back Jesse Williams, who scored a late touchdown sealing the deal for the Spiders, competed against UNC’s star running back in high school in the Tidewater area. Williams said his team simply seized on the opportunity.

“This meant the world, everything,” he told the Charlotte Observer. “They didn’t look like they were too enthused. I could tell when they came out. They may have been a little flat.”

Yet, the Tar Heels fell to 3-5 after the loss with a trip to nationally ranked Clemson looming. Flat perhaps, but more like being overconfident.

Forty-seven years later, the Spiders will drive South a couple of hours with minimal knowledge of what transpired that day in the old capital of the South. If the players know, it’s because some old sportswriter dredged up that game.

That’s why many of the Tar Heels will know, too. But that it happened remains a fascinating tale that will remain forever.