North Carolina at Duke
Saturday, November 18, 1939 Share
No. 13 Duke beat No. 7 North Carolina 13–3. It was their 24th meeting; after it, North Carolina led the series 10–6–2 in the games on file.
FinalHigh 72°F, low 36°FAttendance 52,000
In the newspapers

The Daily Alaska empire, November 20, 1939, page 6 (results column)
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FOOTBALL SCORES The following are final scores of principal football games played last afternoon: Oregon State 21; California O. Washington State 2; Stanford O.. Santa Clara :; UCLA O.. Georgetown IA; New York U 0. Indiana 2; Michigan State T; tie. Colgate 0; Syracuse T. New Hampshire 0; Harvard 46. Penn State IA; Army IA; tie. South Dakota O; Cincinnati 13. Boston College 19; Boston U 0. Cornell 35; Dartmouth 6. Princeton l3; Yale ‘. North Carolina 3; Duke 13. Carnegie Tech 0; Holy Cross 21. Nebraska IA; Pitt 13. Michigan 20; Penn IT. St. Mary’s 0; Fordham 13.

The Nome nugget, Alaska, November 20, 1939, page 1 (results column)
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Football Scores Football Final November 18 Cornell 35-Dartmouth 6 Princeton 13-Yale 2 North Carolina 3-Duke 13 Carnegie Tech 0-Holycross 21 Nebraska 14-Pitt 13 Michigan 19-Penn IT St. Marys 0-Firdham IA Illinois 0-Ohio State 21 Tulane 25-Columbia 0 Northwestern 0-Norte Dame Oklahoma 6-Missouri ‘ Minnesota 9-IoWa 13 Georgia Tech 6-Alabama 0 Vanderbilt 0-Tennessee Is Texas Christian 19-Texas 25 Texas A and M 19-Rice 0 Oregon State 21-California 0 Washington State 7-Stanford Santa Clara 0-UcLA 0
Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The text is the machine reading of the page, mistakes and all.
On the newsreel
- DUKE BEATS NO. CAROLINAThe Duke "Blue Devils" trounce the hitherto undefeated "Tarheels," coming from behind to win 13-3 before 50,000 stunned fans
Universal Newsreel, National Archives (catalog record). Story titles and words as Universal’s release sheet gives them; the films themselves may still be under copyright, so we link to the record rather than show them.
Before kickoff
Our ratings going in
Our ratings (scores only)
Duke 60% to win. Duke pulled the upset. Elo’s favorite won.
The series
Every North Carolina–Duke gameOfficially, North Carolina leads 64–42–4; as played, 64–38–4 in the 106 games on file; the official count covers all 112 meetings, counting the 88 since this game.
| 2026 | North Carolina 24, Duke 20 | |
| 2025 | Duke 32, North Carolina 25 | |
| 2024 | Duke 21, North Carolina 20 | |
| 2023 | North Carolina 47, Duke 45 | |
| 2022 | North Carolina 38, Duke 35 | |
| 2021 | North Carolina 38, Duke 7 |
Around this game
North Carolina
- Next gamevs. VirginiaNov. 30, 1939
- SeasonNorth Carolina in 1939
- ProgramNorth Carolina history and records
Duke
- Next gameat NC StateNov. 25, 1939
- SeasonDuke in 1939
- ProgramDuke history and records

