| Wide: | yes |
| North Carolina–NC State football rivalry | |
| Team1: | North Carolina Tar Heels |
| Team1logo: | North Carolina Tar Heels logo.svg |
| Team2: | NC State Wolfpack |
| Team2logo: | North Carolina State University Athletic logo.svg |
| Firstmeeting: | October 12, 1894 North Carolina, 44–0 |
| Mostrecent: | November 30, 2024 NC State, 35–30 |
| Nextmeeting: | 2025 in Raleigh |
| Total: | 114 |
| Series: | North Carolina leads, |
| Largestvictory: | NC State, 48–3 (1988) |
| Longeststreak: | North Carolina, 9 (1943–1955) |
| Currentstreak: | NC State, 4 (2021–present) |
The North Carolina–NC State football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the North Carolina Tar Heels football team of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the NC State Wolfpack football team of North Carolina State University.[1] [2] [3]
Both universities are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the yearly matchup is a protected rivalry in the expanded ACC.[4] The rivalry game is played at the end of each season during Thanksgiving week.[5] North Carolina leads the all-time series 68–40–6. The Wolfpack have won four matchups in a row in addition to 7 of the last 9 and 13 of the last 18 in the series. NC State won the most recent contest 35-30 on November 30, 2024. It is annually anticipated as the biggest college football game in the state of North Carolina.[6]
Only twice in the history of the rivalry has the game been contested anywhere beside Chapel Hill or Raleigh. The game has been played 60 times in Chapel Hill, 51 times in Raleigh, and twice in Charlotte, North Carolina (1998 and 1999). Played uninterrupted since 1953, the game since 1965 has alternated annually between the two respective campuses (save for the aforementioned 1998 & 1999 games). Games in odd-numbered years are played in Raleigh at NC State, and even-numbered years in Chapel Hill at UNC.
North Carolina and NC State were both charter members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, which was founded in 1953. Since that year, the rivalry has been played every season without a break. NC State hired Earle Edwards as head coach in 1954, and he was able to have considerably more success against North Carolina than his predecessors. Edwards amassed a 6–3 record against North Carolina during that time period and a 9–8 record during his career as head coach of the Wolfpack, making him the winningest NC State coach against the Tar Heels.
In the first 26 seasons of the ACC, the series record was tied at 13. Beginning in 1979, North Carolina went on a seven-game winning streak. During this time, North Carolina head coach Dick Crum amassed an 8–2 record against the Wolfpack. NC State hired Dick Sheridan as head coach prior to the 1986 season, and he went 6–1 against the Tar Heels. Following Sheridan's retirement from coaching, North Carolina went on another seven-game winning streak, leaving NC State head coach Mike O'Cain winless against Tar Heels coaches Mack Brown and Carl Torbush. The 1998 and 1999 games were held at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC, with the Tar Heels victorious in both.
During the 2000s, NC State went 6–4 in the series, including winning the last three games of the decade under Tom O'Brien, who finished with a 5-1 record against Carolina. From 2000–2023, NC State leads 16–9. The series record in the ACC currently stands at 37–35 in favor of North Carolina. Mack Brown finished his career with a 7–9 record against NC State as head coach of the Tar Heels. His overall record against NC State as a head coach was 7–11 (UNC-Chapel Hill, Texas, and Appalachian State). [7] NC State head coach Dave Doeren is currently 8–4 against UNC-Chapel Hill, including a 5–1 record in Kenan Stadium. [8]
After the Wolfpack's victory and conclusion of the 2024 matchup in Chapel Hill, which was also the final game for the Tar Heels' coach Mack Brown, a minor skirmish broke out at the midfield line when players from the Wolfpack planted their flag into the midfield. This altercation came after a similar event had occurred earlier that day during the Michigan-Ohio State game. Both Brown and NC State head coach Dave Doeren later condemned the altercation, with Brown calling the altercation "disresepectful" during a postgame press conference. [9]