North Carolina – NC State football rivalry The North Carolina – NC State football rivalry is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the North Carolina Tar Heels football team of the University of North Carolina and the NC State Wolfpack football team of North Carolina State University . Both universities are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference ( ACC ) and share the same state . Although they are not in the same division of the ACC , the schools are permanent cross - division opponents . North Carolina holds a 64 – 32 – 6 overall lead in the series , with UNC winning the most recent contest . Pre – ACC era . The first game between North Carolina and NC State occurred October 12 , 1894 in Chapel Hill , North Carolina . The Tar Heels won the game 44 – 0 , the first of six straight victories for Carolina to open the series with NC State . The Wolfpack tied Carolina four times between 1899 and 1905 before the series went on a fourteen - year hiatus , with Carolina leading 8 – 0 – 4 . Following a 0 – 0 tie on November 8 , 1902 , the student body of Duke University sent NC State a congratulatory telegram , showing the significance of another intense regional rivalry between Carolina and Duke . The two rivals met again on October 23 , 1919 , and Carolina narrowly escaped with a one point victory . On October 21 , 1920 in Raleigh , NC , which was the fourteenth meeting between the schools , the Wolfpack won for the first time . NC State backed up the win with another victory the following season . The Tar Heels dominated the pre – ACC series with a 31 – 5 – 6 record . ACC era . North Carolina and NC State were both charter members of the Atlantic Coast Conference , which played its first season 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 considerable more success against Carolina than his predecessors . When Edwards was hired , NC State played in Riddick Stadium , which held half as many people as Carolina ’ s Kenan Memorial Stadium . Due to this fact , Edwards opted to play home games versus the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill from 1956 to 1964 . Despite playing on the road during those years , Edwards amassed a 6 – 3 record against 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 , but beginning in 1979 , Carolina went on a seven - game winning streak . During this time , 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 . However , following Sheridan ' s retirement from coaching , 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 . The series record in the ACC currently stands at 33 – 27 in favor of North Carolina . Game results . " North Carolina victories are shaded ██ blue . NC State victories are shaded ██ red . Ties are shaded ██ gray . " Source : College Football Data Warehouse .