East Carolina–NC State rivalry

East Carolina–NC State rivalry
Sports	Football, baseball, others
Originated	1970

The East Carolina–NC State rivalry is a rivalry between East Carolina University and North Carolina State University, both of which are located in North Carolina. The intensity of the rivalry is driven by the proximity (both are UNC system schools and are only 83 miles apart via U.S. Highway 264) and the size of the two schools (NC State is the largest university in the state and East Carolina is the second largest).

East Carolina was founded in 1907 as a normal school. It became a four-year institution in 1920 and was renamed East Carolina Teachers College. It then became East Carolina College in 1951 and East Carolina University in 1967. East Carolina joined the UNC System in 1972.

North Carolina State was founded in 1887 as a land-grant college. Its original name was North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. In 1918, it changed its name to North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering. In 1931, the school moved to under the Consolidated University of North Carolina and was renamed North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering of the University of North Carolina. It once again was renamed North Carolina State of the University of North Carolina at Raleigh in 1963 and received its current name in 1965.

Football

East Carolina–N.C. State rivalry

Sport	Football
Teams	East Carolina Pirates NC State Wolfpack
Trophy	Victory Barrel

The most prominent sport in the rivalry is football. The two teams began competing against each other in 1970. The football series between the two teams was suspended in 1987. Jim Valvano terminated NC State’s scheduling of East Carolina after Pirate fans tore down goal posts and the playing surface at Carter–Finley in 1987. NC State’s athletics administration had publicly warned ECU and Pirate fans after two consecutive years of minor vandalisms to the stadium. The schools would not meet again until the 1992 Peach Bowl. In 1996, the two schools met in Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium rather than on either school's home field. In 1997, the North Carolina Legislature proposed a bill demanding that UNC–CH and N.C. State must play East Carolina on an annual basis. This would officially revive the series between East Carolina and N.C. State.

East Carolina and NC State have met on the football field 29 times, with 22 of those games played in Carter–Finley Stadium, 4 in Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium, and 3 in neutral venues. The highest profile game was played in the 1992 Peach Bowl, with 59,322 fans in attendance, this game would officially go on record as the largest attendance at the time for a game between two North Carolina college football teams.

NC State leads the all-time series, with 16 wins to East Carolina's 13 wins.

Victory Barrel

In 2007 the Student Government Associations of both North Carolina State University and East Carolina University in a cooperative agreement began awarding the ‘Victory Barrel’ to the game winner. The outer face of the barrel is affixed with engraved colored plates denoting the year, final score, and winner of each contest dating back to 1970.

Football game results

East Carolina victories

NC State victories

No.	Date	Location	Winner	Score
1	October 10, 1970	Raleigh, NC	NC State	23–6
2	October 23, 1971	Raleigh, NC	East Carolina	31–15
3	October 21, 1972	Raleigh, NC	NC State	38–16
4	September 8, 1973	Raleigh, NC	NC State	57–8
5	October 5, 1974	Raleigh, NC	NC State	24–20
6	September 6, 1975	Raleigh, NC	NC State	26–3
7	September 18, 1976	Raleigh, NC	East Carolina	23–14
8	September 3, 1977	Raleigh, NC	East Carolina	28–23
9	September 9, 1978	Raleigh, NC	NC State	29–13
10	September 8, 1979	Raleigh, NC	NC State	34–20
11	November 11, 1980	Raleigh, NC	NC State	36–14
12	September 19, 1981	Raleigh, NC	NC State	31–10
13	September 11, 1982	Raleigh, NC	NC State	33–26
14	September 10, 1983	Raleigh, NC	East Carolina	22–16
15	September 29, 1984	Raleigh, NC	NC State	31–22

No.	Date	Location	Winner	Score
16	September 7, 1985	Raleigh, NC	East Carolina	33–14
17	September 6, 1986	Raleigh, NC	NC State	38–10
18	September 5, 1987	Raleigh, NC	East Carolina	32–14
19	January 1, 1992	Atlanta, GA	East Carolina	37–34
20	November 30, 1996	Charlotte, NC	East Carolina	50–29
21	November 22, 1997	Raleigh, NC	NC State	37–24
22	November 20, 1999	Greenville, NC	East Carolina	23–6
23	November 27, 2004	Charlotte, NC	NC State	52–14
24	November 25, 2006	Raleigh, NC	East Carolina	21–16
25	October 20, 2007	Greenville, NC	NC State	34–20
26	September 20, 2008	Raleigh, NC	NC State	30–24OT
27	October 16, 2010	Greenville, NC	East Carolina	33–27OT
28	November 23, 2013	Raleigh, NC	East Carolina	42–28
29	September 10, 2016	Greenville, NC	East Carolina	33–30
Series: NC State leads 16–13

Baseball

East Carolina–N.C. State rivalry

Sport	Baseball
Teams	East Carolina NC State

Since 1966, the two teams have met a total of 109 times. N.C. State leads the record 68–41–0. The two teams regularly qualify for the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship and games often have implications on the national rankings, as both teams are consistently in the top 30.

Notable games

1968: NCAA District 3 Playoffs
East Carolina entered the NCAA Playoff with an opening win against Florida State and advanced to the next round to face N.C. State where they lost 7–5, giving N.C. State a sweep of the Pirates. This would be the first time that the two schools would meet in the tournament, and the two schools would not meet again in the tournament until 1990. East Carolina was eventually knocked out of the tournament by Florida State. N.C. State would advance to the semi-final round of the 1968 College World Series, only to be eliminated by the eventual national champion USC Trojans.