Five in a row. Eight out of 10. 17 wins since 2000.
Name your favorite stat — they all point to the fact that NC State football has dominated North Carolina for years now. While the Tar Heels hold the all-time series advantage, the tide is shifting in favor of the Wolfpack.
Under head coach Dave Doeren, beating Carolina is now the minimum expectation every year for the Wolfpack. If there’s one thing he regularly delivers on — it’s a win over the Heels in the season finale.
“To me, losing to them is unacceptable,” Doeren said. “I take a lot of pride in that rivalry game, so it’s nine wins out of 13, eight of the last ten. That sounds pretty good, feels good, sounds good, I’m gonna enjoy it.”
The Wolfpack’s five game winning streak over Carolina began with a thrilling 34-30 victory in a season where the Pack won nine games and enjoyed one of their more successful seasons in recent history. Meanwhile, the past two seasons, NC State struggled with inconsistency, yet still continued to win in the series. Regardless of the type of season the Pack posts, the season finale is the same — a win over Carolina.
“It means everything,” said senior linebacker Caden Fordham. “When you come here, this school, this culture, it’s something that’s talked about all the time. It’s awesome to go out like that with a win, there’s nothing more that I could ask for.”
Doeren holds a 9-4 record versus North Carolina and is only improving against the Heels with time. After splitting his first eight meetings against the Tar Heels 4-4, Doeren is now building a five-game win streak over Carolina, tied for the longest in series history for the Wolfpack.
“It was a dominating performance,” Doeren said. “To win five straight against that school says a lot. It’s been three times in school history, I was told, so I’m really proud of that.”
Doeren’s nine wins against North Carolina will be his lasting legacy at NC State. For a program that lacks playoff appearances or ACC championships, the next biggest achievement a coach can make is to consistently dominate a rival. Doeren is doing exactly that, reshaping the entire narrative around the rivalry.
“It goes back to my first day here on the job,” Doeren said. “I can’t tell you how many people welcomed me and then at the end said, ‘whatever you do, beat them.’ That really resonated, and our kids understand what it means to this fanbase.”
NC State and UNC are by far the two biggest brands on the gridiron in the state. When the Pack and the Heels meet, it’s always the biggest college football game of the year in North Carolina. Dominating the series establishes a message — NC State believes it is the top football program in the state and backs it up with its play on the field.
Regardless of who’s coaching the Tar Heels, NC State isn’t afraid of Carolina. After hiring one of the NFL’s brightest defensive minds in Bill Belichick, the Heels should have been a formidable challenge for the Wolfpack. Instead, they became the surest conference win on NC State’s schedule this year and quickly turned into a blowout.
“I just wanted to make a statement coming into this game,” said sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey. “We did, we put up 42 points as an offense. It’s good to back up what I was saying, but that’s not really a big factor, as long as we won, that’s all I care about.”
Things don’t appear to be changing anytime soon. UNC’s program is embroiled in chaos and roster churn under Belichick. While the Wolfpack will also likely see its share of turnover, NC State has a stable coaching staff with multiple players to build its future around. Furthermore, NC State has a clear identity — toughness, grit and hard work. The future in Raleigh appears steady, while Chapel Hill’s outlook is murky at best.
It’s a new chapter in the NC State–North Carolina rivalry. Gone are the days when NC State hoped to simply win its share against the Tar Heels. The current senior class at NC State never saw the Wolfpack lose to Carolina as students, and two of the four matchups they saw were blowout victories.
“Never losing to them is something I’ve always dreamed of,” Fordham said. “Coming here to NC State, it’s something that’s emphasized every year, so it was awesome to go out like that with a bang.”
The standard for coaches, present and future, is set for this rivalry. Doeren is showing that it’s possible, even reasonable, to expect to be a better program than Carolina. Doeren’s decade of excellence against the Tar Heels is the new bar for Wolfpack football.
