NC State vs. ECU: A Historical Perspective

The NC State vs. East Carolina football rivalry has been a roller-coaster ride ever since it began in 1970.

After the two schools first met on October 10, 1970—when the Wolfpack defeated the Pirates 23–6 in Carter-Finley Stadium—they went on to play one another every year from 1970 to 1987, with NC State winning 12 of the 18 contests. All 18 of those games were held in Raleigh.

Things got dramatic in 1987, leading then–NC State Athletics Director Jim Valvano to suspend the Wolfpack from scheduling future games against the Pirates.

What happened?

After East Carolina defeated NC State 32–14 in Carter-Finley that year, Pirate fans stormed the field and
tore down one of the goalposts.

But five years later, as fate would have it, the two teams were selected to face one another in the 1992 Peach Bowl. These two programs have met 31 times since 1970, but the Peach Bowl remains the only matchup in which both were ranked in the Top 25. NC State entered at No. 21, while ECU was ranked No. 12. Pirates quarterback Jeff Blake had his way with the Wolfpack defense that day, throwing for 378 yards and three touchdowns to lead ECU to a 37–34 victory.

Things got political after that, with North Carolina senators from the eastern part of the state forcing the issue to overturn Valvano’s suspension of the rivalry—and they were successful.

The first step was to resume the series at a neutral site, as there were concerns that neither Raleigh nor Greenville could handle the emotions of the reunion. The Carolina Panthers’ Stadium in Charlotte was selected to host the 1996 matchup, marking the first regular-season game between the schools since 1987. A crowd of 66,347 fans saw the Pirates defeat the Wolfpack 50–29, handing NC State its third straight loss in the series.

In 1997, for the first time in a decade, the rivalry returned to a campus site. NC State snapped ECU’s three-game winning streak, defeating the Pirates 37–24 in Carter-Finley.

The Pirates’ flair for the dramatic—and obsession with Carter-Finley’s goalposts—resurfaced in 1999. That year, Greenville was devastated by flooding from Hurricane Floyd, and NC State, as an act of goodwill, allowed ECU to host No. 9 Miami in Carter-Finley on September 25. The Pirates shocked the world, defeating the Hurricanes 27–23, and, once again, their fans stormed the field and tore down not one, but both goalposts.

To make matters worse for NC State, ECU defeated the Wolfpack in Greenville in the final regular-season game of 1999, 23–6.

Five years later, the two teams met again in Charlotte, where NC State convincingly defeated the Pirates 52–14.

Beginning in 2007, the Student Government Associations of both schools began awarding the Victory Barrel to the winner of the game. The barrel is engraved with colored plates commemorating each game in the history of the rivalry. The winner keeps the barrel, and it has resided in Raleigh since 2018, after the Wolfpack routed the Pirates 58–3, then followed up with another blowout in 2019, crushing the Pirates 34–6.
Things got hairy for the Wolfpack in Greenville in 2022, when the 13th-ranked Pack barely escaped with a 21–20 win.

Last year, in the final game of the 2024 season, ECU got its revenge—taking the Victory Barrel back to Greenville after defeating NC State 26–21 in the Military Bowl.

Overall, NC State holds a 19–14 lead in the series heading into the 2025 season opener on Thursday night against the Pirates, including a 16–7 record against ECU in Raleigh.

The Wolfpack will look to reclaim the Victory Barrel in their 34th meeting with the team from down east.