East Carolina–NC State rivalry
American college football rivalry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The East Carolina–NC State rivalry, also known as the Battle for the Barrel,[1][2] is a rivalry between East Carolina University and North Carolina State University. Both teams 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 fourth largest).
| Sport | Football, baseball, others |
|---|---|
| First meeting | 1970 |
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
| Sport | Football |
|---|---|
| First meeting | October 10, 1970 NC State, 23–6 |
| Latest meeting | August 28, 2025 NC State, 24–17 |
| Next meeting | September 2, 2028 |
| Trophy | Victory Barrel |
| Statistics | |
| Total meetings | 34 |
All-time series | NC State leads, 20–14[3] |
Largest victory | NC State, 58–3 (2018) |
Longest win streak | NC State, 5 (1978–1982) |
Current win streak | NC State, 1 (2025–present) |
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.[4] 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 meet again in 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 and N.C. State must play East Carolina once every two years. This would officially revive the series between East Carolina and N.C. State.[5] In 2024, The two schools were chosen to play in the 2024 Military Bowl. East Carolina would win 26–21, but in the remaining 38 seconds, a massive brawl broke out between the two schools, including wounding a referee.[6] NC State won the latest meeting in Raleigh, 24-17, and has won 4 out of the last 5 meetings.[7]
East Carolina and NC State have met on the football field 34 times, with 25 of those games played in Carter–Finley Stadium, 5 in Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium, and 4 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.[8]
NC State leads the all-time series, with 20 wins to East Carolina's 14 wins.[9]
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. According to the 'Legend of the Victory Barrel', the Barrel is said to have belonged to two brothers who lived on a farm in eastern North Carolina that developed a fierce rivalry in their youth. They would use the Barrel to keep tally of every victory one had over the other, ranging from academic, athletic, and financial success. Eventually the competitions became so fierce that the two opted to go to separate schools, East Carolina and North Carolina State respectively, to stay as far away form one another as possible.[10][11] The legend is entirely fictious and was created as a collaboration between the Student Government Associations of East Carolina and NC State. The legend serves as a metaphor for the intimacy and hostility of the rivalry between not just the schools but also the traditional Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions of the state.
Football game results
| East Carolina victories | NC State victories |
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Men's basketball
| First meeting | January 20, 1968 NC State 83, East Carolina 67 |
|---|---|
| Latest meeting | December 21, 2013 NC State 90, East Carolina 79 |
| Statistics | |
| Total meetings | 21 |
All-time series | NC State leads, 20–1 (.952) |
Largest victory | NC State, 117–81 (1975) |
Longest win streak | NC State, 17 (1968–2006) |
Current win streak | NC State, 3 (2008–present) |
NC State currently leads the series 20–1. NC State won the most recent matchup between the two teams 90–79 on December 21, 2013, at PNC Arena. There are currently no scheduled games between the two teams.
Basketball game results
| East Carolina victories | NC State victories |
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Baseball
| First meeting | 1957 East Carolina 5, NC State 4 |
|---|---|
| Latest meeting | April 8, 2025 East Carolina 1, NC State 4 |
| Statistics | |
| Total meetings | 113 |
All-time series | NC State leads, 72–42 (.630) |
Current win streak | NC State, 1 (2025–present) |
The most prominent sport in the rivalry is baseball, with the two teams having played 113 times. NC State leads the series 71–43.[12] The two teams played twice during the 2022 season in Greenville and Raleigh, with NC State sweeping the season series. NC State went to Greenville and shut out ECU, 2–0, on March 29, 2022. On April 26, 2022, NC State finished off the 2nd meeting by beating ECU in Raleigh, 12–3. In 2023, NC State and ECU split their 2 game series, with ECU winning in Greenville and NC State winning in Raleigh.