NC State–Wake Forest rivalry
The NC State–Wake Forest rivalry is a series of athletic contests between in-state rivals, the North Carolina State University Wolfpack and the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons. The first game was played in 1895 between the two institutions. Wake Forest was originally located in Wake Forest, North Carolina until it moved its campus across the state of North Carolina to Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1956. The two universities are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, where they meet every year in football due to being aligned in the Atlantic Division. The schools play each other twice in basketball every season, due to being primary partners. The game is part of the Tobacco Road rivalry series.
Football
The NC State–Wake Forest football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the NC State Wolfpack football team of North Carolina State University and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team of Wake Forest University. Playing consecutively every year since 1910, it is the longest continuous rivalry between two ACC schools, and is the second longest streak nationally in Division I FBS at 116 consecutive seasons through 2025. Both universities are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference and were members of the Atlantic Division. There have been 119 meetings between the two teams, with NC State leading the all-time series 70–43–6. In 2021, the game between NC State and Wake Forest decided the ACC Atlantic Division champion; Wake Forest won 45–42 and played in the ACC Championship, losing 45–21 to Pittsburgh. NC State won the most recent contest between the two schools on September 11, 2025, in Winston-Salem by a score of 34–24.Men's basketball
NC State currently leads the series 154–110.The rivalry dates back to when Wake Forest was in Wake Forest, NC, and was only a short distance from NC State's campus in Raleigh. Their rivalry eventually expanded into the Big Four with UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke, which are recognized as being some of the fiercest rivalries in NCAA men's basketball. The two teams met twice during the 2025–26 ACC regular season, with NC State winning both contests.