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A long and storied series, though one that is in and out of yearly relevance now that we’ve got two division in the conference, Tech gets a rare chance to host North Carolina State this week on the Flats. The Jackets last faced off against NC State in 2014 on the road in Raleigh. Things looked mighty different back then.
North Carolina State Wolfpack
Opponent Background:
- Conference: Atlantic Coast Conference (1953 - present)
- Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
- All-time Record: 606-582-55 (.510)
- Home Stadium: Carter-Finley Stadium (Capacity: 57,583)
- National Championships: N/A
- College Football Playoff Appearances: N/A
- New Year’s Six Bowl Games: 7 (Peach: 7, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1995)
- Conference Championships: 11 — (SAIAA: 1907, 1910, 1913 Southern: 1927 ACC: 1957, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1973, 1979)
- Division Championships: N/A
- 2018 Season Record: 9 - 4 (5 - 3 ACC)
Past Results:
- Team Head-to-Head Record: 19-10-0 (.655)
- Recent Meetings:
2010 - 45-28 North Carolina State (Atlanta, GA)
2011 - 45-35 Georgia Tech (Raleigh, NC)
2014 - 56-23 Georgia Tech (Raleigh, NC) - Coach Head-to-Head Record: 0-0-0 (N/A)
- Tech record in this week’s venue against NCST: 3-5-0 (.375)
2019 Football Schedule
| Date | Time (if known) | Opponent | Conference | Historical Record | Venue | Result | Notes | Attendence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Time (if known) | Opponent | Conference | Historical Record | Venue | Result | Notes | Attendence |
| August 29 | 8:00 p.m. (ACCN) | @ Clemson (1) | Atlantic Coast | 51-32-2 | Memorial Stadium, Clemson, SC | 14 - 52 L | Rivalry | 79,118 |
| September 7 | 2:00 p.m. (ACCN) | South Florida | American Athletic | 1-1-0 | Bobby Dodd Stadium, Atlanta, GA | 14 - 10 W | Group of Five, Whiteout | 46,599 |
| September 14 | 12:30 p.m. (ACCRSN) | The Citadel | SoCon | 10-1-0 | Bobby Dodd Stadium, Atlanta, GA | 24 - 27 L (OT) | FCS | 42,871 |
| September 28 | 3:30 p.m. (CBSSN) | @ Temple | American Athletic | 0-1-0 | Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA | 2 - 24 L | First Meeting, Group of Five | 31,094 |
| October 5 | 4:00 p.m. (ACCN) | North Carolina | Atlantic Coast | 30-22-3 | Bobby Dodd Stadium, Atlanta, GA | 22 - 38 L | Family Weekend, Hall of Fame Game | 45,044 |
| October 12 | 12:30 p.m. (ACCNX) | @ Duke | Atlantic Coast | 51-35-1 | Wallace Wade Stadium, Durham, NC | 23 - 41 L | 21,741 | |
| October 19 | 12:00 p.m. (ACCN) | @ Miami (FL) | Atlantic Coast | 13-12-0 | Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL | 28 - 21 W (OT) | "54,106" | |
| November 2 | 4:00 p.m. (ACCNX) | Pittsburgh | Atlantic Coast | 5-9-0 | Bobby Dodd Stadium, Atlanta, GA | 10 - 20 L | Homecoming | 41,219 |
| November 9 | 12:30 p.m. (ACCNX) | @ Virginia | Atlantic Coast | 21-20-1 | Scott Stadium, Charlottesville, VA | 28 - 33 L | 44,596 | |
| November 16 | 3:30 p.m. (ACCNX) | Virginia Tech | Atlantic Coast | 7-10-0 | Bobby Dodd Stadium, Atlanta, GA | 0 - 45 L | Rivalry, Heroes Day | 43,263 |
| November 21 | 8:00 p.m. (ESPN) | NC State | Atlantic Coast | 19-10-0 | Bobby Dodd Stadium, Atlanta, GA | 28 - 26 W | 38,198 | |
| November 30 | 12:00 p.m. (ABC) | Georgia | Southeastern | 44-68-5 | Bobby Dodd Stadium, Atlanta, GA | 0 - 0 TBD | Rivalry, Senior Day, Toy Drive |
Former Farmers of America
North Carolina State began playing football in 1892. Back then, they were known as the Aggies, due to their name at the time, the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. In 1894, they played their first game against their main rival, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They were smoked 44-0 in Chapel Hill and the series remains skewed 30 games in the Tar Heels’ favor as of time of writing. In 1895, the Aggies first wore red and white, which are now their colors. In a fun fact that would make both John Heisman and Paul Johnson bemused, North Carolina State didn’t attempt a forward pass until 1906. Something must’ve clicked, then, because they won their first SAIAA championship in 1907, the same year they opened Riddick Stadium on campus, which would peak at 23,000 seats for home football games. They followed it up with another conference championship in 1910.
In 1918, the school was renamed to North Carolina State University, but, more ignominiously, an all-time beatdown occurred when a team known as the Georgia Tech Golden Tornado swept them clear off the field, in a 128-0 thrashing at Grant Field. A few years later, in 1920, they notched their first victory over UNC, after only playing their rival sporadically over the previous decade and a half. Along with the school name change, the team name changed as well, and NCSU and their red sweaters became known as the Wolfpack.
Interestingly, the Wolfpack did not feature a scholarship athlete until 1933. By 1946, the had appeared in their first UPI poll, turning out at no. 19, and following a solid season with their first bowl game, the 1947 Gator Bowl. Unsurprisingly, they, along with the other Tobacco Road schools, Maryland, Virginia, Clemson, and South Carolina departed the Southern Conference for their new organization, the Atlantic Coast Conference, in 1953, as the old SoCon was once again splintering into the upper and lower tiers. Arguably, this time was also the Golden Era of NC State football under Earle Edwards. From 1954 to 1970, he and his teams amassed five conference titles, two Liberty Bowl berths, and 4 ACC Coach of the Year awards, though only a pedestrian 77-88-8 record.
Towards the end of Edwards’ successful tenure, the extreme limitations of their home field were becoming readily apparent. NC State was forced to play a limited home schedule due to the field’s incredibly small capacity. To solve this issue, Carter-Finley Stadium was completed in 1966, and the old stadium was left to its own fate. The new facility was several miles down the road off campus. Lou Holtz followed Edwards with a brief, but successful run from 1972 to 1975, going 33-12-3 and appearing in four bowl games and ranking no. 11 in the AP.
If you think Tech has it bad:
- North Carolina State has not won an ACC football or men’s tennis title since 1979.
- North Carolina State has not won an ACC volleyball or men’s basketball tournament title since 1987.
- North Carolina State has not won an ACC regular season men’s basketball title since 1989.
- North Carolina State has not won an ACC men’s golf, women’s regular season basketball, or men’s soccer tournament title since 1990.
- North Carolina State has not won an ACC tournament women’s basketball title since 1991.
- North Carolina State has not won an ACC baseball title since 1992.
- North Carolina State has not won an ACC regular season men’s soccer title since 1994.
- North Carolina State has never won any ACC women’s soccer or tennis title.
This is advanced suffering.
Monty Kiffin was the Wolfpack head coach from 1980 to 1982, which is notable mostly because he’s Joey Freshwater’s dad, and Joey Freshwater is always notable. Pete Carroll was his defensive coordinator. After Kiffin, Dick Sheridan presided over what was probably the second Golden Era from 1986 to 1992, going 52-29-3, and 2-4 in bowls and three ranked finishes in AP or Coaches Polls, and a number of Peach Bowl appearances. Chuck Amato was the next coach of note, after a middling stretch of the nineties, from 2000 to 2006. He, notably, was an alum from the Florida State Bowden coaching tree. From 2000 to 2003, Philip Rivers led the team at quarterback to an 34-17, an eleven win season in 2002, and a Gator Bowl win over Notre Dame, finishing no. 12 in the AP.
Today, NC State is coached by Dave Doeren, since 2013 when he was hired from Northern Illinois, and his teams are mostly middling at seven to nine wins a season. As noted before, North Carolina dominates their rivalry all-time, as does Clemson in the Textile Bowl, leading by 31 wins. However, in the annual Atlantic showdown against in-state Wake, the Wolfpack lead by 26. At least that’s something for a team that’s really been little more than run-of-the-mill for most of it’s existence.
Remember: 1979, 1989, 1992. At least we’re not them.
As far as Tech football history goes, From the Rumble Seat has been taking a look at it since May 2018 over at Rearview Mirror. The short version is that Tech football began ignominiously in 1892. A game up in Athens in 1893, which Tech won, set the stage for one of the fiercest rivalries in the sport and also is one of the mythic origins of the Ramblin’ Wreck nickname. If that wasn’t enough, it’s also how Tech got its colors. Apparently gold is a color for cowards, if the residents of Athens are to be trusted. Tech was pitiful, to put it nicely, for quite some time until one man, Frank Turner, started an initiative to hire a bonafide legend as a football coach. That resulted in John Heisman. Heisman, innovator and champion, saw much success on the Flats until he dramatically left town as part of his divorce. The old man was replaced by William Alexander, who was known for his team’s strong academics and his own 1928 national championship.
Coach Alex was, in turn, replaced by his own protegé, Bobby Dodd. By the end of Dodd’s tenure, Tech had amassed three national championships, twelve conference championships, including five in the Southeastern Conference, which just mean more. What’s more, Dodd and Institute president Edwin Harrison had decided to go independent to make a stand not only for football principles, but its intrinsic academic ideals as well. Dodd and Tech would not sacrifice student-athlete education and well-being. The independent years were lean for Tech and did not result in the dream of a “Notre Dame of the South” status.
Eventually, Tech joined the Atlantic Coast Conference. By the end of the decade, coach Bobby Ross brought the Jackets from the utter depths of football irrelevance to win a national championship, Tech’s fourth. It is hard to overstate just how terrible Tech was at its nadir. Since then, the Jackets have seen average-to-great years, the most recent excellent year being 2014, when Tech was a few plays from the inaugural College Football Playoff. Tech’s years of triple option play - the heights of an Orange Bowl win to the lows of a three win season - would come to an end following the 2018 season. The Jackets have an all-time record of 738-508-43.
Tomorrow, Tech hosts North Carolina State in the late evening on the Flats. It’s time for Bobby Dodd after dark. The game will be shown on the Worldwide Leader, ESPN, and can be heard over the radio in the usual suspects, 680 AM / 93.7 FM and the Georgia Tech IMG Sports Radio Network, featuring the voice of the Yellow Jackets, Andy Demetra, as always.
With the appearance of the historical matchup preview, that means it’s after Wednesday at 10:00 AM and that concludes From the Rumble Seat’s regularly scheduled pregame content. Tune in tomorrow starting at 6:00 AM for How to Watch continuing through the gameday thread and the postgame recap. Less than 36 hours until toe meets leather! As always, go Jackets!