The Wake Forest Demon Deacons and North Carolina Tar Heels are not only cross-town rivals, but both are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Nonetheless, after the conference’s divisional split, the two sides have only squared off four times since 2004, causing but that’s going to change.
The two schools agreed to a home and home non-conference series that will take place on the gridiron in 2019 and 2021. This means that the games will not count against their conference standings even though both teams are members, but will renew a rivalry that provides each school an opportunity to win a valuable non-conference game.
“This is a unique opportunity to play a regional rival in years that fall outside the normal conference rotation,” North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham said. “We have a long history with Wake Forest that has historical value and will generate interest within our fans.”
The agreement is the first between two Power 5 teams within the same conference and occurred primarily because the long time rivals simply haven’t been able to meet on the field. The way the conference is structured the two teams play cross-divisional rivals once every year, and the team plays that one opponent every seven years. The two had had enough of the conference rules and decided to go outside of the normal schedule to rekindle the matchup.
“Because of the ACC schedule, we do not have the opportunity to play North Carolina as regularly as we have in the past,” Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman said in a statement. “These are two teams that played the very first college football game in this state over 125 years ago. We felt it made perfect sense to continue this rivalry and allow fans of both schools to enjoy playing a traditional opponent.”
Wake Forest will visit Chapel Hill on September 14, 2019 while the Tar Heels will return make the return trip on September 25, 2021.
*Section Photo credit to Lance King, Getty Images; Featured Photo (above) credit to Jeremy Brevard, USA Today Sports
