The Tobacco Road rivalry
Duke vs. North Carolina
106 of their 112 meetings are on file: they first met in 1888, and the earliest on file is 1922; officially, North Carolina leads 64–42–4; as played, 64–38–4 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s North Carolina 6–4. The winner takes home the Victory Bell. North Carolina holds it. The NCAA vacated North Carolina’s two wins (2008 and 2009); they don’t count officially. This page counts every game as it was played. Share
2027 at North Carolina; 2028 at Duke; 2029 at North Carolina; 2030 at Duke. As the programs’ Wikipedia articles list them (CC BY-SA).
- Official series
- North Carolina leads 64–42–4
- Duke wins on file
- 38
- North Carolina wins on file
- 64
- Ties
- 4
- Earliest on file
- 1922 first met 1888
- Longest streak
- 13 North Carolina
- Current streak
- 1 North Carolina
- Last 10 meetings
- North Carolina 6–4
- Most recent
- 2026
The series at a glance
| ’0 | ’1 | ’2 | ’3 | ’4 | ’5 | ’6 | ’7 | ’8 | ’9 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920s | 0–8 | ||||||||||
| 1930s | 6–2–2 | ||||||||||
| 1940s | 5–5–1 | ||||||||||
| 1950s | 8–2 | ||||||||||
| 1960s | 5–5 | ||||||||||
| 1970s | 1–8–1 | ||||||||||
| 1980s | 5–5 | ||||||||||
| 1990s | 0–10 | ||||||||||
| 2000s | 1–9 | ||||||||||
| 2010s | 5–5 | ||||||||||
| 2020s | 2–5 |
- Both ranked
- 1 meeting: Duke 1, North Carolina 0
- Average margin
- 13.5 points; 51 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At Duke
- 19–32–2 Duke’s record at home
- At North Carolina
- 32–19–2 North Carolina’s record at home
- Shutouts
- 22
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Victory Bell
- Played for since
- —
- Held by
- North Carolina
Who holds it comes from the games on file: the winner of the latest regular-season meeting (bowl rematches aren’t played for it); a tie leaves it with the holder (the usual rule; the article doesn’t say). The article names Duke as the winner of the 2026 meeting. From Wikipedia’s list of rivalry games and the rivalry’s article (CC BY-SA). More on the Victory Bell.
Games that tell the story
- Duke’s biggest win1989: Duke 41, North Carolina 0by 41 points
- North Carolina’s biggest win1959: North Carolina 50, Duke 0by 50 points
- Upset1967: North Carolina 20, Duke 9North Carolina had a 17% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1985: Duke 23, North Carolina 21Duke had a 25% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset2026: North Carolina 24, Duke 20North Carolina had a 25% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown1939: Duke 13, North Carolina 3No. 7 North Carolina at No. 13 Duke
Coach against coach
| Years | Duke | Series | North Carolina |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1926–1930 | Jimmy DeHart | 0–4–1 | Chuck Collins |
| 1931–1933 | Wallace Wade | 2–0–1 | Chuck Collins |
| 1934–1950 | Wallace Wade | 2–5 | Carl Snavely |
| 1936–1941 | Wallace Wade | 4–2 | Raymond Wolf |
| 1953–1955 | Bill Murray | 3–0 | George Barclay |
| 1956–1958 | Bill Murray | 2–1 | Jim Tatum |
| 1959–1965 | Bill Murray | 3–4 | James Hickey |
| 1967–1970 | Tom Harp | 1–3 | Bill Dooley |
| 1971–1977 | Mike McGee | 1–5–1 | Bill Dooley |
| 1979–1982 | Red Wilson | 1–3 | Dick Crum |
| 1983–1986 | Steve Sloan | 1–3 | Dick Crum |
| 1990–1993 | Barry Wilson | 0–4 | Mack Brown |
| 1994–1997 | Fred Goldsmith | 0–4 | Mack Brown |
| 2003–2006 | Ted Roof | 1–3 | John Bunting |
| 2008–2010 | David Cutcliffe | 0–3 | Butch Davis |
| 2012–2018 | David Cutcliffe | 5–2 | Larry Fedora |
| 2019–2021 | David Cutcliffe | 0–3 | Mack Brown |
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Duke’s side (DeHart 0–4–1 against Collins). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.
Both programs through the years
Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.
Stars of the series
Biggest days
| Marquise Williams North Carolina | 23 of 35, 494 yards, 4 TD | 2015 Passing | |
| Josh Downs North Carolina | 8 catches, 168 yards, 1 TD | 2021 Receiving |
Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on).
From the newspapers
1925 · Evening star, Oct 11, 1925
1935 · Evening star, Nov 17, 1935
1936 · The Washington times, Nov 16, 1936
1937 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Nov 14, 1937
1939 · The Daily Alaska empire, Nov 20, 1939
Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.
Every game
Every game is listed as played on the field; a win the NCAA later vacated is marked “vacated”; the official series above counts them the NCAA’s way.