North Carolina vs. Virginia
120 of their 130 meetings are on file: they first met in 1892, and the earliest on file is 1902; officially, North Carolina leads 66–60–4; as played, 65–51–4 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Virginia 6–4. The official count covers every meeting. Share
2027 at North Carolina; 2028 at Virginia; 2029 at North Carolina; 2030 at Virginia. As the programs’ Wikipedia articles list them (CC BY-SA).
- Official series
- North Carolina leads 66–60–4
- North Carolina wins on file
- 65
- Virginia wins on file
- 51
- Ties
- 4
- Earliest on file
- 1902 first met 1892
- Longest streak
- 9 North Carolina
- Current streak
- 1 Virginia
- Last 10 meetings
- Virginia 6–4
- Most recent
- 2025
The series at a glance
| ’0 | ’1 | ’2 | ’3 | ’4 | ’5 | ’6 | ’7 | ’8 | ’9 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 2–3–1 | ||||||||||
| 1910s | 2–6 | ||||||||||
| 1920s | 5–3–2 | ||||||||||
| 1930s | 9–1 | ||||||||||
| 1940s | 8–2 | ||||||||||
| 1950s | 6–4 | ||||||||||
| 1960s | 5–5 | ||||||||||
| 1970s | 9–1 | ||||||||||
| 1980s | 4–5–1 | ||||||||||
| 1990s | 3–7 | ||||||||||
| 2000s | 2–8 | ||||||||||
| 2010s | 7–3 | ||||||||||
| 2020s | 3–3 |
- Both ranked
- 3 meetings: North Carolina 0, Virginia 3
- Average margin
- 15.6 points; 45 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At North Carolina
- 35–16–4 North Carolina’s record at home
- At Virginia
- 35–30 Virginia’s record at home
- Shutouts
- 23
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Games that tell the story
- North Carolina’s biggest win1935: North Carolina 61, Virginia 0by 61 points
- Virginia’s biggest win1912: Virginia 66, North Carolina 0by 66 points
- Upset2023: Virginia 31, North Carolina 27Virginia had a 14% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1957: Virginia 20, North Carolina 13Virginia had a 20% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1965: Virginia 21, North Carolina 17Virginia had a 21% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown1996: Virginia 20, North Carolina 17No. 6 North Carolina at No. 24 Virginia
- Ranked showdown1993: Virginia 17, North Carolina 10No. 12 North Carolina at No. 21 Virginia
- Ranked showdown1994: Virginia 34, North Carolina 10No. 15 North Carolina at No. 25 Virginia
Coach against coach
| Years | North Carolina | Series | Virginia |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1923–1925 | William Fetzer | 0–1–2 | Greasy Neale |
| 1926–1928 | Chuck Collins | 2–1 | Greasy Neale |
| 1931–1933 | Chuck Collins | 2–1 | Fred Dawson |
| 1937–1941 | Raymond Wolf | 4–1 | Frank Murray |
| 1946–1952 | Carl Snavely | 4–3 | Arthur Guepe |
| 1953–1955 | George Barclay | 3–0 | Ned McDonald |
| 1961–1964 | James Hickey | 3–1 | William Elias |
| 1967–1970 | Bill Dooley | 2–2 | George Blackburn |
| 1971–1973 | Bill Dooley | 2–1 | Don Lawrence |
| 1978–1981 | Dick Crum | 4–0 | Dick Bestwick |
| 1982–1987 | Dick Crum | 2–3–1 | George Welsh |
| 1988–1997 | Mack Brown | 3–7 | George Welsh |
| 1998–2000 | Carl Torbush | 0–3 | George Welsh |
| 2001–2006 | John Bunting | 2–4 | Al Groh |
| 2007–2009 | Butch Davis | 0–3 | Al Groh |
| 2012–2015 | Larry Fedora | 4–0 | Mike London |
| 2016–2018 | Larry Fedora | 1–2 | Bronco Mendenhall |
| 2019–2021 | Mack Brown | 1–2 | Bronco Mendenhall |
| 2022–2024 | Mack Brown | 2–1 | Tony Elliott |
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from North Carolina’s side (Fetzer 0–1–2 against Neale). 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
| Brennan Armstrong Virginia | 39 of 54, 554 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT | 2021 Passing | |
| Sam Howell North Carolina | 23 of 28, 443 yards, 4 TD | 2020 Passing | |
| Dyami Brown North Carolina | 11 catches, 240 yards, 3 TD | 2020 Receiving | |
| Dyami Brown North Carolina | 6 catches, 202 yards, 3 TD | 2019 Receiving | |
| Charles Snowden Virginia | 10 tackles, 4 sacks, 4 for loss | 2020 Defense | |
| Josh Downs North Carolina | 8 catches, 203 yards, 2 TD | 2021 Receiving |
Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on).
From the newspapers
1902 · The semi-weekly messenger, Dec 2, 1902
1903 · The times dispatch, Richmond, Va., Nov 27, 1903
1905 · The free lance, Fredericksburg, Va., Dec 2, 1905
1907 · The times dispatch, Richmond, Va., Oct 27, 1907
1908 · The sun, Nov 27, 1908
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.