South Carolina Football vs. North Carolina: Matchup history

The South Carolina football team has played the North Carolina Tar Heels more than any team in college football not named Clemson or Georgia. The former ACC rivals still play on a relatively frequent basis as the border rivalry still harbors some harsh feelings.

North Carolina leads the all-time series by a pretty hefty margin (20-35-4), but the Gamecocks’ 7-29-4 record against the Tar Heels prior to integration skews the data heavily.

Since then, the rivalry has become a much more infrequently played game as the Battle of the Carolinas has taken place at about a once-every-three-years rate.

The victory pendulum has swung back in favor of the Gamecocks during this time. Beginning in 1967, South Carolina football holds a 13-6 record over the ‘Heels, and the next matchup in the series will take place this Saturday in Charlotte.

Those numbers become even more Gamecock-friendly when one looks at the last 25 years.

The Gamecocks have won 4 of the last 5 and 7 of the last 9 contests in the series. The real Carolina has outscored their neighbors to the north by almost 90 points during the hot streak.

The previous three contests were all played in Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, and this weekend’s matchup will be there, as well. The Gamecocks won two of those three with a win and a loss in close fashion and a blowout South Carolina football win in the 2021 Duke’s Mayo Bowl. The only other neutral site games came in 1955 (Norfolk, Virginia) and 1910 (Durham, North Carolina), and North Carolina won both of those contests.

In the recent history of the rivalry, the losing team has struggled putting points on the board. In fact, 21 points seems to be a magic number of sorts in the series. The losing team has not scored more than 21 points since 1978 while the winning team has scored 21 points or more in every contest but one during that same span.

Special teams has played a role in this series. With the exception of two games (1991 and 2007), the winning team has made at least one field goal in each game of the border battle since 1979.

The 2023 edition of South Carolina vs. North Carolina will be the first time since 1983 (a UNC win) in which the Tar Heels have been ranked heading into the showdown. The Gamecocks were ranked in the top-10 in both 2007 and 2013 and won both games. The two teams have never been ranked at the same time for the rivalry matchup.

For more matchup details between South Carolina football and the North Carolina Tar Heels, you can check out the series history at mcubed.net.