The South Carolina Gamecocks will no longer be playing an ACC opponent it had a home-and-home series scheduled with in 2028 and 2029. On Friday, North Carolina and South Carolina announced the schools had "mutually agreed" to cancel its series.Â
The two border-state programs were slated to play each other in Columbia in 2028, and in Chapel Hill in 2029. As for why the series was cancelled, the decision comes in the wake of both the SEC and ACC moving to a nine-game conference schedule in 2026. The move to the new schedule affected several non-conference series that had been previously scheduled.Â
The game between UNC and South Carolina was announced in 2021. As a replacement in 2028, the Gamecocks announced that Bowling Green State will serve as the home opener opponent. The two programs have never played each other previously.Â
South Carolina and North Carolina, which are separated by roughly 250 miles, have played each other 60 total times, dating back to their first meeting in 1903. The Tar Heels lead the series all-time between the two 35-20-4 margin, but the Gamecocks have taken seven of the last 10 games between the two dating back to 1988. The last time these two programs played was at the 2023 Duke's Mayo Classic in Charlotte, N.C., which the Tar Heels won 31-17.Â
The two schools met consecutively from 1910-1914, 1920-1929, from 1941-44 and played each other 17 times from 1950-64. UNC owns the longest win streak in the series, with five victories in a row from 1903-1911.Â
It's unclear if the two sides will discuss planning a series in the future, but obviously with the changes in conference scheduling, those might have to be put on hold for now.Â
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