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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Fifty-two lead changes among 21 drivers. Only three in-race cautions over the race’s first 198 laps and then three more over the final 13 laps, 10 run in overtime. A Daytona 500 winner who didn’t take the lead until that OT and then pulled into Victory Lane for the first time in more than five and a half years.

It all reads like an unlikely confluence of racing events. A once-in-a-lifetime Halley’s Comet sort of sighting. A NASCAR unicorn. But it is none of the above. Not at Daytona. Not in stock car racing’s biggest race run on its biggest roulette wheel.

No, that spaghetti pile of closing laps statistics and sheet metal has become the Great Modus Operandi of the Great American Race. A few hours of calm followed by a few laps of chaos followed by a driver standing in Victory Lane who is proud to be there but deep down, if they’re being honest, also sort of can’t believe it.

“It feels like a dream, it really does,” winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. confessed as he received a conga line of hugs from a seemingly endless number of revelers from one-car, scrappy JTG Daugherty Racing. “But I know it’s real because I know how hard everyone right here has worked. How hard I have worked. This racetrack tonight has finally given us the breaks we’ve been so close to getting for so long. Standing right here took so long. But right now, it was worth it all.”

Worth a personal wait for Stenhouse of 2,060 days. Five years, seven months, 19 days. Nearly 68 months. One hundred ninety-nine races. That’s how long it had been since he’d won a NASCAR Cup Series event, also at Daytona, the summertime 400-miler of July 1, 2017. This is only his third win in a decade of trying. For JTG Daugherty, the drought was even longer. The No. 47 car hadn’t been covered in confetti and champagne since August 10, 2014, a total of 3,116 days. This is only their second trophy to take back to the race shop. The biggest single-race trophy that can be won in NASCAR.

“We’ve always had to take a little less into these weekly fights with these big-dollar teams and that’s okay, that’s who we are, but there were nights when we asked, ‘Can we keep these lights on?'” team co-owner Tad Geschickter explained Sunday night, standing alongside wife Jodi. The couple moved their team up from the Xfinity Series to Cup ahead of the 2009 Daytona 500, joining forces with former NBA All-Star Brad Daugherty (he started the day at Daytona but missed the celebration after feeling under the weather and flying home). “COVID was really rough on us. We’re sponsored by retailers, grocers, suppliers. When they got squeezed, so did we. We needed breaks. We needed the playing field to be leveled and we have gotten that.”

They got it in the form of NASCAR’s Next Gen car that debuted in 2022, only one part of a slew of rules changes implemented by the sanctioning body to help teams cut costs and perhaps narrow the gap between the far-flung financial ends of the garage. That parity swept through the sport one year ago with 19 different winners, the most seen in 21 seasons.

Added to the crapshoot of superspeedway racing, plus the constant reset button that the Daytona 500 has become in recent seasons, that level playing field turned into a showcase stage for Stenhouse and the No. 47 Chevy.

“We were 35th in qualifying on Wednesday and we finished 16th [out of 21 cars] in our qualifying race on Thursday,” Stenhouse recalled. “We had a pit road speeding penalty early in the race today and even when I was in the lead late, we were running low on fuel, and I was constantly afraid that I was going to run out of gas. But then, it worked out!”

For him, yes. For everyone else, not so much. Again, that has become the way of this place.

In the past dozen years, the Daytona 500 has averaged more than 32 lead changes per race. In the past eight races, the race has seen four last-lap passes for the lead after there had been only nine in the first 57 editions of the event. In the past seven races, an average of 31 cars have been involved in crashes in the Daytona 500, more than three quarters of the field, including 30 on Sunday. The Daytona 500 pole sitter has not won the race since Dale Jarrett in 2000. The last driver to lead the race at the halfway point and go on to win it was Davey Allison in 1992.

It’s total chaos. An evil beachside force that seems determined to slam its doors in the faces of NASCAR legends; former NASCAR champions Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski combined to lead 61 laps Sunday but ultimately reached a combined 0-for-48 in their Daytona 500 careers. But then it also loves to open that same door for those in need. Say, a Mississippi driver who was once earmarked for greatness at then-superpower Roush Fenway Racing and then seemingly tossed into motorsport purgatory.

Just take a look at the past three winners of this race. Stenhouse’s third-ever win was his first in 199 races. Last year it was Austin Cindric, a rookie making his first-ever Cup Series start. In 2021 it was Michael McDowell, earning his first-ever win in his 357th career start.

“You expect chaos at Daytona, and you always have, but these days it does seem crazier than it’s ever been,” Stenhouse explained as his toilet paper sponsor threw rolls around Victory Lane behind him. “I don’t think anyone can dispute that.

“Most of the time, that chaos that this place has become, it bites you in the butt. You’re in the wall. In the grass. Wrecked and loading up and going home. You start thinking it’s never going to go your way, especially at this place and in this race.”

Then the 35-year-old turned, pointed to the spot on the massive Harley J. Earl Trophy where his name will be engraved in sterling silver alongside the Hall of Fame likes of Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Jeff Gordon … as well as the gotta-search-them winners such as Pete Hamilton, Derrike Cope and Trevor Bayne.

“But sometimes you make your breaks, you catch some breaks, you make the right move at the right time, and Daytona, it rewards you.”

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Source: 5-star Keys flips from LSU to Tennessee

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Source: 5-star Keys flips from LSU to Tennessee

Five-star pass catcher Tristen Keys, ESPN’s No. 2 wide receiver in the 2026 class, flipped his commitment from LSU to Tennessee on Thursday afternoon, a source told ESPN.

Keys, who is 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, is the No. 10 prospect in the 2026 ESPN 300. He is the second-ranked member of the Vols’ 2026 class, trailing only five-star quarterback Faizon Brandon, ESPN’s No. 8 recruit this cycle.

Keys, who is from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, had verbally committed to the Tigers since March 19. However, he maintained an open recruitment throughout the summer, speaking with multiple programs during official visits to Auburn, Miami, Tennessee and Texas A&M. With Keys’ flip, LSU has lost a five-star wide receiver pledge in consecutive cycles, after Dakorien Moore‘s decommitment in 2025.

Keys headlines a stacked pass-catching class that the Vols are building around Brandon, ESPN’s No. 3 pocket passer prospect. Keys joins Salesi Moa (No. 35 overall), Tyreek King (No. 52) and Joel Wyatt (No. 66) as the program’s fourth top-100 wide receiver pledge in 2026. Tennessee ranked 15th in ESPN’s class rankings for the cycle prior to Keys’ flip.

Keys caught 58 passes for 1,275 yards and 14 touchdowns in his junior season last fall, guiding Hattiesburg (Miss.) High School to Mississippi’s 6A state title game. He later participated in the Under Armour All-America Game and the Polynesian Bowl earlier this year.

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GameDay Kickoff: Expectations for Jeremiah Smith, LSU-Clemson and more ahead of Week 1

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GameDay Kickoff: Expectations for Jeremiah Smith, LSU-Clemson and more ahead of Week 1

Week 1 is finally here and there’s plenty to know about ahead of this weekend. Top 25 matchups will be played, and many freshmen will have the chance to show if they can shine under the bright lights for the first time.

All eyes will be on No. 1 Texas-No. 3 Ohio State as the Longhorns travel to the Horseshoe Saturday. What can we expect to see from Texas quarterback Arch Manning and Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith in Week 1? No. 9 LSU travels to No. 4 Clemson in a tough road matchup to start off the season. While Brian Kelly and LSU have yet to win a Week 1 matchup the past three seasons, will this be the game that changes that? As we look forward to a jam-packed weekend, we take a look back at some of the best quotes of the offseason.

Our reporters break down what to know entering Week 1.

Jump to:
Expectations for Arch and Jeremiah
LSU-Clemson | Freshmen to watch
Offseason quotes

Texas-Ohio State preview

What do we need to see from Arch Manning Week 1?

We can expect Manning to take some deep shots, especially to receiver Ryan Wingo, who Manning has raved about all offseason. The Longhorns weren’t great at stretching the field last season with Quinn Ewers, but whenever Manning got in, he looked to make big plays. Texas’ offensive staffers said this spring they keep reminding Manning that he just needs to keep the offense moving forward and to take the easy throws when he can, especially while breaking in four new starters on the offensive line. Similarly, Manning, who has open-field speed, has been reminded by everyone — including his grandfather, Archie, who liked to run around a little bit — to get down or get out of bounds, and not to drop his shoulder and try to run anyone over. Manning doesn’t have to be “superhuman” or “do anything that is extraordinary,” Steve Sarkisian said on Monday. But a solid performance on the road at No. 3 Ohio State to open the season would set the Longhorns on a national championship trajectory. — Dave Wilson

What can we expect from Jeremiah Smith in his sophomore debut?

Smith noted during Big Ten media days last month that with a year of experience behind him, he expects to play even faster this season. That’s a scary proposition for the rest of college football, considering Smith put together one of the greatest true freshman seasons in college football history, capped with his game-clinching reception that lifted Ohio State to a national championship. The Longhorns were one of the only teams to keep Smith in check last year, holding him to just one catch for three yards. Of course, the attention on Smith allowed Carnell Tate and Emeka Egbuka to thrive, combining for 12 receptions in the 28-14 Buckeyes win. Still, Smith said he has been waiting for this opportunity to face Texas again. How new quarterback Julian Sayin performs could dictate the quality of Smith’s opportunities. Either way, Smith is primed to put on a show on the big Week 1 stage. — Jake Trotter


What each team needs to capitalize on to win

LSU: Four starters from last year’s starting offensive line were selected in the 2025 NFL draft, but that doesn’t mean LSU was elite up front. The Tigers ranked last in the SEC in rushing offense and mustered just 1.5 yards before contact on dropbacks, ahead of only Vanderbilt. This year’s unit will need to improve dramatically on that clip if LSU wants to contend for a playoff berth and that starts with the opener against Clemson. Clemson’s defensive front, manned by Peter Woods and T.J. Parker, is stout, and new coordinator Tom Allen will have his sights set on making LSU one-dimensional. The key to getting the ground game going will be a youth movement in the backfield led by Caden Durham and five-star freshman Harlem Berry. — David Hale

Clemson: As Hale mentioned, Clemson needs to dominate up front — as much as that sounds like a cliché. LSU coach Brian Kelly said he planned to rotate as many as eight offensive linemen in the opener, which is a nod to team depth, but may not be conducive in the type of environment they will be playing in. Clemson is eager to show that it has vastly improved in its front seven under new defensive coordinator Tom Allen, who brings a far more aggressive approach with his scheme. That aggressiveness was missing a year ago, as Clemson struggled to stop the run and consistently get after the quarterback with its best pass rushers. Clemson ranked No. 85 against the run a season ago while Penn State, where Allen coached, ranked No. 9. The same can be said on offense, where a veteran offensive line must help Clemson get the ground game going. Cade Klubnik was more effective as a passer last season because the Tigers had balance in their ground game. Converted receiver Adam Randall gets the nod at running back, and true freshman Gideon Davidson is expected to play. — Andrea Adelson


Five freshmen to watch in Week 1

Bryce Underwood, QB, Michigan, No. 1 in 2025 ESPN 300

Underwood shook the recruiting world with his late-cycle flip from LSU to the in-state Wolverines last November. Ten months later, ESPN’s top 2025 recruit is set to be the program’s Week 1 starter when No. 14 Michigan hosts New Mexico on Saturday.

Underwood’s elite arm talent, pocket awareness and mobility has impressed the Wolverines’ coaching staff since he arrived on campus in January, as has his accelerated knowledge of the game. The young quarterback will get his first chance to flash that talent alongside fellow Michigan newcomers in running back Justice Haynes (Alabama transfer) and wide receiver Donaven McCulley (Indiana) in Week 1 before Underwood and the Wolverines stare down a much stiffer challenge against an experienced, Brent Venables-led Oklahoma defense on Sept. 6.

Elijah Griffin, DT, Georgia, No. 3 in 2025 ESPN 300

For the first time since 2021, the Bulldogs landed the state of Georgia’s top-ranked prospect in the 2025 cycle, and Griffin already appears poised to be a Day 1 contributor for the No. 5 Bulldogs.

Like many of the elite defensive line talents before him at Georgia, Griffin possesses top-end traits — speed, physicality and SEC-ready size at 6-foot-4, 310 pounds — that have had onlookers drawing comparisons to former Bulldog Jalen Carter throughout the spring and summer. Griffin’s maturity and ability to pick up the defense has also stood out as he vies for snaps along a revamped Georgia defensive line that returns multiple starters from a year ago. Whether or not he starts against Marshall on Saturday, Griffin is expected to play early and often in a significant role within coordinator Glenn Schumann’s defense this fall.

Dakorien Moore, WR, Oregon, No. 4 in 2025 ESPN 300

Moore has been one of the nation’s most productive high school playmakers in recent seasons, and his elite speed and playmaking talent are expected to earn him early opportunities this fall as he steps into an unsettled Ducks wide receiver group.

Missing top 2024 pass catchers Tez Johnson (NFL), Traeshon Holden (NFL) and Evan Stewart (injury), No. 7 Oregon is screaming for fresh downfield producers in 2025. The Ducks have plenty of experienced options between Florida State transfer Malik Benson and returners Justius Lowe, Gary Bryant Jr. and Kyler Kasper, but none offer the brand of electricity Moore presents. One of ESPN’s highest-rated wide receiver prospects since 2006, Moore should be an asset for first-year starting quarterback Dante Moore as soon as Oregon takes the field against Montana State on Saturday.

Demetres Samuel Jr., DB/WR, Syracuse, No. 223 in 2025 ESPN 300

Samuel reclassified into the 2025 class to enter college a year early. At just 17 years old, the 6-1, 195-pound freshman is set to feature prominently for the Orange this fall starting with Syracuse’s Week 1 matchup with No. 24 Tennessee on Saturday in Atlanta.

A speedy tackler from Palm Bay, Florida, Samuel has legit two-way potential, and the Orange intends to make the most of it in 2025. Syracuse coach Fran Brown announced earlier this month that Samuel will start at cornerback against Tennessee while also taking snaps at wide receiver, where the Orange are replacing their top two pass catchers from a year ago. With Travis Hunter in the NFL, Samuel stands as one of the most intriguing two-way talents across college football.

Jayvan Boggs, WR, Florida State, No. 284 in 2025 ESPN 300

Boggs joins the Seminoles after hauling in 99 receptions for 2,133 yards and 24 touchdowns in a wildly productive senior season at Florida’s Cocoa High School last fall. Listed as a starter in Florida State’s Week 1 depth chart, he has an opportunity to pick up where he left off in 2025.

Boggs combines a thick build with sudden route running and knack for yards after the catch. Alongside transfers Gavin Blackwell (North Carolina), Duce Robinson (USC) and Squirrel White (Tennessee), he’s positioned to emerge as a reliable downfield option from the jump within a new group of Seminoles pass catchers around Boston College transfer quarterback Tommy Castellanos, starting with Florida State’s Week 1 meeting with No. 8 Alabama (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC). — Eli Lederman


Notable offseason quotes

“I depend on Depends. … I’m making a joke out of it, but it is real. It is real. It is real. If you see a port-a-potty on the sideline, it is real, I’m just telling you. You’re going to see one at practice, on the sideline [in games].” — Colorado coach Deion Sanders, joking about his cancer recovery.

“But since we’re in Vegas, it seems like the right time to say it, our theme for this team is double down.” — Oregon coach Dan Lanning, on expectations coming off last year’s undefeated regular season.

“We figured we would just adopt SEC scheduling philosophy, you know? Some people don’t like it. I’m more focused on those nine conference games. Not only do we want to play nine conference games, OK, and have the [revised] playoff format [with automatic qualifiers], we want to have play-in games to decide who plays in those playoffs.” — Indiana coach Curt Cignetti on criticism of the Hoosiers’ light nonconference schedule.

“The recent NCAA ruling to not punish players that weren’t involved is correct. However, this ruling also proves that the NCAA as an enforcement arm no longer exists.” — Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, on the sanctions against rival Michigan.

“They don’t have Nick Saban to save them. I just don’t see them stopping me.” — Florida State QB Tommy Castellanos to On3 in June about the opener vs. Alabama.

“I’m 21 so I can do shots at a bar.” — Texas quarterback Arch Manning, joking after being asked about how he has to carry himself in public.

“They can have their opinion. We’re going to handle all that on Aug. 30.” — Clemson DE T.J. Parker on the battle over the stadium nickname “Death Valley” between Clemson and LSU.

“I still have the [Catholics versus Convicts] shirt. I do. It’s well documented that’s as intense if not the most intense rivalry that at that time it felt like the national championship went through South Bend or Coral Gables. Intensity was high, physicality, the edge that game was played with was next level.” — Miami coach Mario Cristobal on the Notre Dame rivalry. Cristobal played in the game and will now coach in it as Miami opens vs the Irish.

“Be delusional … It means no cap on the jar, no limitations, dreaming big. With the College Football Playoff where it is, as Indiana showed last year, anybody can get there. If we’re delusional enough to know we can do that, we can get there … Take the cap off the jar. Limitless.” — Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck, speaking at Big Ten media days.

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East Carolina-NC State and other under-the-radar rivalries really pack a punch

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East Carolina-NC State and other under-the-radar rivalries really pack a punch

Let’s start with a personal memory, shall we?

Saturday, Sept. 10, 1983. Night had fallen and traffic was moving slowly as our aircraft carrier Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale was sitting in line attempting to leave Raleigh’s Carter-Finley Stadium. My mother had a white-knuckled grip on the polished wooden steering wheel. I was riding shotgun, dressed head-to-toe in North Carolina State red and white. My little brother was in the backseat, donned in East Carolina purple and gold. He loved the Pirates because our father was an alum and had pitched for the East Carolina Teachers College baseball team back in the day. But I loved the Wolfpack because we were living in Raleigh in the Jimmy Valvano era and, did I mention it was 1983?

ECU had just defeated State for the first time in six years and did so by stopping the Pack on fourth down deep in Pirates territory in the waning seconds, preserving a 22-16 victory in front of 57,700 fans, at the time the largest crowd to ever witness a college football game in the state of North Carolina.

My brother was very happy. I was not. Mom, flying solo because Dad was away officiating another game in another town, had to physically separate us as we walked through the gravel parking lot to the car. Now we all watched as no one was bothering to separate a pair of bourbon-soaked gentlemen throwing hands in that same parking lot right beside our car. They were also dressed in opposing colors. When the guy in red had enough, he got back into his car and power-locked the doors. So the guy in purple walked around behind the car, ripped the license plate off with his bare hands and threw it like a frisbee into the dark pine trees that lined the lot.

“Just so you know, that’s what you two looked like walking to the car,” Mom said to us, our preteen faces still flushed. “If you’re still doing that when you’re their age, don’t come home.”

My brother mouthed silently at me from the backseat: “Go Pirates.”

I responded in kind, perhaps even with a middle finger extended: “Go Pack.”

Army-Navy, the Iron Bowl, The Game, the Big Game and more Cups than you would find at a Bed Bath & Beyond going out of business sale. College football, far more any other sport, is built atop a foundation of rivalries. But while we as a helmeted nation tend to focus on the biggest brand-name showdowns — the ones that determine conference titles, steer national championship pushes and have long held down prime network time slots on late November weekends — they aren’t always the most fun or even the most furiously fought football fracases on the calendar.

That’s why my personal favorite rivalries are the ones that set fire to their particular corner of the map with a crazed college football intensity but are games that people who live outside that immediate area might not fully understand or appreciate.

The contests when towns, counties, particular pages of state atlases and individual homes are divided by laundry. When autumn Saturday evenings aren’t just a football game, but rather a fistfight at a family reunion. And who doesn’t want to watch that?

It’s Akron and Kent State, stars of the Bottom 10 Cinematic Universe, located only 10 miles apart, who have a snafu in the snow every November over the possession of a Wagon Wheel. It’s North Dakota State vs. South Dakota State, Bison vs. Jackrabbits, in a contest that almost always has huge FCS national title implications and also almost always ends with postgame finger-pointing that will last for the next 364 days. It’s basically the entire Sun Belt Conference, where divisions still exist, teams still ride buses to games, bad blood has flowed through reluctantly shared veins of the likes of Georgia Southern vs. App State and where soon-to-be member Louisiana Tech is resuming the Rivalry in Dixie against Southern Miss. Football feuds that reach back through years gone by in lower divisions and long-abandoned small college conferences.

Central Michigan vs. Western Michigan for the Victory Cannon. Kansas vs. Missouri, a rivalry that next weekend will be reinstated as the Border Showdown, formerly called the Border War, a title with roots back to an actual border war between the two territories. Montana vs. Montana State in the Brawl of the Wild. Even the big brand likes of Clemson vs. Georgia, stadiums only 80 miles apart, and the game we just watched in Ireland to open the 2025 season, Iowa State vs. Kansas State, aka Farmageddon.

Why do I so relish these raucous regional rivalries? Because as you are now aware, I grew up right in the middle of one — maybe the best example there is. East Carolina versus North Carolina State, who will meet for the 34th time Thursday at 7 p.m. ET on the ACC Network.

Will the nation be riveted? No. But will my neighborhood of that nation be hotter than a bottle of Texas Pete? Oh, hell yes.

“I call them cookout games because if there is ever an argument at the family cookout, then it’s probably about a game like this one.” That’s how it was once explained to me by Ruffin McNeill, a Lumberton, North Carolina, native and former all-star ECU defender who became the coach at his alma mater in 2010 and led the Pirates to four bowls in six years before he was controversially dismissed. Now Ruff is a special assistant at … wait for it … NC State. “To me, it’s what makes college football the best sport in the world. When you look at your brother or your cousin and you say, ‘You know I love you, but for a few hours this weekend I’m not going to love you as much as I usually do.'”

That’s how a lot of North Carolina families will be rolling Thursday night, especially those who reside between the state capital and the Outer Banks, what we call Down East. From Nags Head to New Bern and Scotland Neck to Smithfield, one giant barrel of red and white and purple and gold, all swirled together in the same living room. And man, do those colors clash.

“So, I’m from Texas, right? We have a lot of really intense rivalries that mean a lot inside the state of Texas but that people outside of Texas don’t really understand,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said earlier this year. He was East Carolina’s offensive coordinator for five years, 2010 to 2014, coaching under McNeill. “When NC State came to our place in 2010, I remember in pregame, it was already so tense. I said, ‘Oh man, this is how this is?’ Ruff said, ‘Yes, it is. Now imagine what it’s going to be like when we go there. Buckle up.'”


BACK TO THE memory banks.

Jan. 1, 1992. The final Peach Bowl was played in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. It was a drizzly day, but that didn’t prevent nearly 60,000 people from attending the last college football game played at the home of the Braves, soon to be replaced by the Georgia Dome. Both ECU and NC State were in the Top 25. After nearly two decades of annual contests, they hadn’t played since 1987. Why? Because after another win in Raleigh, Pirates fans stormed NC State’s home field and pillaged the goalposts. By this time Valvano was NCSU’s athletic director and, angered by the damage done to his football stadium, he immediately discontinued the series. So, when it came time for the Peach Bowl to send out its invites, the powers-that-be wisely made phone calls to two schools located only 80 miles apart and only a day’s drive down I-85 to their stadium.

There, in the stands, sitting with my family and surrounded by ECU fans, I began openly gloating about State’s imminent victory. After all, the Pack led by 17 points with less than nine minutes remaining. It was over, right? Wrong. Pirates quarterback Jeff Blake, amid chants of “We … believe!” and a sea of foam yellow buccaneer swords, orchestrated a comeback that made him not merely an East Carolina football legend, but the forever Pirates football deity.

I was so bitter about that day for so long that it pained me the first time I finally interviewed Blake, and he was such a genuinely nice guy.

“Everywhere I go, it’s about the ’92 Peach Bowl,” he said to me for a 2014 story about bowl games. Blake threw for more than 21,000 yards over 14 NFL seasons and is now director of the IMG QB Academy in Florida. “If I had won a Super Bowl ring, it would still be second in [Greenville, NC] to people wanting to see my Peach Bowl watch. At a big school, those moments might not mean so much. For the rest of us, those are the moments.”

ECU vs. NCSU has provided so many of those moments.

That game that Lincoln Riley spoke of in 2010 began with a 21-0 ECU lead in the first quarter, but Wolfpack QB Russell Wilson led a comeback of his own, sending the game into OT. But in that extra frame, Wilson was intercepted to secure the victory for the Pirates. It was a revenge game for their last meeting two years earlier, when it was NC State who celebrated at the end of the series’ first-ever overtime contest.

In 2022, ECU had a chance to tie and win the game late but missed a PAT and field goal as time expired, preserving NCSU’s 1-point win. And, oh yeah, there’s their last meeting, only eight months ago in the Military Bowl, where a sellout crowd in Annapolis got a red-hot game and a bloody ref as the result of a fight at the end of the game, à la those drunk dudes in the parking lot in ’83.

Speaking of, I failed to mention this when I shared that story, but those guys totally knew each other. They looked similar. Had the same nose. One even called the other by name. So, it should come as no surprise that the prize awarded for winning this game is directly based on that kind of kinship. The Victory Barrel, which wasn’t introduced until 2007 but has been retroactively marked to represent every result since the series began in 1970, was rolled out with a backstory about two ultracompetitive brothers who grew up on an Eastern North Carolina farm but attended the two different schools. Eventually, they donated the pork barrel that they had once kept in a barn, whittled with the results of their own hometown competitions, for the schools to keep track of their football games.

“Those games are the ones where you look at the other guy and you know that guy, or you at least recognize that guy, because that guy either lives in your neighborhood, or hell, he might be your brother,” explained Jerry Kill when asked about the intensity of overlooked rivalries. Now he’s a special consultant at Vanderbilt. Prior to that, he was the coach at New Mexico State, one half of the Rio Grande Rivalry versus New Mexico, aka the Game When The Diego Pavia Logo Urination Video (ahem) Leaked, which holds its115th edition later this season. “If you like western movies, you know how it works. This town ain’t big enough for the both of us.”

North Carolina has never been big enough for all its college football teams. Tobacco Road has long belonged to what used to be called the Big Four. Beginning at the western edge of the middle region of the state, aka the Piedmont, with Wake Forest, then moving east into the Triangle, with Duke and UNC in the middle and NC State on the eastern flank. But as Appalachian State began to gather steam, it challenged from the mountains after East Carolina did the same from the coast. Both have always coveted the power conference ACC membership of the Big Four, but both have also proudly owned the little brother chip on their shoulder pads. All while Wake and State have done the same, as they’ve had to watch the nation become obsessed with the Blue Devils and Tar Heels during hoops season.

NC State head coach Dave Doeren, who made headlines this summer at ACC media days when asked about ECU and replied, “I want to beat the s— out of that team,” has never shied away from the perceived “haves vs. have-nots” syndrome when it comes to UNC. See: When he also made headlines in 2022 saying, as paraphrased by a TV crew, that NC State is blue collar and UNC is elitist. On the flipside, ECU coach Blake Harrell recently suggested that his entire roster was making less NIL money than Pack QB CJ Bailey.

“Whatever you need to motivate yourself, you do it,” Torry Holt said, laughing, prior to his induction into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2022. The former NC State All-America wide receiver grew up in Gibsonville, North Carolina, just off Tobacco Road. He even picked tobacco as a kid. He also went 1-1 versus East Carolina during his four years with the Pack, highlighted by a backbreaking 68-yard TD catch to open the second half in Raleigh in 1997 that paved the way to a 37-24 win. “The important thing for me is that the last time I played them, we won. We lost the first one. But you don’t want to lose the last one. That was the last time I played them and the last time I will ever play them.”

He laughed again. “So … scoreboard.”


ONE MORE FROM the memory bank. It’s all you need to know about ECU vs. NCSU, and it easily applies to all those other underappreciated pigskin passion plays throughout this great college football nation.

It was spring 1997 and I was a young feature producer for ESPN. My primary beat was NASCAR, and I was covering a race at my hometown Rockingham Speedway. That’s when the governor of North Governor, Jim Hunt, who was an NC State graduate and former NCSU student body president, wandered into the media center during a rain delay, making small talk. He said to us, “You guys are with ESPN? Well, I have a story for you. Our state legislature is introducing a bill to try and mandate that East Carolina plays State every year. Y’all ever been to one of those games?”

I told him that, yes, I had, growing up in Raleigh in the 1980s. My camera operator said he had been a Wolfpack athlete, a swimmer. What we know now is that the bill never passed, but it did lead to more frequent Tobacco Road bookings for the Pirates.

That ’97 day in rainy Rockingham, Hunt sighed. “If that bill passes, then y’all know what I’m going to have to do?”

We looked at the governor, quizzically. He winked. Then he joked. At least I think it was a joke.

“We’re going to need to hire a lot more state troopers for Down East. Or wrestling referees.”

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