User:Wolfpackfan1234/North Carolina NCAA Division I FBS football rivalries

The North Carolina NCAA Division I FBS football rivalries, also known as Tobacco Road football rivalries, are the regional rivalries of the five universities in North Carolina that play FBS football. The five teams are the Duke Blue Devils, East Carolina Pirates, North Carolina Tar Heels, NC State Wolfpack, and Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

Origin of "State Champions"
Though these rivalries have been played for decades, North Carolina coach Mack Brown popularized the term "state champions" in the 1990s, which was used for the team that had the best record among the five in-state teams. When Tom O'Brien became coach at NC State, he revived the term. In fact, NC State used the term "state champions" in marketing meaterial following its undefeated season against the other four schools in 2008.

With the advent of ACC divisions in football, Duke-Wake Forest and North Carolina-NC State were made permanent cross-division rivals. With only eight conference games, not every team in the conference plays each other every year. While NC State-Wake Forest and Duke-North Carolina play every season since they are in the same divisions, Duke-NC State and North Carolina-Wake Forest no longer play every year.