FSU Football: Games against N.C. State have shaped Noles program

FSU football will face the Wolfpack this weekend in Tallahassee, continuing a series that has had plenty of ups and downs for the Seminoles.

Now, FSU football fans, it’s time for a quiz here at Chop Chat: name the ACC program – other than the Miami Hurricanes – that the Seminoles have played the most over their 71 season history. Hint: it isn’t Clemson or Wake Forest, two long time southern football teams who played the Noles back in the day…and it isn’t Virginia Tech, who used to play the Noles yearly when they were both independents.

The answer may surprise you – as it is actually the N.C. State Wolfpack, who have played Florida State 37 times since their first game during the 1952 season (a contest which the Seminoles led in the fourth quarter before a late Wolfpack touchdown to give them a 13-7 win.)

65 years later, FSU football and N.C. State will meet in a series that has had both history and frustration for the Seminoles.

One season after their first meetings, the Seminoles got their first ever win over an ACC team when they went back to Raleigh and defeated the Wolfpack 23-13 in the next to last game of the season. The teams would meet 10 more times with the Noles going 7-3 before the team’s final game in 1969.

When Florida State joined the ACC in 1992, they spent the first six seasons abusing N.C. State – including putting 62, 77 and 51 points on them while outscoring them by an average of 51-15 each game. It was all going well until the 1998 game, when FSU football scored the first touchdown of the game in Raleigh before the Wolfpack scored the next 24 and embarrassed the then second ranked Noles.

Over the last ten meetings the teams have had in Raleigh, the series is actually tied at five wins a piece – with three of FSU’s wins being by seven points or less, including last season’s comeback four point win. At home, the Seminoles have had better success in going 7-2 over that span and not having lost to the Wolfpack in Tallahassee since 2005.

In the last 25 seasons, FSU football has an 18-7 record over the Wolfpack – but all of N.C. State’s wins have come when they were unranked and the Seminoles were, with four of those wins coming when the Noles were ranked in the top 10.

N.C. State has always been a team, no matter the coach or players are for the Wolfpack, that plays FSU football tough. Before the season, several experts said they could come to Tallahassee this weekend and get the upset win. While we still don’t think that will take place despite all the variables, the men from Raleigh are people the Seminoles can’t overlook.

Next: Top FSU Football Wins Over Miami and Florida

If, for some reason, FSU football does look past the Wolfpack and don’t come into this weekend’s game prepared for action, it would just add to what has been a wild history between the Seminoles and their longest running conference opponent from outside the Sunshine State.