NC State and Boston College only played twice before the Eagles joined the ACC, but since 2005 they have played every season but last year's COVID-19 altered schedule.

Here's a rundown of the history between the two.

Two words highlight the history of NC State and Boston College: Tom O’Brien.

The Naval Academy alum (class of 1971) broken into coaching in 1975 at his alma mater working for head coach George Welsh. After five seasons of mixed results at Navy, Welsh’s program started to take off in 1978. For the next four years, Welsh’s teams went 31-15-1 and to three bowl games. That helped Welsh land the head coaching job at Virginia in 1982.

Welsh had a tremendous 19-year run in Charlottesville, going 134-86-3 for the Cavaliers, winning a pair of ACC titles and finishing the year ranked six times. O’Brien remained a loyal assistant to Welsh at Virginia, coaching there for 15 years, the final six as the offensive coordinator.

Then in 1997, O’Brien took a leap and became the head coach at Boston College. At that point, the Eagles had back-to-back losing seasons and was coming off a gambling scandal. Thus it was not surprising it took a few years for O’Brien to turn BC into a winning program, but in year three the Eagles went 8-4, beginning a stretch of eight straight bowl trips, the last seven of which BC won.

In seven of the eight years, Boston College won at least eight games. In four of the final five, the Eagles had nine victories. Four times BC would finish the year ranked in the top 25. After going 75-45 for the Eagles, O’Brien surprised many when he left for another job, and where he went raised eyebrows.

He was replacing Chuck Amato as the head coach at Boston College’s conference divisional rival NC State.

From 2007-12, O’Brien patrolled the sidelines at NC State, going 40-35 overall, highlighted by the 2010 team that finished in the top 25 and went into the final weekend of the regular season needing only to beat Maryland to play for a conference championship. The Terrapins however denied NC State.

O’Brien was fired by former NC State director of athletics Debbie Yow after going 7-5 in 2012, ending his six-year tenure with three winning seasons and four bowl trips, yet his time is perhaps most memorable for the drama surrounding quarterback Russell Wilson, who after 2010 would leave NC State as a grad transfer and go to Wisconsin before embarking on a potentially Hall of Fame NFL career.

Replacing O’Brien was Dave Doeren, who still remains at NC State. Boston College is on its fourth coach since O'Brien. A win Saturday would give Doeren his 60th win with the Wolfpack, a mark only reached by Earle Edwards (77 wins) for the Wolfpack.

Doeren also has done something O’Brien was unable to do for NC State: win at Boston College. When BC joined the league in 2005, it beat NC State five straight times in Chestnut Hill, including three against O’Brien, and most of them lopsided. Four of the five were losses by at least 17 points, including a 32-point drubbing by the Eagles in 2009.

In 2015, Doeren ended that futility with a 24-8 win for the Wolfpack. Two years later, Doeren made it two straight victories, squeaking out a 17-14 triumph. The last time the two teams played, two years ago in Chestnut Hill, Boston College used a bruising rushing attack to prevail 45-24 over a shorthanded Wolfpack squad.

Prior to joining the ACC, BC and NC State only played each other twice, 1935 and 1936, both times in Massachusetts. Boston College won the first contest, 7-3, and NC State took the second, 12-7.

Since Jeff Hafley has arrived at Boston College, the two teams have not gone at it on the recruiting trail that much.

However, both star wideouts on their respective teams were targeted by both teams. NC State actually offered BC's Zay Flowers for both receiver and defensive back. Meanwhile, Boston College was Emeka Emezie's first Power Five offer.

Boston College also pursued NC State's starting quarterback Devin Leary out of high school, and when Pack safety Tanner Ingle backed off his Tennessee pledge, the Eagles were one of the teams that came after Ingle hardest.

This past offseason, NC State made a chase on one-time South Carolina commit three-star linebacker Bryce Steele, a Raleigh native, but he chose Boston College instead.

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