NC State and Miami have only played 16 times. The Wolfpacker noted how a win for the Pack over the Canes in 1970 came at a pivotal time in NC State football history.

But the series has been entertaining since Miami came into the ACC. The Canes are 4-2 against NC State in league action, but almost all of those games have been fascinating in some form.

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

There has been one time in NC State history where ESPN’s College GameDay came to Raleigh. It was Oct. 23, 2004, when No. 3 Miami was the opponent. That was the first time that the Wolfpack played the Hurricanes since Miami had joined the ACC, and it was the beginning of what has been an entertaining series between the two teams in conference play.

Miami won that evening in Raleigh, 45-31, proving ESPN’s Lee Corso wrong. Corso had donned a full Mr. Tuffy mascot for his prediction, yet it was an ominous sign when Miami’s Devin Hester returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown.

Ironically, Hester recently acknowledged that the school he wanted to attend coming out of high school was none other than NC State.

Three years later, in the final season Miami played at the famed Orange Bowl, NC State scored a win over the Canes in improbable fashion. Miami quarterback Kirby Freeman completed one pass to a teammate, literally, the entire game. It was an 84-yard touchdown. He also threw three interceptions and 11 more incomplete passes for a final quarterback rating of 2.1.

Yet, NC State needs overtime to win the game thanks to Miami rushing for 314 yards and 5.2 yards per carry. The Pack prevailed after Miami missed a field goal attempt with its first OT possession, and then future long-time NFL kicker Steven Hauschka made a 42-yarder for the win for the Pack, one of four field goals for Hauschka on the day.

A year later, quarterback Russell Wilson had one of his highlight performances on his way to being first-team All-ACC as a freshman, running around Miami’s defense for a 29-yard touchdown run and also throwing for two scores in what was a 38-28 win for the Pack.

The two teams played a wild game in 2012, with NC State rallying from being down 37-27 with eight minutes left to tie the game on a 50-yard field goal by Niklas Sade with 1:58 remaining.

Yet Miami completed a 62-yard pass from Stephen Morris to Phillip Dorsett with just 19 seconds remaining to pull out a crazy 44-37 victory.

There was not a lot of drama in a 27-13 win for Miami in Raleigh in 2016, but last year saw another thriller between the two teams.

When NC State kicker Christopher Dunn made a 53-yard field goal with 14:55 left in the fourth quarter, the Pack enjoyed a 41-31 lead. Yet Miami would score two field goals and a touchdown on its final three possessions while holding the Pack to a pair of punts and then getting an interception to pull out a 44-41 victory.

It was the first time that Miami head coach Manny Diaz had coached at Carter-Finley Stadium on the opposing sideline since he left the school that gave Diaz his big break in coaching.

Diaz was a graduate assistant at Florida State when Chuck Amato was the assistant head coach of the powerhouse Seminoles. When Amato was hired by his alma mater to be NC State’s head coach in 2000, he brought Diaz with him as a grad assistant, and in 2002 promoted Diaz to linebackers coach. In 2004, Diaz was shifted to safeties coach and special teams coordinator, a role he held for two years before being hired as the defensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee.

Diaz and Amato maintained a close friendship, and Amato was on the sideline at UNC’s Kenan Stadium in 2019 when Diaz and the Hurricanes played UNC.

While there are quite a few offers that overlap between the two teams, especially NC State pursuing some of Florida's best talent, the number of players who seriously considered both schools is just a handful.

NC State landed two players last year that Miami made a hard push to land. Three-star linebacker Caden Fordham had Miami in his final four before picking NC State, and Miami was one of the schools that made a run after three-star quarterback Aaron McLaughlin when he backed out of his commitment to Auburn.

On the other sideline, redshirt junior offensive tackle Zalon'tae Hillery made an official visit to NC State after his commitment to Miami, but in the end Hillery held firm for the Hurricanes. Hillery has appeared in 20 games for Miami but has yet to make a start.

Redshirt freshman defensive end Jahfari Harvey, who is in his third year for the Canes, made a visit to NC State for its spring game in 2018 before deciding to commit to Miami. Harvey has emerged as a prominent pass rusher this year, totaling three sacks in the first six games, and he had a pick six in last week's loss at UNC.

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