The University of North Carolina (UNC) - Chapel Hill and Wake Forest University are both in the same state and their football teams play in the same conference, yet the Tar Heels and Demon Deacons agreed to a nonconference home-and-home series.
According to ESPN, the Deacons will host the Heels on Sept. 14, 2019 and the Heels will host the Deacons on Sept. 25, 2021, but neither will count toward either team's ACC record. However, they play each other in 2015 in Chapel Hill and 2022 in Winston-Salem, which are both inter-conference matchups.
The newly announced home-and-home series is unique in that the two schools decided they did not want to wait seven years between games. They have played 105 against each other, making it the third-oldest rivalry in the ACC, ESPN noted.
Wake Forest plays in the ACC Atlantic and UNC plays in the ACC Coastal; their annual rivalry game is with Duke.
"This is a unique opportunity to play a regional rival in years that fall outside the normal conference rotation," Bubba Cunningham, UNC's athletic director, said in a press release. "We have a long history with Wake Forest that has historical value and will generate interest within our fans."
UNC holds a large advantage in their all-time series against Wake Forest with a 68-35-2 record against the Deacons, though the latter has won three of the last four meetings.
"Because of the ACC schedule, we do not have the opportunity to play North Carolina as regularly as we have in the past," Ron Wellman, Wake Forest's athletic director, said in a press release. "These are two teams that played the very first college football game in this state over 125 years ago. We felt it made perfect sense to continue this rivalry and allow fans of both schools to enjoy playing a traditional opponent."
