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New news about NC A&M's football team was not mentioned again in the papers until November 2nd. In the meantime, UNC went on to smother Washington & Lee 44-0 at Lexington, lost at Virginia Military Institute 4-10, and lost to Trinity at Durham 4-6. They would also humiliate NC A&M's next competitor, Tennessee, 60-0 at home. Unfortunately, the November 9th issue of The Tar Heel, which would have detailed the game, is not digitized, but a writeup of the game in the Daily Charlotte Observer says that Tennessee "played an uphill but plucky game," describing their defense as "good" (Daily Charlotte Observer, November 4th, 1893, p. 1). The following day, Tennessee traveled to Durham to play Trinity. The White and Blue of Trinity one-upped UNC by smashing the Tennessee team 70-0, the game being called with five minutes left in the second 30-minute half (News-Observer-Chronicle, November 5th, 1893, p. 1; News-Observer-Chronicle, November 7th, 1893, p. 1). Most writeups of the games described Tennessee's team as "very light" and "plucky" but in general hopelessly outmatched by the North Carolina teams. "They came here expecting to be beat, but they were desirous of learning the game." Despite their dearth of on-field success, the team was described as "gentlemanly," and even in the face of their massive losses, "their conduct... was of such a nature as to excite admiration."

Of more interest to the people of the people of North Carolina than these blowouts, however, was the State Fair football game between Wake Forest and Trinity. The game had first been announced as a possibility as early as September 22nd, though at that stage the possible teams were UNC and Wake Forest. UNC agreed to play Wake Forest on Tuesday, October 17th, but included in their agreement a lengthy list of conditions to be met before the game, including "a certificate signed by three members of the faculty of the respective institutions stating that every player is a bona fide student" (News-Observer-Chronicle, September 22nd, 1893, p. 4). Whether Wake Forest agreed to those terms or not was never mentioned in the papers, but by the following Sunday, the State Fair's game was announced to be between Wake Forest and Trinity. Crowds were expected to be enormous; notably, the game would be played on the same day that then-Senator and former Confederate military officer Zebulon Baird Vance would be attending the fair and giving a speech (News-Observer-Chronicle, September 24th, 1893, p. 1).

The game, which was described in a multi-page writeup in the next morning's copy of the News-Observer-Chronicle, was a close game, eventually won by Trinity 12-6 (News-Observer-Chronicle, October 18th, 1893, pp. 1, 4). Papers went on to report that the "teams were the heaviest ever seen" and that the game was "an interesting one," but that "the Wake Forest boys could not play ball with Trinity," noting that the only reason the Baptists managed to score on the Methodists was due to an error on the part of Trinity (Daily Charlotte Observer, October 18th, 1893, p. 1; Washington Progress, October 24th, 1893, p. 3).

As can be seen from the defeats handed to the Volunteers by the UNC and Trinity teams, this was not a strong team for Tennessee; nor had their team been strong the year before. In fact, since their team's inception in 1891, Tennessee's football program had won just one intercollegiate game, and two games total: a 25-0 win over Maryville, and a 16-6 win against the Chattanooga Athletic Club. In fact, up to this point, Tennessee's team had been so abysmal that those two wins represented 41 of the 47 points the team had ever scored. Before their game against NC A&M, the Volunteers had yet to score in the 1893 season after having played 4 games, losing to Kentucky State 0-56 and Wake Forest 0-54, in addition to the Trinity and UNC games already mentioned. Up to this point, Tennessee as a football program had a record of 47-376 points scored, and sat at 0-194 for the season. So while this game did count as A&M's first intercollegiate victory, the team they defeated was by no means a stellar team.

Though Tennessee's original trip to North Carolina included games against Trinity, Wake Forest, UNC, and the Asheville Athletic Club, it did not include a game against A&M (News-Observer-Chronicle, November 2nd, 1893, p. 4; The Asheville Daily Citizen, November 3rd, 1893, p. 4). However, by November 5th, it was announced that Tennessee would play its 3rd game of football in just 4 days. A brief pre-game writeup written by an observer bullishly wrote that "Both teams are in fine training" and stated confidently that "a very interesting game may be expected" (News-Observer-Chronicle, November 5th, 1893, p. 4). The Daily Evening Visitor said the game would be "the event of the week" (The Daily Evening Visitor, November 6th, 1893, p. 1). Admission to the game was only 25 cents, or about $7 in 2019 (News-Observer-Chronicle, November 7th, 1893, p. 4).

Both teams agreed to shorten the game to two 30-minute halves. Tennessee started with the ball, and started out strong, making 10 yards through the V formation and another 25 on a "very pretty" run by Barches. But on the following plays, Tennessee lost the ball on downs, giving control to the Farmers. After a 30 yard run by Pritchard, the Farmers lost the ball on downs to Tennessee. The Volunteers then failed to advance the ball and kicked the ball away, over the heads of the A&M players. The Aggies then lost the ball for an unspecified foul, giving the Orange and White the ball back. Fisher of Tennessee made a long, 25-yard run, but the Volunteers subsequently lost the ball. Once A&M had control of the ball again, Pritchard made another long run, this time for 25 yards, but the Pink and Blue of Raleigh lost the ball on the following third down. Tennessee brought the ball nearly all the way back to A&M's goal line, but lost the ball themselves. The first 30-minute half ended scoreless, with the game tied 0-0.

A&M started with the ball in the second half, opening the period with a strong, 40-yard run which employed the flying V formation. After two runs for 15 total yards by Hughes and a 5 yard pickup by Whitaker, Hughes punched the ball through the center of the Tennessee line for a touchdown, Tennessee gained 10 yards using the V formation, but then lost the ball for fouling. The Pink and Blue, however, were unable to gain any more ground, and turned the ball right back over to Tennessee on downs. After that, Tennessee's Igams carried the ball to the goal line in just two plays, one covering 10 yards and the other the remainder of the distance--roughly 35 yards. Barches kicked the goal for the Volunteers, tying up the score at 6-6. Not long after Tennessee's touchdown, though, the Farmers began a furious drive for a touchdown. Starting again at midfield, their first run made 45 yards using the V formation. After a 5 yard run by Hughes, the Mechanics lost the ball on a foul. The final touchdown of the game was described as follows: "Tennessee kicked but Williams made a second touch down for the college. Hughes kicked good."

The best players for Tennessee were reported to be Barches, Fisher, and Igams. For the Pink and Blue, the runs of Pritchard, Whitaker, and Hughes in were praised, as was the tackling of McRae and Saunders. The flying V of the Farmers was also praised; it was "almost bewildering [to] the Tennessee boys" (News-Observer-Chronicle, November 8th, 1893, p. 4).

Other contemporary summaries of the game are scarce, with just one other paper (The Morning Star, of Wilmington) mentioning the game's final score (The Morning Star, November 8th, 1893, p. 4). Later descriptions of the game, however, generally agree with the summary from the paper that would soon become the News and Observer. C. D. Harris, in his error-riddled history of NC State football's early days, briefly describes the game (which he claims took place on November 9th, 1894) as follows: "It was during this season that the 'flying V' play was originated, and accounts of the game tell how Hughes, Whitehouse and Whitaker carried the ball in this formation in a 45-yard rush. Hughes on the next play carried the ball over for a touchdown, scoring the first point made by A. & M. on a team outside the State. A few minutes later Tennessee scored a touchdown, and this was followed by a second by A. & M." (C. D. Harris, p. 175).

This was a game full of firsts. Notably, it was A&M's first intercollegiate game against a full, Varsity team rather than a scrub team or a local prep school. Additionally, Tennessee was the first out-of-state team the Farmers had ever faced. Another notable first of this game was that it was the first intercollegiate game played by A&M at home.

Tennessee's troubled season would improve after the A&M game, but not significantly. Following their five consecutive losses to open the season, the Vols returned home to play Maryville, whom they defeated 32-0. Two weeks later, the Asheville Athletic Club journeyed to Knoxville to play Tennessee, who canceled their November 7th game just a day beforehand, likely so they could work in the A&M game; the Asheville team lost 12-6. Tennessee stopped formally sponsoring football following the 1893 season so that boys could focus more on their studies and so that their efforts could be focused more on baseball; an informal, student-run team represented the school for the two seasons, until the university formally sponsored the sport again in 1896.