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NC State Football

Previewing NC State’s Opponent: UNC

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6 months ago

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#22 NC State is looking to win their third straight game against their rival UNC tonight. Last week, there was a number beside UNC’s name, and not NC State’s. A loss to Clemson knocked UNC out of the Top-25, and a win over Virginia Tech propelled the Wolfpack into the Top-25.

At one point this season, this North Carolina team was 6-0, and the #10 team in all of college football, but after losing 3 out of their last 4 ACC games, the Tar Heels have watched a lot of dreams dwindle away.

Despite where UNC finds themselves with one game remaining in the regular season, they are not to be taken lightly. The Tar Heel Offense is one of the best in the land, ranking 3rd nationally in Total Offense, averaging an insane 514.8 yards per game. Their potent offense is balanced, ranking 8th in Passing Yards Per Game (311.6) and 13th in Rushing Yards Per Game (203.2). UNC ranks 12th in Scoring Offense, putting an average of 38.1 Points Per Game.

Sophomore Running Back Omarion Hampton was the leading rusher in the nation until last night (Missouri’s Cody Schrader and Texas Tech’s Tahj Brooks both played last night, and passed him), and likely could be again after tonight’s game. He currently is tied for 3rd nationally in rushing yards, with 1,414. His 15 rushing touchdowns currently rank 5th nationally.

Redshirt Sophomore Quarterback Drake Maye’s 3,354 passing yards is tops in the ACC by a mile, and rank 8th nationally. His 22 touchdowns rank 2nd in the ACC behind Georgia Tech’s Haynes King, and his Passing Efficiency Rating of 151.8 rank 3rd in the conference behind Louisville’s Jack Plummer and FSU’s Jordan Travis.

Maye’s receiving targets are numerous, but at the top of the list is Junior Tez Walker, who has 670 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns in only 7 games played. After Walker, UNC has 3 other receivers with over 400 receiving yards. For perspective, after Kevin Concepcion (636 receiving yards), NC State doesn’t have another receiver with over 200 receiving yards. Junior J.J. Jones has 596 receiving yards, Junior Tight End Bryson Nesbit has 537 (with 5 touchdowns), and former NC State commit Junior Nate McCollum has 428.

How does one beat a team that boasts an offense like that?

Well, it’s quite possible when UNC ranks 90th nationally in Total Defense (396.5 yards per game), 64th in Scoring Defense (26 points per game), 89th in Run Defense (162.5 yards per game) and 81st in Passing Yards Allowed (234 yards per game). I’ll give credit to one aspect of the Tar Heel Defense…they are tied for 10th nationally with NC State in turnovers created (21).

Point being, UNC might be seemingly guaranteed to be productive offensively, but so is the other teams offense.

What was UNC’s weakness in their three losses? Was it stopping Omarion Hampton? No, he averaged 147.6 yards rushing per game in the Tar Heels 3 losses.

Was it turning the ball over? Not really. UNC lost the turnover margin in only 1 of their 3 losses. They rank 7th nationally in turnover margin.

Ironically, it was the golden boy, Drake Maye, who has struggled in UNC’s losses. Maye’s two lowest passing efficiency rating performances in 2023 have been against Clemson and Virginia (His performance in the loss against Georgia Tech was the 2nd highest of the season.).

For context, guess which defense held Maye to his lowest passing efficiency performance last season? The answer is NC State, who held him to a putrid rating of 101.8, which is the 2nd lowest of his career (96.8 against Clemson last week is the lowest).

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Matthew is Publisher and Co-Owner of Pack Insider. He is also the Lead Pastor of The Point Church in Cary, NC.

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NC State Football

Does the Addition of the UVA Series Equal the Elimination of NC State’s Series with App St.?

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2 days ago

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May 17, 2024

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Earlier this week it was announced that NC State and Virginia would play one another in a home-and-home series, with the Wolfpack hosting in 2025, and the Cavaliers hosting in 2026.

Prior to the announcement, NC State already had their non-conference slate booked for both of those seasons.

As a result of the addition of the Virginia series, a previously scheduled non-conference game from each season would need to be dropped. While it hasn’t been officially announced by the school, Joe Giglio and David Glenn seem to think that the series with Appalachian State is going to be dropped.

It would make the most sense, considering the Mountaineers were the only opponent the Wolfpack was scheduled to play in both 2025 and 2026. It would also make sense, considering the fact that ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips isn’t a fan of ACC teams playing Group of 5 schools on the road.

I will tell you this much. The Mountaineer faithful certainly believe NC State is dropping the series with App State, and it just takes a little scrolling on X (formerly Twitter) to get a read on their feelings on the situation.

This situation brings to mind the bill that has been proposed in the North Carolina House of Representatives that would force NC State and UNC to play App St., ECU and UNC Charlotte in Football, Men’s Basketball and Women’s Basketball.

If the addition of UVA means the elimination of App St. on NC State’s schedule, what are your thoughts? Share in the comments.

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NC State Football

CBS Sports Ranks Dave Doeren as 1 of the Top-20 Coaches in College Football

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2 days ago

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May 16, 2024

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CBS Sports released their Top-25 Power 4 Coaches in College Football, and NC State’s Dave Doeren came in at #16. Heading into last season, he went into the season ranked #25.

16) Dave Doeren: The NC State coach finally gets some overdue credit. He’s always hovered around the bottom of our top 25 or just outside it, and now he finds himself firmly entrenched in it thanks to all the changes at the top. Coaches who take mid-tier programs and overachieve never get enough credit, in my estimation, and the consistency Doeren has established at NC State — where he spent most of his time in a division with Clemson and Florida State — is one of the most impressive things any coach in the country has done. I’m glad to see Doeren getting closer to the top 15. 2023 rank: 25 (+9) (CBS Sports)

Numerous CBS Sports’ analysts voted in the poll, and Tom Fornelli actually ranked Doeren #8.

ACC Coaches that made the Top-25

3. Dabo Swinney (Clemson)

8. Mike Norvell (FSU)

16. Dave Doeren (NC State)

19. Jeff Brohm (Louisville)

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NC State Football

NC State vs. Tennessee Kickoff Time & TV Network Revealed

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4 days ago

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May 15, 2024

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Kickoff time and TV Channel details have been revealed for NC State and Tennessee’s game in the Duke Mayo Classic in Week 2 of next season.

The game will be a primetime game on Saturday 7th, at 7:30pm on ABC.

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This game has the makings to be a Top-25 matchup.

Here’s a look at some of the Way-Too-Early Preseason rankings for the Wolfpack and the Volunteers:

Action Network: NC State #24/Tennessee #17

ON3: NC State #22/Tennessee #15

247: NC State #21/Tennessee #11

ESPN: NC State #17/Tennessee #15

DraftKings released their way-too-early odds for the game, and Tennessee is currently a 5.5-point favorite.

Here’s the deal, as NC State fans, if we want to be a big time Football program, NC State fans need to gobble up tickets to this game. Let’s do our part and make sure that Bank of America Stadium is painted RED. Buy Tickets HERE.

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NC State Football

NC State and UVA Agree to Home-and-Home Non-Conference Games

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4 days ago

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May 15, 2024

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NC State announced this morning that the Wolfpack and UVA will play in a home-and-home non-conference series, with the game in 2025 being in Raleigh, and the game in 2026 being in Charlottesville.

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To reiterate, despite the fact that both teams are in the ACC, these games are considered non-conference games, and won’t count toward conference records. This is similar to what UNC and Wake Forest did a few years back.

Here’s what’s interesting about the addition of these games in 2025 and 2026. Prior to the announcement, NC State already had 4 non-conference games scheduled for both years.

It would be my assumption that one of the previously scheduled non-conference games for each season will not take place now.

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