Wolfpack Kickoff: Week 8 vs. Wake Forest
NC State (4-3, 1-2 ACC) vs. Wake Forest (6-1, 2-1 ACC)
BB&T Field, Winston-Salem (31,500)
Noon, ESPN (PxP: Dave Pasch; Analyst: Greg McElroy, Sideline: Tom Liuginbill)
Streaming: WatchESPN; National radio: Sirius 119, XM 203; Live stats: GoPack.com
Weather: Sunny, 54 degrees with almost no chance of rain
Series history: State leads 66-40-6 (22-18-1 in Winston-Salem)
Last meeting: Wake 27, State 23
Last week: Both teams had an open date
Most recent game: State lost to Boston College 45-24; Wake beat Florida State 22-20
BetOnline line: State plus 7 1/2 | Over/Under 60 1/2
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
"We had a good chance over the bye week to get some guys some rest. And they needed it. Had a really good practice yesterday. I thought the guys came back from the break we gave them with a lot of energy." Coach Dave Doeren
"It's always exciting. Coming off of a bye week, we've prepared a bunch over the last few days. Obviously, it's NC State. They're an in-state rival. Coach told us today it's one of the biggest rivalries we've had all year. We're 6-1 right now. Everyone's excited. Obviously there's a lot of buzz about this game because in the past couple of years it's always been a tight game. They're a great team and we're just really excited to have a home game against a rival." Wake tight end Jack Freudenthal
"Something that I always like to take is just win the day. As long as we continue to win the day, we’re always going to progress. Like I said, competition is everything. So, going hard every single day, managing everything like it’s a game is going to make us better. Whatever I can do to help this team, I just want to do my job. Whether it’s with my arm or my legs, I’m going to do everything that I can."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
NC State stats | Wake Forest stats
| NC State | Wake Forest | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Passing | Devin Leary | 20-41-0 336 3 TD | Jamie Newman | 141-209-5 1,772 17 TD |
Rushing | Zonovan Knight | 79 carries, 381 yards 3 TD | Cade Carney | 89 carries, 351 yards 3 TD |
Receiving | Emeka Emezie | 35 catches, 380 yards 1 TD | Sage Surratt | 53 catches, 881 yards, 9 TD |
Thayer Thomas | 24 catches, 274 yards, 3 TD | Kendall Hinton | 37 catvhes, 404 yards 1 TD | |
Defense | Tanner Ingle | 47 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 4 PBU | Nasir Greer | 44 tackles, 1 INT, 2 FF |
Larrell Murchison | 32 tackles, 7 sacks, 4 QBP | Carlos Basham Jr. | 32 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 9 QBP |
NOTABLE
State has faced Wake Forest more times that any other opponent in its 127 years of football. Saturday’s game will mark the 113th meeting dating back to 1910, It is the longest continuous series between current ACC schools and the third longest in college football nationally. ...
The Wolfpack and the Deacons have both taken care of business at home against each other over the past two decades, with each team going 8-2 over the past 10 games on their home field. ...
For only the fourth time in the 112 all-time matchups, State will be facing a ranked Wake team. The Wolfpack is 2-0-1 in the previous three, with the last time came in 1992 when 13-ranked State beat No. 25 Wake 42-14 in Raleigh.
In its most recent game, against Boston College two weeks ago, 21 freshmen saw action for State. That's the same number of juniors (13) and seniors (eight) combined. Twenty-one upperclassmen played at BC compared to 35 freshmen and sophomores. The Wolfpack ranks second nationally in freshmen played this season with 32 ...
Redshirt freshman Devin Leary will be the third Wolfpack player to start at quarterback this season. It will mark the first time in school history that three different quarterbacks have made their first career starts in a season. ...
Each of the last six quarterbacks to start for the Wolfpack have won their first career start. The last to lose was Russell Wilson in 2008. ...
In three games against the Wolfpack as a member of the Deacons, graduate wide receiver Tabari Hines amassed 22 catches for 306 yards and four touchdowns, including the top two receiving games of his career. In 2017, he caught eight passes for 139 yards and three scores in a 30-24 Wake win.
