Wolfpack kickoff: Week 2 vs. WCU
NC State (1-0) vs. Western Carolina (0-1)
Carter-Finley Stadium
12:30 p.m., Fox Sports South (PxP: Tom Werme; Analyst: James Bates; Sideline: Stormy Bounantony)
Streaming: ESPN Plus; National radio: Sirius 106, XM 202; Live stats: GoPack.com
Series history: NC State leads 6-0 (6-0 in Raleigh)
Last meeting: NC State 48, WCU 7, Sept. 4, 2010
Last week: NC State beat East Carolina 34-6; WCU lost to Mercer 49-27
Vegas line: NC State plus-41 1/2 | Over/Under 65 1/2
What they're saying
"We had a lot of things to be hard on them with after that (ECU) win and we were. We were demanding. Our theme of the week is compete and we're competing to be a better version of us than we were a week ago. That's the goal for this football team more than any I've had here. We have to improve every week to have a chance, because we are so young. Our version of us can be so much better as we go if we take that approach."
Players to watch
| NC State | Western Carolina | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Rushing; Zonovan Knight | 9 carriies, 42 yards, 1 TD | Syheam McQueen | 11 carries, 67 yards |
Passing; Matthew McKay | 25-37-0 308 1 TD | Tyrie Adams | 25-38-1 318 2 TD |
Receiving: Emeka Emezie | 7 catches, 70 yards | D.J. Thorpe | 6 catches, 130 yards |
Tackles: Chris Ingram | 9 tackles, 1 INT | Trevor Childers | 12 tackles, 2 TFL |
Notable
The NC State defense has gone eight straight quarters without giving up a TD at Carter-Finley Stadium after its 58-3 win over ECU in last year’s home finale and 34-6 victory last Saturday ...
The last time State went back-to-back home games without surrendering a single TD was back in 1999 (vs. South Carolina and William & Mary). Prior to the current two-game stretch, it had been 15 games since the Wolfpack defense held an opponent without a TD (Notre Dame in 2016) at home. ...
Matthew McKay threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in last week's win agains ECU. Only two other State quarterbacks since 1970 have accounted for three TDs in their first career start. Jacoby Brissett (3 pass) and Philip Rivers (3 pass) are the others. Only one other Pack QB in the past 50 years, Charles Davenport in 1988, has rushed for two TDs in his first career start ...
Zonovan scored a touchdown on his first college carry, a nine-yard run on the Wolfpack's opening drive against ECU. The mos recent time a true freshman running back scored on his first career rush was 2005, when Andre Brown ran for a 7-yard touchdown against Eastern Kentucky in the second game of the season. Brown did not play in the season opener against Virginia Tech that year ...
WCU's loss to Mercer last Saturday was its ninth straight, dating back to last season when the Catamounts dropped eight-straight after winning their first three games, which had been WCU’s best start to a season since 1976 … WCU’s last victory came on Sept. 22, 2018 – a 52-50 win over VMI in Cullowhee.
