Wolfpack kickoff: Week 3 vs. West Virginia
NC State (2-0) vs. West Virginia (1-1)
Milan Puskar Stadium (60,000)
Noon, FS1 (PxP: Eric Collins; Analyst: Ben Leber)
Streaming: FoxSportsGo; National radio: Sirius 382, XM 382; Live stats: GoPack.com
Series history: NC State leads 5-5 (1-1 in Morgantown)
Last meeting: NC State 23, WVU 7, Dec. 28, 2010 at Champs Sports Bowl
Last week: NC State beat Western Carolina 41-0; WVU lost to Missouri 38-7
BetOnline line: NC State plus-7 | Over/Under 46
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
"They've been a successful football team. The last three years they've been really good and they lost a lot of talent to the NFL, then they lost their coaching staff. So they're a young roster, an inexperienced roster, but a team that's used to winning. I think we're very similar to that. They're still trying to feel their way out. I know having been in a first year twice now, it takes some time as a coaching staff and a locker room to figure out what it is. It doesn't their a bad football team. They're not. They're got good players, they're fast, their DBs will hit you, they're aggressive. ... We expect a really good football team." Dave Doeren
"If you watch them play and you look at their roster, two things stick out to me. They've done a great job recruiting and evaluating. They have quality depth across the board and they've done a really good job of developing guys. They're a program I look at as far as how they've recruited and built that up. They're coming off two nine-win seasons in a row. They've got the second-most wins in the ACC outside of Clemson the last two years. They're well-coached, they're disciplined." WVU coach Neal Brown
PLAYERS TO WATCH
| NC State | West Virginia | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Rushing | Zonovan Knight | 27 carries, 162 yards, 3 TD | Alec Sinkfield | 10 carries, 35 yards |
Passing | Matthew McKay | 43-65-0 508 yards, 2 TD | Austin Kendall | 42-67-2 397 3 TD |
Receiving | Emeka Emezie | 9 catches, 102 yards | Tevin Bush | 5 catches, 91 yards, 1 TD |
Tackles | Tanner Ingle | 13 tackles, .5 TFL | Josh Chandler | 21 tackles |
NOTABLE
Saturday's game will mark the first time the Wolfpack has played in Morgantown since 1979. The Mountaineers haven't played in Raleigh since 1978, although they were supposed to play there last Sept. 15. That game, however, was cancelled because of Hurricane Florence. ...
Three of the 11 previous meetings between State and WVU have come in bowl game. It's the most times the Wolfpack has faced an opponent in the postseason. State won 49-13 in the 1972 Peach Bowl, WVU won 13-10 in the 1975 Peach Bowl while Russell Wilson led the Wolfpack to a 28-7 win in the 2010 Champs Sports Bowl ...
This will mark State’s second trip to the state of West Virginia in as many years. The Wolfpack played and won at Marshall last season. ...
State hasn’t faced a Big 12 opponent in 16 years, since Philip Rivers played his final career game against Kansas in the Tangerine Bowl. The Wolfpack has won its last four games against a Big 12 opponent. State's last road win against a nonconference Power 5 opponent also came against a Big 12 team, Texas Tech, in 2002. ...
State's defense has gone 12 straight quarters - three full games - without giving up a touchdown at Carter-Finley Stadium. The Wolfpack posted a 58-3 win over East Carolina in last year’s home finale, a 34-6 victory to open the 2019 season and a 41-0 shutout of Western Carolina last week. ...
State and Wisconsin are the only two teams nationally that have yet to allow a touchdown this season. The Wolfpack ranks second nationally in scoring defense (3.0 ppg). It marks the first time since 1991 that the State has gone two straight games to open the season with giving up a TD and the opponent’s total of six points this season is the lowest in 28 years for the first two games. ...
The Wolfpack is one of just six teams nationally that has not committed a turnover in the early part of the season. It marks the first time since 2010 that State has not turned the ball over in its first two games.
