Coaches Poll Highlights the Challenges Awaiting Wolfpack for 2025

With the Coaches Poll coming out this past week, it's a good way to look at the potential top-25 teams the Wolfpack will face in 2025

Jul 25, 2024; Charlotte, NC, USA; North Carolina State Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren speaks to the media during the ACC Kickoff at Hilton Charlotte Uptown. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

The days keep going by, the hot sun beaming down, but ever so slightly, the light breeze is starting to come. Fall is coming, so it's just weeks away from football season engulfing again. 

NFL preseason week one kicked off this week, and a breeze of chills were sent down fans' spines across the country as they took another step towards the NFL season to get in motion fully.

A similar step was taken for the college football season, and it does not include any actual football being played. Still, it is a certain ranking everyone will look back on and question when the season is over. The only 2025 Preseason Poll to be released at this point is the Coaches Poll, and everyone certainly has dug deep into how teams have been ranked. 

BREAKING: College Football Preseason Coaches Poll👀https://t.co/UOHDaVDFxk pic.twitter.com/ouboz88vXu

— On3 (@On3sports) August 4, 2025

NC State's toughest opponents 

The Wolfpack will still have its fair share of challenges for the 2025 season, including a sophomore quarterback, in CJ Bailey, and a new defensive scheme. It's an uphill battle, but the team is ready for it. Looking at the preseason poll, the Wolfpack schedule may be a weight lifted off their shoulders. 

No game is a guaranteed victory in college football, but some schedules are tougher than others. According to the Coaches poll, NC State is slated to face only two ranked opponents for the 2025 season -- No. 5 Notre Dame and No. 10 Miami. 

Some other opponents in Georgia Tech, Duke, and Florida State received some votes in the "Others receiving votes" section, with Georgia Tech getting the most. 

What does this mean for NC State 

It's still very early to know how some teams will be a month into the college football season. It'd be smart to assume that come October, the top-25 won't look anything close to having the preseason polls look, so while there may only be two-ranked opponents at the moment, some teams may be able to jump up into the ever-so-elusive 2025.

Dec 28, 2024; Annapolis, MD, USA; North Carolina State Wolfpack quarterback CJ Bailey (16) throws from the pocket during the first half of the the Go Bowling Military Bowl against the East Carolina Pirates at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

The Wolfpack will battle it out with Notre Dame and Miami, but don't worry about those opponents until later in the season, as they play the Fighting Irish on Oct. 11 and the Hurricanes on Nov. 15th. 

Those games will prove a challenge, but Bailey will have a couple of weeks under his belt to settle into a new offense and operate it more efficiently as the season goes on. This gives the Wolfpack better chances to compete with the harder competition, but the same could be said for the other teams. 

It'll be a fun schedule for the Wolfpack with challenges embedded everywhere. Coach Dave Doeren hopes his team will be ready for it.

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