Head Coach: Dave Doeren is entering his 12th season with the program. He has a 81-58 record with the program. Outside of one down season in 2019, the Wolfpack have won 8-9 games the last 7 years. Truly impressive consistency for this program.
Program Outlook: NC State is in a great spot. They’ve really hit a good mark of consistency, they haven’t been able to win the ACC but they’re always a factor. The Wolfpack are really looking to break that 10 win barrier they’ve come so close but just haven’t been able to do that. Doing so this year would also break their current pattern where they win 8 games when they have preseason expectations and 9 games when they don’t.
How does the 2024 Roster look?: NC State ranks middle of the road in returning production. The offense does return KC Conception who was the ACC rookie of the year last year, there’s some really intriguing transfers coming in, the most notable of course is stud QB Grayson McCall, after tearing it up at Coastal Carolina he’s now with NC State, I don’t think there’s enough hype around him. Former Duke RB Jordan Waters could fill in at RB, while Noah Rogers left Ohio State’s extremely deep WR room to try to make an impact here. The defense is the bigger question mark now that ironman Payton Wilson is gone, the secondary was tremendous last year but has a lot of new pieces outside of Aydan White. They forced 24 turnovers defensively last year which is going to be tough to replicate, but Tony Gibson’s defense always seems to be good.
Screenshot from fbschedules.com1
2024 Schedule Thoughts: This season really takes shape the first 4 weeks. If NC State comes out of that stretch with any record better than 2-2 they will have their eyes on making the playoff. I don’t think that game against Tennessee is emphasized enough, that is a huge game for the ACC as a whole. From that stretch it’s just about avoiding the landmines along the way, NIU, Syracuse, Cal (After Dark?), and Georgia Tech are all potential tripping points. Then of course, it’s of the upmost importance to the Wolfpack faithful to win the season finale and keep their winning streak against their nemesis going.
Vegas Projection: NC State’s win total is set at 8.5 with the odds geared toward the over. It’s a very good line because it follows the most predictable scenario for NC State which would be losses to Tennessee, Clemson and an upset to someone like Cal or Georgia Tech.
2024 Best Case: NC State wins their opener with ease, then takes down Tennessee for a massive win in the Duke’s Mayo Classic, suddenly the ACC has a great shot at multiple playoff bids. NC State unfortunately does come up short against Clemson a couple weeks later after the Tigers escape on a late FG, but the Pack roll through the rest of their schedule without issue, including a satisfying dominating win over North Carolina in the finale. Finally after all the years the Wolfpack are in the ACC championship and that’s where they find a familiar foe, Clemson. This time around the Wolfpack get revenge with a dominating effort. Suddenly this historic season gets better, no one else sets themselves apart which leaves the door wide open for Grayson McCall to win the Heisman! NC State gets one of the top 4 seeds and a bye in the playoff. Once the Pack are there, they get met with a tough game against Texas but the Wolfpack aren’t troubled by it an awesome game from McCall gets them another win over an Orange SEC team, surely the run would come to an end against Ohio State but the Wolfpack defense frustrates Will Howard forcing him into mistakes and allowing them to pull off a playoff stunner. For the 3rd year in a row we have a surprise national championship participant, everyone celebrates them, even after being handled by Georgia in the national title.
2024 Worst Case: NC State finds lots of bad luck early, they aren’t inspiring against Western Carolina and they are blown out by Tennessee. 2 weeks later they fail to threaten in a loss to Clemson, then it gets even worse when they’re upset by Doeren’s former team NIU the next week. Then a loss to Wake follows that and overall leads to an utterly disappointing 4-8 season that ends with a blowout loss at the hands of hated rival North Carolina, who makes a surprise run to win the ACC championship. Just for more insult Duke, Appalachian State, East Carolina and even Charlotte all finish with winning records.
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