Boston College Football Opponent Previews: NC State

I’ve always considered NC State a comparison game at Boston College every year.

With the exception of years when BC was very low, the NC State generally represents one of the 50/50 matches that are crucial to the overall BC results, and the NC State is likely to fight the BC continuously at the mid-ACC level.

The running joke about NC State is their annual classification as a sleeping giant in the ACC, and their fans are amazed at the reactions when they lose out of Boston College (despite the fact that we had more power than they did after joining the ACC).

However, the script has turned a little this year; BC is a team that comes with some media hype and a reputation as a rising team. BC fans see this as the big game of the early season that the Eagles should win if they plan to encourage the 8-10 win season that fans want.

But the NC state puts a tough test on the Eagles.

Wolfpack have a strong year in which they went 8-3 during the regular season, winning # 24 Pitt and # 21 Liberty. All three of their losses were quite respectable, and they got against two placed teams (UNC and Miami) as well as in their bowl match against Kentucky.

In the pre-season media survey, The NC state ranked second in the ACC Atlantic, just before BC # 3. So you get the idea – these can be two pretty equal teams.

This year’s BC-NC State game comes to the Eagles at a crucial stage. After three games that most people think BC should handle fairly easily to start the season, they then host Missouri and then make a difficult hike to Clemson.

After a week, BC will host an NC state that is likely to sit in either 3-2 or 4-1, and the State game could potentially set the tone for the rest of the year.

Let’s look at the tape story for this match:

Previous results

BC is 10-7 against Wolfpack all the time, including a 45-24 win on the final tilt in 2019. This game was one of the moments it came together and was beautiful for the Steve Addazios team when AJ Dillon rushed 223 yards and three finish as BC ran around the NC state, collecting a total of 429 rushing feet.

BC is 9-6 against NC State in the ACC era, with the first two matches between teams taking place in 1936 and 1937.

Training

Dave Doeren returns after his ninth season to lead NC State and offers perhaps one of the country’s best examples of a mid-level program where a patient approaches his head coach, and it’s worth it.

Once Wolfpack has started its NC State run with records of 3-9, 8-5, 7-6 and 7-6, it has made some pretty impressive points in three to four years:

2017: 9-4 (6-2 ACC)
2018: 9-4 (5-3 ACC)
2019: 4-8 (1-7 ACC)
2020: 8-4 (7-3 ACC)

Doeren has risen significantly to second on the NC states ’overall winning list, and is an all-time record with the 55-45 Pack.

During this interim period, he signed a two-year extension to hold him at NC State until 2025.

Violation

Last season, NC State was in the middle (ha!) Of the ACC in the team attack, averaging 32.7 points per game in the conference game.

They had some instability as a quarterback when second-year student Devin Leary took an injury that limited him to just four games. But Bailey Hockman stepped in and led NC State’s strong passing attack, throwing 23 goals a year and finishing third in the conference game.

Hockman has moved to Middle Tennessee State, but NC State fans hope Learys ’return is an upgrade to QB status. Leary was strong in limited playing time last year, throwing 890 yards and 8 goals in 4 games before being injured.

During the NC state garbage fire in 2019, Leary pushed the role of QB into a redshirt freshman. Although the results were not great overall for most of the season, he made three goal attacks against BC by losing. Leary has great manual power and precision, and he should be able to take advantage of the excellent WR forces in the NC states.

Emeka Emezie, Devin Carter and Thayer Thomas, three of NC’s top receivers, are all back. Thomas is a big threat as a card slot receiver, while you can expect Emez to stretch the field. The combination of strong return receivers and a possible upgrade in QB means that an NC state bypass attack should once again be one of the best in the league.

NC State will lose one starter on the offensive line guard Joe Sculthorpe, but will bring back four units that was decent enough in 2020.

The Packs running game was improved from the 2019 mess, but it wasn’t good enough to break into the top half of the league in most stats – like BC, this was a team that was much more dependent on the feed game.

But like BC (and maybe even more), NC State expects the running game to intensify and a bigger factor this year as they bring back three leading strikers – including a returning sophomore who is expected to play the bulk.

Zonovan Knight, who ran 7 touchdowns and 640 yards last year, is returning to lead the lead, and was voted ahead of the ACC. If Knight is able to meet these expectations and Leary can provide an upgrade in QB, the NC state should have a smoother attack with no difficulty setting points.

Defense

NC State will return nine starters from its defense, which was the case in 2020, producing 31.3 points and 432 yards per game (quite similar to the BCs figures). They did a pretty good job of getting into the defender and getting sacks, but were otherwise prone to a strong passing attack, giving 263 yards per game and 18 touches in the air.

Be on the lookout for their veteran half-drivers Drake Thomas, Isaiah Moore and the pre-season all-ACC selection Payton Wilson, who is likely to put pressure on QB and make big plays. David Hale rated NC States as the best in the ACC.

The package added moves to strengthen its defense, hoping to push it to the top half of the league. Derek Pitts came from Marshall as a corner striker and Cory Durden and Cyrus Fagan moved from the state of Florida.

Durden is a defensive game that was appreciated at FSU and led Noles with five sacks in 2019 before sitting in the 2020 season due to both shoulder injury and COVID disease.

Fagan, the security guard, got into the depth chart a bit in the NC state, and he comes to Pack as a veteran, a fifth-year senior who competes from the starting point.

Prognosis

The BC-NC state should be an interesting match between two teams that see this game as a starting point for their ambitious goals, which are at least to overshadow Clemson at the top of the ACC Atlantic.

This is also made interesting by the fact that both teams have good defenders and a host team. Offensive attacks are likely to be the strength of their attack while they ask questions of defense, especially when it comes to leaving yards.

This is a recipe for a high-scoring barnburner on a cool October at Alumni Stadium, with both teams starting the week of October 9 and likely carrying strong records for this game.

I like BC in this match because in the fight against force against BC, there seems to be a little more when Phil Jurkovec and his host troops are ticked ahead of the NC state, and the BCs appreciate the offensive line hopefully to run the game forward. The combination of an experienced star QB and a home field advantage makes me choose BC here.

give me Boston College 38, NC State 34 a fun game that makes fans buzz and get excited about the opportunities towards the end of the season.