NC STATE WOLFPACK (3-0) AT SOUTH ALABAMA JAGUARS (2-1)
Saturday September 26, 8 PM ET
Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Mobile Alabama
Line: NC State -17.5
Over/Under – 54.5
WOLFPACK TAKES OUT OLD DOMINION MONARCHS 38-14
NC State’s defense showed up in Norfolk, Virginia this past weekend, and took on the number one rusher statistically in FBS. Old Dominion running back Ray Lawry had 438 rushing yards through two games entering the contest. NC State held Lawry to fifteen yards on the ground, knocking him down to number four in the nation from his top spot. But Lawry did have two receptions for 71 yards, including a touchdown to tie the game early in the second quarter. As a team, ODU was held to minus three yards rushing in the game. NC State rushed for 256, keeping up their trend of feeding the running backs, and mixing in quarterback Jacoby Brissett.
The interesting new (old) wrinkle to the Wolfpack rush attack against ODU was running back Shadrach Thornton’s return from suspension. Thornton split carries with NC State’s leading rusher Matt Dayes. Dayes had 20 carries for 108 yards and a touchdown while Thornton rushed 18 times for 92 yards, and also had a touchdown. With that, NC State’s first road game came and went the same way its first two home games did, and ODU was never a real threat as the game got out of hand in the second half.
NC STATE EYEING A RANKING
With the win, the Wolfpack now have fifteen points in the Coaches Poll and five points in the AP Poll. NC State enters the final week before they begin ACC play as one of five teams still unbeaten in the conference. State will look to remain perfect on the road again at South Alabama. The USA Jaguars come into Saturday’s matchup with a 2-1 record; their lone loss being Nebraska’s only win. USA went to Lincoln and got smashed 48-9. Last weekend the Jags traveled to San Diego and took out the Mountain West’s San Diego State Aztecs 34-27 in OT. The Wolfpack will need to take out USA in convincing fashion in Alabama if they’re going to get into contention to be ranked. With 49, 35, and 38 in their score column thus far, NC State will need another high output to stay adrift in the national zeitgeist. With the quality of opponent not being there, their wins need to be impressive, especially when pollsters take a look at the score on Sunday morning.
Getting the Louisville Cardinals and Virginia Tech Cavaliers the following weeks will provide NC State a very good opportunity to be ranked in the Top 25. Louisville being winless right now won’t be as big of a deal as it seemed weeks ago. Now that the Cardinals’ loss to the Auburn Tigers has lost some luster given how off the rails Auburn has gone in the past two weeks, NC State needs VA Tech to be 4-1 when the Pack goes up to Blacksburg on Friday October 9.
NC STATE’S FINAL NON-CONFERENCE GAME
NC State could actually benefit from a challenge. Having coasted through what looked to be a cakewalk non-conference schedule at the outset of the season, the Pack has proven it to be just that. NC State has had the lead for most of its non-conference slate, having only been tied 7-7 with Troy and ODU. The Wolfpack has never trailed this season, which brings up a good question: how will they respond once they do?
No one wants to go out and have a tough time with Group of Five opponents, but if you’re going to schedule these kinds of teams just to get wins, then NC State is succeeding on that front. If they get to 4-0 before conference play starts, then a bowl game is extremely likely. With the games against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and Syracuse Orange likely to be wins five and six, these first four games could put NC State in the position they wanted to be when 2015 began.
Even if Mobile isn’t Tuscaloosa, it will be good for NC State to get out of their comfort zone of Carter-Finley Stadium and hopefully get another road win. When the above-mentioned trip to VA Tech comes calling, NC State will get all they can handle and more in a tough road game. Let’s just hope they’ve done enough to shake off their off-season cobwebs in their first few outings.
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