Last one of these .... NC State is a home game, coming off a Friday away game at Syracuse. And a week before hosting LPT over Thanksgiving.
I know there is general disdain among the fan base for Wake Forest, but for me, NC State is the more hate-able team. Ever since the Belk Bowl loss, when Teddy was a freshman, it felt to me that they looked down on us ... and since we joined the ACC, we have pretty much owned these guys, in multiple sports. I know that bugs them -- like the nouveau riche bug the blue blood wealthy. So they still don't look at us as their rightful "daddy". Screw NC State.
Here's the Athletic preview:
N.C. State enters Year 6 of the Dave Doeren era with something of a fresh start. The Wolfpack broke through in 2017 by winning nine games, capping it with a dominant Sun Bowl victory. They finished in the AP top 25 for just the third time since 1994. Doeren drew overtures from other programs and got a contract extension, just one year after receiving the dreaded vote of confidence from his athletic director following a 6-6 regular season in 2016.
The good vibes only continued into the offseason, with N.C. State finishing tied for second with seven players drafted, including the entire starting defensive line, which undoubtedly made a mark on high school prospects across the country.
“I think, for starters, winning helps everything,” Doeren told The Athletic. “When you’re talking to young men that really like your coaches, really like what you’re talking about, have built relationships with you but you’re losing — not that we were not going to bowl games, we were, but we weren’t winning the way we were now, beating Florida State, beating Louisville when they were a top-15 team — those things matter to recruits, because they all wanna play in the best bowl games they can get into.”
The player development aspect of this program was never really in doubt. Jelling as a team and getting over the hump was always the biggest question, and it is fair to say that there remain a few skeptics of a team that won only nine games despite having all of the aforementioned pro talent.
Still, the Wolfpack have been close. They have pushed three-time reigning ACC champion Clemson in each of the past three seasons, scoring 41 points in 2015, missing a field-goal attempt that would have knocked out the eventual national champs in 2016 and losing by seven points in 2017. As Doeren mentioned, they broke through and beat Florida State and Louisville last year. And now they have upgraded their nonconference schedule, testing themselves outside of their rugged division.
In other words, it is a good year to have a third-year starting quarterback who is entering his sixth (sixth!) season of college eligibility. But it is also a bad year to be without that NFL-caliber line and to have to replace nine starters overall on defense.
Biggest on-field question
The defense has work to do, because you do not just replace a No. 5 overall pick like Bradley Chubb, or three other linemen who were drafted within the first four rounds. Churning out the kind of pass rushers that N.C. State had requires lots of time to develop, especially if you’re not an established blueblood. Even then, the Wolfpack finished only tied for fourth in the ACC in takeaways, fourth in sacks and third in rushing defense. (Both starting linebackers from 2017 graduated, as well, leaving the Pack with no starting experience in the front six of a 4-2-5 defense.)
“I think we did a good job of evaluating body types and length and really how big we can make those frames into because of the length of their arms, the width of their shoulders, the thickness of their wrists and ankles, the size of their hands,” Doeren said. “We look at a lot of measurables that are good predictors on how big a body can get, and then we study their work ethic. We really look at: Do they love to train? And I think that gets missed a lot in recruiting.
“Everyone want kids who are good players, but you want kids who can develop into better players than they are at 18 years old, and that doesn’t happen if you’ve got guys that don’t like working out. And so we really try to dig on our work ethic, and we know who we are. I think our staff does a good job of that.”
Senior end Darian Roseboro and senior linebacker Germaine Pratt — neither of whom was a starter last season — will be the leaders of this defense. But they will need plenty of help from underclassmen, particularly freshmen who will be getting their feet wet for the first time.
“We had a good spring. We’re replacing quite a bit, senior class-wise, that left but we’ve got a lot of work to do between now and our first game still to help those guys be ready,” Doeren said. “You can’t really predict where we’re gonna be yet. You can’t insert experience in your roster all the time. We like the depth we have and the competition, but we’re not ready to talk about really how good we’re gonna be.”
At least that is the case on defense. On offense, there is plenty to like, starting with Ryan Finley, who should be one of the ACC’s best passers. The Boise State graduate transfer followed coordinator Eli Drinkwitz to Raleigh before the 2016 season, was granted another year of eligibility and finished second in the ACC in passing yards (3,518) and completion rate last season (65.1 percent).
Now, at the risk of overstating it, the program is in Finley’s hands.
“He wants to be the No. 1 quarterback in college football, and that’s why he came back,” Doeren said. “A lot of people told him that he was gonna be sixth or seventh (quarterback drafted) if he came out, and he sees himself in a position to move up to first or second. And it’s his team. He gets to be the leader now.
“He came in as a transfer and didn’t know a single player on our roster and has worked really hard to build relationships and earn respect. So you only get one shot to lead as a senior, and I don’t think he wanted to let that go.”
Depth chart analysis
Quarterbacks: Senior Ryan Finley is the only quarterback on the roster who has taken a snap, and he continues to grow. Doeren said he put on 15 pounds last season, up to 210, and has room for about 10 more.
“That’ll help with his deep ball, which I thought was really good this spring,” Doeren said. “That was one of the things he wanted to work on, his accuracy down the field, because he’s been really good underneath.”
Behind Finley is redshirt freshman Matt McKay, a three-star local product who earned offensive scout team player of the year honors last season. McKay could be challenged for the No. 2 spot by incoming four-star recruit Devin Leary, who will enroll this summer after finishing his prep career as the nation’s No. 16 pro-style passer (per 247Sports’ Composite Rankings).
I know there is general disdain among the fan base for Wake Forest, but for me, NC State is the more hate-able team. Ever since the Belk Bowl loss, when Teddy was a freshman, it felt to me that they looked down on us ... and since we joined the ACC, we have pretty much owned these guys, in multiple sports. I know that bugs them -- like the nouveau riche bug the blue blood wealthy. So they still don't look at us as their rightful "daddy". Screw NC State.
Here's the Athletic preview:
N.C. State enters Year 6 of the Dave Doeren era with something of a fresh start. The Wolfpack broke through in 2017 by winning nine games, capping it with a dominant Sun Bowl victory. They finished in the AP top 25 for just the third time since 1994. Doeren drew overtures from other programs and got a contract extension, just one year after receiving the dreaded vote of confidence from his athletic director following a 6-6 regular season in 2016.
The good vibes only continued into the offseason, with N.C. State finishing tied for second with seven players drafted, including the entire starting defensive line, which undoubtedly made a mark on high school prospects across the country.
“I think, for starters, winning helps everything,” Doeren told The Athletic. “When you’re talking to young men that really like your coaches, really like what you’re talking about, have built relationships with you but you’re losing — not that we were not going to bowl games, we were, but we weren’t winning the way we were now, beating Florida State, beating Louisville when they were a top-15 team — those things matter to recruits, because they all wanna play in the best bowl games they can get into.”
The player development aspect of this program was never really in doubt. Jelling as a team and getting over the hump was always the biggest question, and it is fair to say that there remain a few skeptics of a team that won only nine games despite having all of the aforementioned pro talent.
Still, the Wolfpack have been close. They have pushed three-time reigning ACC champion Clemson in each of the past three seasons, scoring 41 points in 2015, missing a field-goal attempt that would have knocked out the eventual national champs in 2016 and losing by seven points in 2017. As Doeren mentioned, they broke through and beat Florida State and Louisville last year. And now they have upgraded their nonconference schedule, testing themselves outside of their rugged division.
In other words, it is a good year to have a third-year starting quarterback who is entering his sixth (sixth!) season of college eligibility. But it is also a bad year to be without that NFL-caliber line and to have to replace nine starters overall on defense.
Biggest on-field question
The defense has work to do, because you do not just replace a No. 5 overall pick like Bradley Chubb, or three other linemen who were drafted within the first four rounds. Churning out the kind of pass rushers that N.C. State had requires lots of time to develop, especially if you’re not an established blueblood. Even then, the Wolfpack finished only tied for fourth in the ACC in takeaways, fourth in sacks and third in rushing defense. (Both starting linebackers from 2017 graduated, as well, leaving the Pack with no starting experience in the front six of a 4-2-5 defense.)
“I think we did a good job of evaluating body types and length and really how big we can make those frames into because of the length of their arms, the width of their shoulders, the thickness of their wrists and ankles, the size of their hands,” Doeren said. “We look at a lot of measurables that are good predictors on how big a body can get, and then we study their work ethic. We really look at: Do they love to train? And I think that gets missed a lot in recruiting.
“Everyone want kids who are good players, but you want kids who can develop into better players than they are at 18 years old, and that doesn’t happen if you’ve got guys that don’t like working out. And so we really try to dig on our work ethic, and we know who we are. I think our staff does a good job of that.”
Senior end Darian Roseboro and senior linebacker Germaine Pratt — neither of whom was a starter last season — will be the leaders of this defense. But they will need plenty of help from underclassmen, particularly freshmen who will be getting their feet wet for the first time.
“We had a good spring. We’re replacing quite a bit, senior class-wise, that left but we’ve got a lot of work to do between now and our first game still to help those guys be ready,” Doeren said. “You can’t really predict where we’re gonna be yet. You can’t insert experience in your roster all the time. We like the depth we have and the competition, but we’re not ready to talk about really how good we’re gonna be.”
At least that is the case on defense. On offense, there is plenty to like, starting with Ryan Finley, who should be one of the ACC’s best passers. The Boise State graduate transfer followed coordinator Eli Drinkwitz to Raleigh before the 2016 season, was granted another year of eligibility and finished second in the ACC in passing yards (3,518) and completion rate last season (65.1 percent).
Now, at the risk of overstating it, the program is in Finley’s hands.
“He wants to be the No. 1 quarterback in college football, and that’s why he came back,” Doeren said. “A lot of people told him that he was gonna be sixth or seventh (quarterback drafted) if he came out, and he sees himself in a position to move up to first or second. And it’s his team. He gets to be the leader now.
“He came in as a transfer and didn’t know a single player on our roster and has worked really hard to build relationships and earn respect. So you only get one shot to lead as a senior, and I don’t think he wanted to let that go.”
Depth chart analysis
Quarterbacks: Senior Ryan Finley is the only quarterback on the roster who has taken a snap, and he continues to grow. Doeren said he put on 15 pounds last season, up to 210, and has room for about 10 more.
“That’ll help with his deep ball, which I thought was really good this spring,” Doeren said. “That was one of the things he wanted to work on, his accuracy down the field, because he’s been really good underneath.”
Behind Finley is redshirt freshman Matt McKay, a three-star local product who earned offensive scout team player of the year honors last season. McKay could be challenged for the No. 2 spot by incoming four-star recruit Devin Leary, who will enroll this summer after finishing his prep career as the nation’s No. 16 pro-style passer (per 247Sports’ Composite Rankings).
