Duke gets a break in that it isn't facing ranked team after playing two of them in the last couple of weeks, but stays on the road as the Blue Devils head to Raleigh.
N.C. State is stuck in this Law of the Wolf purgatory. With credit to Joe Giglio, formerly of the N&O, now with The OG: When you expect the most of N.C. State, you get the least. When you expect the least, you get the most.
That's kind of playing out in equal parts this season. N.C. State went into the season as some people's (not mine!) dark horse pick to win the ACC and nosedived to a 3-4 start, getting blown out twice and not looking all that great in the wins. But the Wolfpack has won two games, against Cal and Stanford (so, not the cream of the ACC's crop), and is in position to salvage a bowl out of this season with a freshman QB and young, promising skill players around him.
This game has a lot more juice than I would've thought two weeks ago, honestly. Duke needs to find a way back into the win column and has been the better team; N.C. State has done some damage control on its season and just had its best offensive performance of the season (59-28 win over Stanford).
Programming note: I'll have remote coverage of this game. It's obviously a drivable road trip -- but a friend is getting married on Saturday and I'd rather celebrate with him and his bride-to-be rather than cover a football game. Hopefully that's forgivable -- if any consolation, I'll see Duke's last two games of the regular season.
ICYMI link:
Story on this past weekend's 53-31 loss at Miami.
N.C. State is stuck in this Law of the Wolf purgatory. With credit to Joe Giglio, formerly of the N&O, now with The OG: When you expect the most of N.C. State, you get the least. When you expect the least, you get the most.
That's kind of playing out in equal parts this season. N.C. State went into the season as some people's (not mine!) dark horse pick to win the ACC and nosedived to a 3-4 start, getting blown out twice and not looking all that great in the wins. But the Wolfpack has won two games, against Cal and Stanford (so, not the cream of the ACC's crop), and is in position to salvage a bowl out of this season with a freshman QB and young, promising skill players around him.
This game has a lot more juice than I would've thought two weeks ago, honestly. Duke needs to find a way back into the win column and has been the better team; N.C. State has done some damage control on its season and just had its best offensive performance of the season (59-28 win over Stanford).
Programming note: I'll have remote coverage of this game. It's obviously a drivable road trip -- but a friend is getting married on Saturday and I'd rather celebrate with him and his bride-to-be rather than cover a football game. Hopefully that's forgivable -- if any consolation, I'll see Duke's last two games of the regular season.
ICYMI link:
Story on this past weekend's 53-31 loss at Miami.
