Ultimate College Football Preview, 130 Teams In A 130 Days: N.C. State

Welcome to the Ultimate College Football Preview for 2023. Every team in FBS Football will be covered in this daily blog release. All of your favorite teams from the ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big 10, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 12, SEC, Sun Belt & even every Independent. Think of these daily college football previews as a cheat sheet going into next year.

2022 Recap:

The Wolfpack finished the 2022 campaign with a 4-4 ACC record and 8-5 overall with a Duke’s May Bowl loss to Maryland. This one is tricky to give an analysis of because they did finish with a decent record. But the expectations at the start of the year were to win the ACC. That of course changed when their QB Leary was hurt for the year in early October. Their defense was a terrific unit last year and were ready to make a deep run. With the injury problems to their best offensive player early in the year I guess you can say it was a successful season.

Head Coach:

Coach Doeren is one of the longest tenured coaches in the ACC, being at State since 2012. Overall he is a good coach for the Wolfpack. He has made a bowl game in every year except two during his time in Raleigh. I would call him consistent and competitive but I don’t know if he can get N.C. State over that hump. Can he lead them to an ACC title and a playoff birth? I think he could if he gets the right players and some luck, it just hasn’t fallen into place yet. The Wolfpack are not a perennial power but are always on the cusp of being at the top of the conference. With all of that being said I guess the overall analysis of Doeren is a good coach with a high floor, low ceiling.

Key Players:

They lost Devin Leary to Kentucky so it will be up to Senior Grad Transfer from UVA Brennan Armstrong. The lefty had good success as a Cavalier early in his career but last year he and the offense at UVA was just bad. I think that has more to do with team and coach turnover then Armstrong. Jordan Houston is back to run the ball and catch passes out of the backfield. They also have two WRs who contributed last year coming back in Keyon Lesane and Porter Rooks Jr. Just as important in replacing Leary on offense is replacing DrakeThomas on defense who had over 100 tackles and 7.5 sacks. Payton Wilson will lead a very experienced defense, minus a few pieces leaving for the NFL this year. All of the expected defensive starters are upperclassman who have contributed in the past for the Wolfpack.

2023 Prediction:

Looking over the N.C. State schedule it is not the most difficult but have some games that could become tricky. They have Notre Dame early at home and have to play Clemson at home as well. Their tougher conference games vs. Louisville, Miami and UNC are all at home as well. I just don’t trust Armstrong at QB but if he proves me wrong this team can win 10 games. They could also be 5-7, the ceiling is high and the floor is low this year. I guess I will sit in the middle of that and they will win 8 games and go to a mid level bowl.