NC State Football: Can Pack take down divisional foe Wake Forest?

No. 14 NC State football looks to add onto its 6-2 season with a win over ACC Atlantic rival Wake Forest at home in Week 11.

After a rough two-game road stretch against Syracuse and Clemson, the Wolfpack came back stronger than ever against the Florida State Seminoles.

Reggie Gallaspy II took off for over 100 yards on the ground for the second time in his four year career against the Noles while quarterback Ryan Finley threw for three touchdown passes for the third time this season. Jokobi Meyers took the lead in receptions for the Wolfpack after a nine reception, 125 yard and one score game this past weekend. The real issue for the pack this weekend, however, came on defense.

NC State continues to struggle stopping the pass despite having a fairly secure front seven. Florida State looked to backup quarterback James Blackman this week after Deondre Francois left their matchup against Clemson after taking a sack from freshman defensive end Xavier Thomas. Blackman stepped in and had the best game of his career with 421 yards through the air and four touchdown passes despite taking five sacks. The defensive backs need to step up if they want to win this week against Wake Forest.

This past week was absolutely brutal for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman got up slow after a second-and-goal play from the 9-yard line and seemed to have been favoring his right leg. Hartman continued to look uncomfortable on the next three plays until finally, he fell to the ground without contact grabbing his foot. Hartman is the 12th player to go down for the regular season for the Deacs and that leaves a massive hole on the offensive side of the ball.

Jamie Newman was announced the starter for the Deacons which adds up considering he was the preseason starter for Wake Forest until he fell to injury earlier in the season.

Newman is 7-for-15 this season with 75 yards and a pick. He’s also got 70 yards and a score on the ground on 12 carries with a score. If things don’t go well with Newman, Dave Clawson will look to Kendall Hinton who has lost multiple chances at the starting job in the last two seasons.

Can Newman overcome the short week and defeat the Wolfpack? Or Will the Pack continue to roll on up in the CFP rankings?

Date: Thursday, Nov. 8
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: Raleigh, N.C.
Venue: Carter-Finley Stadium
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN or FuboTV

Keys to Victory

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons have a lot of uncertainty going into this game where they didn’t last week. With Sam Hartman at quarterback, the Deacons were averaging 453.4 yards per game which is 31st nationally.

Jamie Newman is a bit of an unknown and he’s going to need to be able to throw downfield a lot this game against the second-worst pass defense in college football. The defense is giving up 493 yards per game against opposing offenses and if Newman plays flawlessly then the defense needs to get a stop — just one — at some point in the game.

NC State has a far easier route to victory. The Deacons are making a quarterback change on a short week and there’s likely to be mistakes. If the Wolfpack can take advantage of those mistakes against an incredibly weak defense then the Clawfense just won’t be able to keep up in the long run.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of OddsShark

Points Spread: NC State -17
Over/Under: 69

Prediction

If Wake would have had a bye week after losing Sam Hartman, it would be a whole different story but it’s had the exact opposite. A short week leading into a Thursday night conference matchup on the road just seems like too much for a new quarterback. NC State wins this one with no issues and Jamie Newman is looking for a better outing next week against Pitt.

Final Score: NC State 48, Wake Forest 24