WINSTON-SALEM — Despite missing out on a chance at a berth in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship, N.C. State still has an opportunity to make history in its final two games of the regular season.
If the No. 25 Wolfpack closes the season with a pair of victories, the squad will have seven ACC wins for the first time in program history.
With a trip to Wake Forest (6-4, 3-3 ACC) set for Saturday, N.C. State (7-3, 5-1) can earn its sixth league victory for the first time since 1994.
In its 125 years on the gridiron, the Wolfpack has faced the Demon Deacons more than any other opponent.
The good news for N.C. State? The Wolfpack has won its last three games against Wake Forest, including a 33-16 victory last season.
The bad news? The Demon Deacons have won six of their last seven home contests against the Pack.
“We think we’ll have a great atmosphere. Ticket sales are tracking very good right now which usually happens with our in-state games,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said Wednesday during the ACC’s weekly teleconference.
“I don’t look at the last ten years. I mean, the last time N.C. State played here, it was 28-0 after the first quarter. So what happened in, whatever, 2007 or 2009, I think has very little impact on this game. You know, the last two years that we’ve got off to a poor start and N.C. State has gotten off to a great start in this game. Even after that, we settled in. We were just too far behind to really get back in the game.”
The Wolfpack snapped a two-game losing streak last week by rallying to beat Boston College 17-14, but is an underdog to a Wake Forest team trying for its first regular-season victory over a Top 25 opponent under Clawson.
“Coach Clawson has done a nice job down there,” said Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren. “He played a lot of young guys like we have, and now they are playing in their second, third and fourth year with some guys and they believe in each other and they are playing hard.”
Both teams have locked up bowl eligibility so now the emphasis is on postseason positioning, and the Demon Deacons are favored after they hung 64 points on Syracuse last week.
Wake Forest quarterback John Wolford passed for three touchdowns and ran for three more, accounting for 499 yards of total offense in the Demon Deacons’ 64-43 comeback win over Syracuse. The Demon Deacons trailed 38-24 at halftime but outscored the Orange 40-5 in the second half.
“(Boston College) had scored 35-plus in three straight games. Wake is the same and their quarterback is playing as good as anybody in the country right now,” Doeren said.
“He can run, he can throw, he’s accurate, he’s tough, he’s got game experience and he’s got good weapons around him and a good system.”
Senior defensive end Bradley Chubb leads a Wolfpack defense hoping to slow down the Deacons’ recent offensive surge.
For the season, Chubb leads the FBS in tackles for loss with 22.5 and ranks fifth nationally in sacks. Chubb, a midseason All-American, is a semifinalist for the Bednarik Award and on the lists for the Nagurski and Hendricks Trophies.
Clawson has seen that development, but also acknowledged the strength of N.C. State’s defensive line as a unit.
“He’s (Chubb) just become a complete player, and you know, what makes it even more difficult when you play N.C. State is sometimes you may play against an elite tackle and you can cheat against him,” Clawson said.
“There’s a lot of guys on NC State’s defensive line, if it wasn’t for Chubb, those guys would be the featured guy, and that’s who we would be talking about. … They are all very disruptive players.”
And Clawson knows a slow start against N.C. State’s vaunted defense won’t bode well for Wake Forest’s hopes of maintaining his home success against the Pack.
“Dave has done a great job of getting his team ready to play us every year,” Clawson said, “and we’ve got to be prepared from the very first snap, or this won’t be a football game.”
In other ACC action, North Carolina will host Western Carolina at 3 p.m., Duke will host Georgia Tech at 3:30 p.m. and Clemson will play host to The Citadel in a 12:20 p.m. start on Saturday.
