NC State vs Northern Illinois Prediction, Game Preview, and Betting Lines

Uhhhhhhhhh, time to wake up, NC State.

It got destroyed by Tennessee and Clemson, and struggled to get by Western Carolina and Louisiana Tech.

There’s too much talent and too many good parts in place to be this mediocre. The schedule isn’t bad the rest of the way, but the Wolfpack have to step it up now.

Northern Illinois came off the giant win over Notre Dame with a rough close home loss to Buffalo. It’s just dangerous enough to step in and pull this off in Raleigh.

NC State vs Northern Illinois Preview

NC State vs Northern Illinois How to Watch
Date: Saturday, September 28, 2024
Game Time: 12:00 pm ET
Venue: Carter-Finley Stadium, Raleigh, NC
How to Watch: CW Network
NC State (2-2), Northern Illinois (2-1)
- Week 5 Schedule, Predictions
- Heisman Trophy Race
- CFN Rankings | Bowl Projections
- Every Team's Schedule, Results
Predicting the Rest of the Season
ACC | Big Ten | Big 12 | SEC

Why Northern Illinois Will Win

Didn’t you used to be the NC State run defense?

The Wolfpack didn’t allow 200 rushing yards all last season before the bowl loss to Kansas State. It gave up over 200 yards just once in 2022 - to Florida State.

In just four games the D not only allowed over 200 yards twice, it got obliterated by Tennessee for 249 rushing yards and last week got run over by Clemson for 269 yards.

And it allowed well over 200 passing yards in each of the four games. However …

Why NC State Will Win

Northern Illinois won’t run for 200 yards.

Granted, running for 190 yards against a sleepy Notre Dame was impressive, and rolling over 700 yards of total offense against Western Illinois seems nice, but even if it commits to the ground game it’ll be hard to get moving against NC State.

This really is a good Wolfpack D - at least it should be. Tennessee and Clemson just so happen to have offenses that should get them each into the top eight of the expanded College Football Playoff.

It starts with this - just be better on third downs.

NC State’s offense was awful on third downs in the two losses, great in the wins over Western Carolina and Louisiana Tech, and …

NC State vs Northern Illinois: Who Will Win

NC State won’t look great, but it’ll be good enough.

The NIU defense has been wonderful on third downs - allowing teams to convert 22% of the time - and that will be come through here and there to keep this close.

But the NC State defense will make up for the mediocre offense with a strong performance to get through this and move on.

NC State vs Northern Illinois Prediction, Betting Lines

NC State 28, Northern Illinois 20
Line: NC State -7.5, o/u: 46.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2
NC State vs Northern Illinois Must See Rating: 2.5

Week 5 CFN Expert Picks
Georgia at Alabama | Virginia Tech at Miami
Wash at Rutgers | Kentucky at Ole Miss
Minn at Michigan | Okla St at Kansas St
Nebraska at Purdue | Wisconsin at USC
Louisville at Notre Dame | Ark at Texas A&M
Colorado at UCF | Ohio St at Michigan St
Illinois at Penn St | Wash St at Boise St
Arizona at Utah | Oregon at UCLA