No. 24 NC State opens against FCS foe Western Carolina with eye on looming Tennessee matchup

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — N.C. State found plenty of offseason help in the transfer portal. Coach Dave Doeren is set to get his first look at how those pieces fit together and what must improve before a looming marquee matchup.

Western Carolina visits the 24th-ranked Wolfpack on Thursday night, opening Doeren’s 12th season that includes aspirations of contending for the Atlantic Coast Conference title as well as being within range of a bid for the expanded College Football Playoff. It also marks an evaluation opportunity for the Wolfpack ahead of a date with No. 15 Tennessee in Charlotte next week.

“I hope to learn a lot,” Doeren said. “I think there’s going to be really good things that come out of the game that we didn’t expect and there’s going to be things we’ve got to fix.”

N.C. State brought in 17 transfers to bolster the roster after a second nine-win season in three years, a list that notably includes a 10,000-yard career passer in Coastal Carolina product Grayson McCall. The Wolfpack also added running back Jordan Waters from Duke and receiver Noah Rogers from Ohio State to put alongside returning top weapon KC Concepcion at receiver, while transfer additions also boosted the defensive secondary.

“It’s been a fun chemistry experiment, is really what it is,” Doeren said.

The challenge is different for the Catamounts from the Southern Conference of the Championship Subdivision. This is a step up in competition against one of the flagship instate programs for the Catamounts, who are ranked No. 19 in the preseason FCS coaches poll.

“I think it’s always good for our kids to see if we can play at that level and how well compete against a really good football team,” Catamounts coach Kerwin Bell said, adding: ‘We’re going to go up there and give it our best shot and see what happens.”

Preseason picks

N.C. State is picked to finish fourth in the expanded 17-team ACC after winning 34 games over the previous four seasons, and can chase only the program’s second 10-win season (the other in 2002). Western Carolina is picked third in the nine-team Southern Conference.

Maintaining an edge

Defense has been a staple in recent years for the Wolfpack, who ranked in the top 30 nationally in scoring (20.8) and yardage (332.1) last year.

But the multiple departed starters include star Payton Wilson — The Associated Press league defensive player of the year, the Butkus Award winner as the nation’s top linebacker and the Bednarik Award winner for top overall defnsive player.

“I know those guys have another chip on their shoulder about just the lack of respect maybe they get with losing one player that was so good, and how are they going to make up for that player’s loss,” Doeren said. “There’s a lot of guys that want to show that to everybody.

Changes both ways

Western Carolina has new coordinators on both sides of the football, most notably for an offense that ranked fourth in FCS in scoring (37.5) and first in yardage (504.1) last year under Kade Bell.

But Bell departed for Pittsburgh and assistant Rylan Wells took over the unit, which returns league offensive player of the year Cole Gonzales at quarterback. He threw for a program single-season record 28 touchdowns last year and is the preseason pick to repeat as the Southern Conference’s top offensive player.

“I feel good about where we’re at offensively,” Bell said.

Chasing a milestone

The Catamounts are 0-9 against ranked Bowl Subdivision opponents, most recently losing 76-0 at Oklahoma. They haven’t scored more than 16 points in any of those games, the first coming against Louisville in 2001.

Series history

N.C. State has won all seven meetings, most recently 41-0 in 2019. The Wolfpack’s wins include two shutouts while averaging 47 points in the series.

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