The NC State Wolfpack (3-2, 0-1 ACC) and Wake Forest Demon Deacons (1-3, 0-1 ACC) will kick off the latest in the longest running rivalry in ACC history – the two teams have played annually since 1910 – Saturday afternoon with its 118th iteration.
The Pack leads the all-time series, with a 69-42-6 edge, and also have won the last two, the latest being a 26-6 win in Winston-Salem.
It’s been a roller-coaster of a season for NC State who has yet to find solid stability on either side of the ball.
A constant pattern of winning a close game followed by getting blown out has spelled out the season so far for the Pack, but they’ll be hoping to stop that streak following their 24-17 win over NIU last week.
Head coach Dave Doeren has been challenging his team as of late to play with more physicality and fire, something he’s noted that they’ve lacked at times this season.
“We have to play harder than teams across the sidelines,” Doeren said. “We have to. It gives us an opportunity to be in the game every week. Not everybody’s wired that way. Football’s just not what it used to be when it comes to tough guys, but at NC State, we have to be tough. That’s our edge.”
The Pack will also hope to see their passing game get a bit more of a spark, especially facing a young Deacon secondary.
“It’s pretty hard to evaluate our pass game,” Doeren said. “It hasn’t been what I was hoping for. Part of that is what’s transpired with having a freshman at quarterback, but I’m not blaming CJ [Bailey] at all. I think CJ is getting better, but you can’t put the entire system on a freshman either. So you are a little more restricted. It’s a work-in-progress right now, but it does need to get better and we need to find more ways to spread the ball around and let those kids make plays for us.”
While NC State has been a roller coaster, Wake Forest on the other hand has just been a downward spiral, having lost their last three games in a row.
“We’re struggling right now,” said Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson. “And like I told the team, when you’re in this position, all you can do is go back to work.”
Defensively, things have been especially tough for the Demon Deacons who lost a lot of players to the portal this offseason and have had to go with a very young lineup throughout the field.
“We were an old football team for seven years and there’s a lot of guys that we’d love to still have on our football team right now that aren’t there,” Clawson said. “So we’re bringing in guys in the summer to play for us and we’ve got freshmen out there playing. That’s never been how we’ve built the program at Wake Forest.
“Just to fix problems, you need a lot of money. We recruited what we could afford. I think those guys will get better and they’ll continue to grow and again they have ability, but I think it’s a little bit of baptism by fire right now.”
The offense has been good most of the season, outside the 40-6 loss to No. 12 Ole Miss, and has averaged 29.75 points per game.
However, Wake is going to need everything to come together at the same time if they want to get things back on track after the tough start.
“Right now, I’m concerned about everything,” Clawson said. “We’re 1-3. I think this is the worst start we’ve been off to in my 11 years. We’re just a struggling football team right now. We’re just clearly not where we’ve been. We just have to keep these guys together, make sure they keep improving and keep working and stick together which is always the challenge when you get off to a bad start. The only way to get better is to go back to work and fix the mistakes and have guys buy in. There’s no magic formula to do that.”
