The NC State football team will be back in action Saturday in a nationally televised home contest against Notre Dame, which will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Carter-Finley Stadium.
The Wolfpack (3-1, 1-0 ACC) will look to continue its success after defeating Wake Forest (4-1, 1-1 ACC) Saturday and opening conference play with a win for the first time in head coach Dave Doeren’s tenure. The Irish (2-3) are NC State’s last nonconference opponent and should prove to be a good final test before the Pack’s remaining schedule featuring five teams currently in the AP top 25.
The Irish came into the season ranked 10th in the nation and were considered a contender to make the college football playoff. Despite having an up-and-down start to the season that may have ended any hopes of playing for national title, they are still a strong team. This game will be the Wolfpack’s biggest test of the season thus far.
“[We’re] playing a football team that has a lot of really good personnel,” Doeren told NC State Athletics in a news conference Monday. “Offensively they’re scoring a ton of points, averaging almost 40 points a game and 500 yards and [they have] probably the best offensive line that we’ll see all season.”
Doeren also gave credit to Notre Dame’s receiving corps and to quarterback DeShone Kizer’s abilities as a runner. Kizer is averaging over 300 yards of passing per game and has thrown for 14 touchdowns while picking up another six scores on the ground.
“They’ve got weapons on offense; they can score and they can score fast,” Doeren said. “[It’s going to be a] really good test defensively, going up against their offense and Kizer at quarterback.”
The Pack had a strong game defensively against the Deacons, allowing a mere 69 yards of rushing against a team that was averaging 200 yards per game. The defense will need to have another good performance for the Wolfpack to win on Saturday.
And unfortunately for the Wolfpack, it will be without starting safety Shawn Boone for the first half of Saturday’s game due to a targeting penalty that was called on him during the second half of the Wake Forest game.
Boone has been a key member of the Pack’s secondary, so redshirt freshman Jarius Morehead will need to step up in what could arguably be the most important game of his career so far. Redshirt junior safety Josh Jones may also have to pick up some of the slack, as he is coming off of one of his best games in a Wolfpack uniform.
Offensively, quarterback Ryan Finley will look to continue his success after throwing for a career-high 300 yards last week. Finley has thrown for 1,018 yards and nine touchdowns without throwing an interception. If he can keep up this kind of performance against a team with the defensive caliber of Notre Dame, it will say a lot about him as a player and it could help his team pull off an upset win at home.
Thankfully for Finley, the Pack’s receiving corps has been a big help through the first few games, even without last year’s No. 1 wide receiver, Jumichael Ramos. Senior wideout Bra’Lon Cherry has been effective and a pair of underclassmen, redshirt sophomore Stephen Louis and freshman Kelvin Harmon, have stepped up in a big way.
Harmon had his coming out party against Wake Forest, hauling in two scores, including the final score that sealed the win for NC State. Meanwhile, Louis had his second game with 100 yards receiving or more, recording four catches for 102 yards.
It won’t be easy for the Wolfpack offense to continue its success though, as Notre Dame’s defense features a strong defensive line that is backed up by talented linebackers. Additionally, the variety of defensive schemes that the Irish has run throughout the year will make it difficult for NC State’s coaching staff to know what they’re up against.
“Offensively we’ll have our plan, we’ll have to execute against multiple looks and then we’ll have to do a good job adjusting, in case they’re a lot different than what they’ve been,” Doeren said.
The Pack will need to play to its greatest potential on both sides of the ball to come out with a victory. This game is winnable though, given that NC State has home field advantage and is facing a team that has struggled so far this season. Playing in the highly competitive Atlantic Division of the ACC, NC State needs to capitalize on opportunities like this in order to have a chance at a winning season.
With Hurricane Matthew set to make landfall this weekend, it’s likely that Saturday’s game will be a wet one. So, be prepared to weather the storm and don’t let the rain keep you from attending a potential once-in-a-lifetime matchup against Notre Dame in this pivotal game. On the bright side, the downpour will help to hide the tears of whoever comes out on the losing side of this matchup.
