Previewing No. 8 NC State vs. North Carolina wrestling dual meet

No. 8 NC State (11-2, 1-0) and North Carolina (8-6, 0-1) will do battle on the wrestling mat Friday night at 8:30 p.m. ET in Raleigh in the latest chapter of the rivalry.

NC State leads the series 16-9-1 since January 13, 1999. Once again, the Wolfpack are favored on paper but there might be a path to victory for the Tar Heels.

Let’s dive into the matchups between NC State and UNC, featuring a lot of ranked bouts.

NC State vs. North Carolina wrestling matchups

125: No. 22 Jakob Camacho vs. No. 29 Spencer Moore
133: No. 6 Kai Orine vs. Jace Palmer
141: No. 4 Ryan Jack vs. No. 5 Lachlan McNeil
149: No. 3 Jackson Arrington vs. Wil Guida
157: No. 6 Ed Scott vs. Sonny Santiago
165: No. 14 Derek Fields vs. Isaias Estrada
174: No. 27 Alex Faison vs. No. 29 Tyler Eischens
184: No. 10 Dylan Fishback vs. No. 23 Gavin Kane
197: No. 3 Trent Hidlay vs. No. 26 Max Shaw
285: No. 15 Owen Trephan vs. Cade Lautt

*These are projected matchups via WrestleStat and rankings via InterMat

Camacho and Moore have some history, with the NC State star beating Moore in February of 2022. He’ll be the favorite here but Moore could certainly turn the tables right off the bat winning a toss up bout.

Orine is the heavy favorite over Palmer as he beat him last year via major decision. Palmer is outside of the rankings at the moment and might have to save bonus points here to keep the Tar Heels afloat early.

If this dual was organized like a fight card, Jack vs. McNeil would be the main event. Two of the top five wrestlers at 141 do battle before the ACC Championships and NCAAs. Jack is 3-1 against McNeil, including a 4-2 win back in December. This match could swing the dual.

Arrington is the big favorite at 149 as NC State looks to pile it on. For UNC to be competitive early on, the Tar Heels will likely have to be at a 2-2 split through four bouts.

Scott doesn’t make things easier either. He’s projected to hit bonus points and Santiago will likely have to do his best to not get scored on at will.

Fields has the advantage as well, but Estrada could certainly make things interesting. But this will likely be a similar situation to 157.

Now it gets interesting with three straight ranked matchups. At 174, Faison is slightly ahead in the rankings but lost to Eischenes 3-2 in last year’s NCAAs. Another toss up bout here.

Fishback and Kane have yet to wrestle, but the NC State grappler is the favorite. If Kane pulls off this upset, it’ll give the Tar Heels a lot of juice and a chance considering the next two are quite difficult.

Hidlay is wrestling better than almost anyone in the country right now. This could certainly be bonus point territory and UNC is up against it.

Heavyweight might be more of the same with Trephan as the big favorite against an unranked Lautt. This is where the Wolfpack could already have it locked up well before it gets to 197 or heavyweight.

The best case scenario for UNC is to pull off some upsets and have a 4-4 split going into the final two matches of the evening. However, it’s still a tall task for the Tar Heels.