Updating NC State football’s bowl projections entering Week 11
NC State has achieved bowl eligibility, and its postseason projections are varied as the Wolfpack begin a two-game road swing this weekend. Entering Week 11, NC State’s new bowl projections include the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, Gator Bowl, Military Bowl, Pinstripe Bowl, ReliaQuest Bowl and the Sun Bowl.
The Wolfpack (6-3, 3-2 ACC) will travel to face Wake Forest on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. on The CW. NC State will be on the road next week at Virginia Tech before playing its regular season finale at home against North Carolina.
Here’s an updated look at NC State’s bowl projections entering Week 11:
There are three postseason contests that the Wolfpack have been most commonly projected to play in, all two times each: Duke’s Mayo, Gator and Pinstripe.
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura has the Pack playing against Kentucky in the Dukes’ Mayo Bowl, while USA Today has NC State facing off with Florida in the same contest on Dec. 27 in Charlotte.
NC State played in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl a year ago, and lost to Maryland 16-12 just before New Year’s in the Queen City.
While the Duke’s Mayo was a popular pick among projections, so was the Gator Bowl. ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Fox Sports have the Wolfpack playing against Tennessee on Dec. 29 in Jacksonville, Fla.
The final postseason contest with multiple projections is the Pinstripe, which the Action Network and Athlon Sports both have the Pack playing against Rutgers on Dec. 28 at Yankee Stadium.
Other bowl projections include The Athletic predicting the Wolfpack would play Navy in the Military on Dec. 27 in Annapolis, while CBS Sports thinks NC State in the ReliaQuest against LSU on Jan. 1 in Tampa. The Sporting News has NC State playing in the Sun Bowl against UCLA on Dec. 29 in El Paso, Texas.
NC State has appeared in 34 bowl games since 1946, including 16 since 2000. Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren is 3-4 in his seven bowl appearances at the helm of the red and white, and his last postseason victory came in the 2017 Sun Bowl, a 52-31 win over Arizona State. NC State was set to play UCLA in the Holiday Bowl in 2021, but the game was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns within the Bruins’ program.
Since Doeren took over as the Pack’s coach, NC State has played in the Gator Bowl twice, losses to Kentucky in 2021 and Texas A&M in 2018. His teams have also appeared in the Independence Bowl, Belk Bowl and St. Petersburg Bowl.
The Wolfpack have most commonly played in the Peach Bowl with seven previous appearances, but it has not appeared in that contest since 1994.
