NC State football finalizing game vs. Tennessee, per report
NC State football needed a Power Five opponent for the 2024 schedule after BYU canceled a home-and-home. Tennessee also needed such a game because a non-conference series with Oklahoma was taken away by SEC mandate.
With limited options but perhaps each other, the two teams are reportedly closing in on an agreement to kick off the 2024 season vs. each other in Charlotte, per the Raleigh News and Observer.
BYU was to play in Raleigh in what would have been the first-ever meeting between the Cougars and NC State. The 2030 contest was to have been in Provo, Utah. In 2030, the Wolfpack already has a road game at South Carolina, in addition to hosting Charlotte.
ACC teams are supposed to have at least one Power Five game on the slate every season. Independent Notre Dame counts, as did BYU prior to the Cougars recently announcing that they were joining the Big 12 Conference.
BYU will join that league in 2023, which forced them to start trimming its schedule of 12 non-conference games down to three. NC State was among the teams that were cut from the Cougars’ future schedules.
NC State and Tennessee met on a neutral field in Atlanta against each other in 2012 for the season opener. A string of big-play touchdowns and turnover that led to a safety helped the Vols jump out to a 22-7 first quarter lead in what turned out to be a 35-21 triumph for Tennessee.
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That was the first meeting involving NC State football and Tennessee since 1939. The two have played each other just three times, with the Vols having a 2-1 edge.
Tennessee is enjoying a breakout 2022 season led by Greensboro, N.C. native and former Virginia Tech quarterback Hendon Hooker. The second/third-ranked Vols are 8-0 and will play at No. 1 Georgia in what may be the game of the season this coming Saturday. That game will be the site of the ESPN College GameDay set, the third time this year Tennessee has been featured on the preview show.
The rest of the NC State football schedule for 2024 includes home games against Louisiana Tech and Western Carolina, which had previously been expected to be the opener, and a road date at South Florida.
In ACC play, the Pack will host Duke, Georgia Tech, Syracuse and Wake Forest. The road games will be Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina and Pittsburgh.
Future NC State Football Non-Conference Schedules
Here is a look at the future non-conference schedules for NC State football.
2023: at Connecticut, Notre Dame, VMI, Marshall
2024: Louisiana Tech, at South Florida, Western Carolina, Tennessee (in Charlotte)
2025: at Appalachian State, Campbell, East Carolina, at Notre Dame
2026: Appalachian State, Florida, Richmond, at Vanderbilt
2027: North Carolina A&T, at Texas Tech
2028: Campbell, at East Carolina, at Troy, Vanderbilt
2029: Notre Dame
2030: Charlotte, at South Carolina
2031: at Charlotte, at Notre Dame, South Carolina
2032: at Florida
2034: at Lousiana Tech
2035: Notre Dame
2037: at Notre Dame
