NC State football game predictions: Week 1 at ECU

On Saturday, NC State football kicks off one of the most-hyped seasons in program history. The Wolfpack enter the matchup ranked No. 13 in the nation with sky-high expectations surrounding the team. 

East Carolina would like nothing more than to ruin that excitement. NC State travels to Greenville to take on the Pirates this weekend in a noon kickoff on ESPN. The Wolfpack are favored by two scores at 11.5 points. 

Here are The Wolfpacker staff’s predictions for the 2022 season opener.

Matt Carter prediction for NC State at East Carolina

The last time these two teams met, NC State rolled to a 34-6 win over East Carolina in Raleigh in a score that accurately reflected the difference between the two squads. That was the season opener in 2019. 

A lot has changed since then.

Both teams ended up not being that good in 2019. That was expected for East Carolina. Mike Houston had just begun his tenure rebuilding the mess of a program he inherited from Scottie Montgomery.

Montgomery was the replacement for Ruffin McNeill, the popular East Carolina alum who went 42-34 in six seasons as the Pirates’ head coach from 2010-15 and led ECU to four bowl games, highlighted by a 10-win campaign in 2013 just two years before he was shockingly fired.

Montgomery went 9-26, winning exactly three games each year, before being let go prior to the 2018 season finale, a 58-3 beatdown loss to NC State in Raleigh.

Thus, realistically Houston’s team had little chance in 2019. That squad went just 4-8 overall and 1-7 in the American Athletic Conference. 

NC State also went 4-8 in 2019. That was surprising, however. The Pack had back-to-back nine-win seasons prior to that. Injuries, though, wreaked havoc on head coach Dave Doeren’s squad.

Now East Carolina and NC State meet again, both in far better places. Houston has done admirable work slowly rebuilding the Pirates’ program into a respectable bowl-bound squad last year. Doeren has NC State back to nine-win seasons and the best-ever preseason ranking in school history.

The combination of being a season opener and in Greenville tightens the margin a little, but figuring that East Carolina has completely closed a four-touchdown gap from 2019 to present day, considering where both programs were then and now, is difficult to fathom.

NC State prevails and delivers the game ball to McNeill — on the NC State staff as special assistant to the head coach since July 2020 — who for the first time, will be on the visiting sideline in Greenville.

Matt Carter’s prediction: NC State 34, East Carolina 17

Ethan McDowell

Preseason expectations can be a scary thing. Just look at NC State’s in-state rival.

North Carolina, anointed as a preseason top-10 program last year with a star quarterback and tons of excitement around the program, dropped its season opener to a mediocre Virginia Tech team and stumbled the rest of the way to a 6-7 record.

NC State saw that happen, and the program is determined to avoid the same outcome.

Every media appearance and ACC Network all-access clip just showed that the team is approaching the hype the right way, and the Wolfpack is poised to impress this weekend. This will not be an easy season opener, especially in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium — an overall underrated home atmosphere that will be packed with energy despite the early start.

NC State’s roster is full of players who have dealt with unwelcoming opposing crowds and reckoned with high expectations before. Devin Leary, an experienced quarterback with All-America potential, and a skilled defense with at least two seasons of college football experience in every starting spot, combine to form an ideal winning combination.

Momentum is a key part of Saturday’s matchup. If the Wolfpack starts slowly, does not take care of the ball and ECU is able to move the ball early in the game, things could get interesting with the Pirates backed by their intense home atmosphere. Last year, East Carolina’s defense finished the season tied for the 25th-most takeaways in the country.

Head coach Dave Doeren and the rest of the program know that, and I’m confident the Pack remains ready for any opening-round punches that East Carolina can throw.

I think NC State will win this game by multiple scores thanks to its suffocating defense and Leary’s playmaking ability through the air. If the Wolfpack can show an improved rushing attack as well, it could get out of hand quickly.

Ethan McDowell’s prediction: 38-10