Updating NC State’s bowl projections after Stanford win
NC State is now one win away from achieving bowl eligibility for the fifth consecutive season after the Wolfpack knocked off Stanford 59-28 this past Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium.
With the Pack (5-4, 2-3 ACC) needing just one more victory across its final three games, beginning with its final home date of the fall as Duke visits this weekend, NC State’s bowl projections are starting to take form. The Wolfpack was predicted to play in either the Birmingham, Gasparilla or Fenway Bowls in the latest projections by national outlets.
Action Network’s Brett McMurphy and Athlon Sports’s Steven Lassan both projected NC State to square off with UCF in the Birmingham Bowl, which is set for Dec. 27 at Protective Stadium. The Wolfpack has played in a bowl hosted in Birmingham, Ala., twice in program history — the 1990 All-American Bowl (a 31-27 win over Southern Miss) and the 2008 PapaJohns.com Bowl (a 29-23 loss to Rutgers).
While Birmingham is an option, ESPN’s Mark Schlabach, College Football Network’s Oliver Hodgkinson and Sports Illustrated’s Patrick Andres thought the Wolfpack will play in the Fenway Bowl on Dec. 28 in Boston. Schlabach pitted the Pack against Tulane, while Hodgkinson put NC State against Army in the contest set to take place at the home of the Boston Red Sox. Andres believed the Wolfpack would face off with Memphis inside the 112-year old baseball stadium.
Rounding out this week’s bowl projections was ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and USA Today’s Erick Smith, who put NC State in the Gasparilla Bowl. Bongaura projected the Wolfpack to face Oklahoma, while Smith had NC State up against South Florida. The Pack would play inside Raymond James Stadium on Dec. 20 in Tampa, Fla., should this projection hold up. NC State has played in Tampa before, falling to Michigan 42-7 in the 1994 Hall of Fame Bowl.
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CBS Sports did not include NC State in this week’s bowl projections, signaling that the outlet does not believe the Wolfpack will win any of its final three games to reach bowl eligibility. It would mark the first time since 2019 that the Pack did not qualify for a postseason contest and just the third time under coach Dave Doeren in his 12 seasons at the helm of the program.
The Pack has appeared in eight bowl games under Doeren, but NC State has not won in the postseason since it beat Arizona State 52-31 in the 2017 Sun Bowl. The Pack lost to Kansas State 28-19 in the Pop-Tarts Bowl last season.
The Wolfpack has also played in the Duke’s Mayo, Gator, Independence, Belk and St. Petersburg Bowls during Doeren’s tenure.
