Updating NC State’s bowl projections ahead of season finale
After a 1-point loss at Georgia Tech, NC State has one more shot to earn its sixth win to become bowl eligible for the fifth straight season. The Pack, which is riding a two-game winning streak, will have to snap it at North Carolina in order to qualify for the postseason.
While the Wolfpack has struggled as of recently with a pair of ACC losses to slip under .500 going into the final weekend, NC State (5-6, 2-5 ACC) is still appearing in some bowl projections going into the season finale.
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura believes that the Pack will make an extra game, and it will head to the Birmingham Bowl against Florida. That contest is set for Dec. 27 at Protective Stadium.
NC State 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).
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach, meanwhile, projects NC State to play in the Gasparilla Bowl against Vanderbilt on Dec. 20 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. The Pack played in this bowl, which was called the Hall of Fame Bowl at the time, to cap the 1994 season — a 42-7 loss to Michigan.
But while the Worldwide Leader believed NC State will find a way to make the postseason, the rest of the national pundits thought otherwise.
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Action Network, Athlon Sports, CBS Sports, Sporting News, Sports Illustrated and USA Today did not include NC State in this week’s bowl projections, signaling that the outlet does not believe the Wolfpack will win at UNC.
If NC State were to miss the postseason, it would mark the first time since 2019 — a year the team went 4-8 — that the Pack did not qualify for a bowl game and just the third instance 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.
