NC State football’s moment is here. If it’s ever going to happen for Pack, this is it
If not now, when?
That’s all that needs to be said about N.C. State. Full stop.
If it’s ever going to happen, this is the time. This is the season. The Wolfpack has the prevailing wind at its back, the kind of stiff breeze of circumstances that can push a football team along to a long-sought, long-denied place in the sun.
Yes, N.C. State has to go to Clemson. It would be easier for the Wolfpack if that game were at home, where N.C. State finally broke its skid against the Tigers last season — an accomplishment dulled by the Wolfpack dropping the ball against Mississippi State … and Miami … and Wake Forest, again.
But everything else lines up for N.C. State. It has the ACC preseason player of the year at the most important position in Devin Leary, a quarterback who doesn’t choose between making big plays and taking care of the ball. He does both.
It has a wave of players who could have left but decided to come back, many of whom missed the end of last season to injury but are now fully healthy. It has one of the best linebacker groups in the country and a veteran secondary. It loses two accomplished running backs, but their replacement may be a better fit for N.C. State’s increasingly pass-heavy offense anyway.
It has, in Leary and Isaiah Moore and Grant Gibson and others, veteran leaders who wouldn’t be out of place as strong voices in an NFL locker room, athletes with uncommon depth who refuse to stick to sports. It has, in homegrown stars like Payton Wilson and Drake and Thayer Thomas, players who know exactly what this opportunity represents.
And the Wolfpack has the motivation of not only failing to capitalize on the Clemson win a year ago, but being denied (officially) a 10th win and a proper coronation as an impending contender when UCLA bailed on the Holiday Bowl at the last minute.
Talent. Experience. Motivation. Confidence. There’s not a lot N.C. State is missing, other than left tackle Ickey Ekwonu, currently holding down that position for the Carolina Panthers.
It’s the most optimism entering an N.C. State football season since 2003, when the Wolfpack was coming off an 11-3 run and win over Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl, with Philip Rivers returning for his senior year at quarterback. Ohio State, in Week 3, was supposed to be the pass-fail test for the Wolfpack but it didn’t make it out of Winston-Salem unscathed in Week 2.
N.C. State started 1-2, finished 8-5 and wouldn’t come close to an ACC title again until 2010, when the Wolfpack went into Maryland with a chance to clinch a spot in the championship game only to be upended by the Terrapins, and not for the first time.
The Wolfpack couldn’t get past Clemson in 2017 or Wake Forest in 2021, and that’s the history N.C. State is fighting against. In each one of those seasons, the Wolfpack’s hopes outside the ACC were dimmed by nonconference losses — some understandable, some not.
But there’s not an opponent outside the ACC on this season’s schedule that should reasonably stand in N.C. State’s way, even if starting at East Carolina gets the gold medal for tempting fate. None of those prior teams — not one — was as deep or experienced or motivated on both sides of the ball as this one.
It’s been a long time since circumstances lined up like this for N.C. State. It may be an even longer time before such a confluence comes again.
The Atlantic Division. The ACC. Maybe even the College Football Playoff. It’s all sitting out there for N.C. State.
The Wolfpack’s moment has arrived. Will N.C. State claim it?
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This story was originally published September 1, 2022 at 7:10 AM with the headline "NC State football’s moment is here. If it’s ever going to happen for Pack, this is it."
