North Carolina State Football Looking To Validate Its Record vs. UNC

 

When it comes to scheduling, the North Carolina State Wolfpack administration deserves a gold medal for their 2014 efforts.

The Pack will enter Saturday’s game at North Carolina already bowl eligible and confident they can upset their hated rival. One look at the schedule, and it is easy to see how this team was able to win six total games, but only two of which were in conference. The Wolfpack appointed themselves chairmen of the FBS welcoming committee as they started the season hosting new members, Georgia Southern and Old Dominion, before defeating the South Florida Bulls and the Presbyterian Blue Hose.

The first two games were much tighter than they should have been and the team was lucky to escape with two wins. Entering conference play at 4-0, the Wolfpack were not undefeated much longer, as they limped through the ACC conference schedule with only two wins, ending a 12-game conference losing streak but showing no signs of mediocrity.

Wolfpack fans are some of the most rabid fans in the country, and can’t be happy with their team’s lack of success on the gridiron. Since the 2003 season, NC State has been to seven bowls, all of which are considered third-tier games. They have only been ranked once at the end of the season, in 2010 when they finished No. 25, and they  have not won a conference title since 1979.

Meanwhile, the university and Wolfpack club have been pouring money into facilities since 2000, which makes it harder to understand why the Wolfpack are beating Syracuse and Wake Forest instead of Clemson and Louisville. The Murphy Center, a state-of-the art football facility, opened in 2003. Vaughn Towers, an addition to Carter-Finley Stadium, debuted in 2005. The $13 million Close-King Indoor Practice football facility adjacent to the stadium is slated to open in 2015.

All this is evidence that the money spent is lacking in return investment.

Now is the time for a momentum-changing victory, and the Tar Heels are the perfect opponent. The game won’t be easy as it is on the road at Chapel Hill, and the Heels have patched up their Tecmo Bowl-type defense that allowed astronomical points earlier in the season. A loss to the Tar Heels will confirm that nothing has changed, and it will require scheduling 2015 opponents such as Troy, Old Dominion, South Alabama and Eastern Kentucky to inflate State’s record.