Wake Forest vs NC State Prediction and Betting Preview | ACC Football
Interestingly, the team with more yards in this Wake Forest vs NC State series has lost three of the last four meetings. NC State out-gained Wake Forest by more than 100 yards and had seven more first downs last season, but the Deacs erased a double-digit hole in the final ten minutes to steal the victory.
Wake Forest vs NC State Preview
| Date and Time | September 11 at 7:30pm ET / 4:30pm PT |
| Point Spread | NC State -7 (-115) |
| Total | 51.5 Points |
| Location | Winston Salem, North Carolina |
| TV | ESPN |
| Forecast | Clear and Calm with Temps in the Mid-60s |
Odds above courtesy of DraftKings as of Thursday, September 11. These Tar Heel State foes have split their last ten meetings at five wins apiece with the road team winning each of the last two. NC State won 26-6 in Winston Salem in 2023, and the Deacs returned the favor with a 34-30 road win in Raleigh last season.
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
In the Week 1 edition of The Football GoldSheet, we shared our hesitation about Wake Forest’s hiring of former Washington State head coach Jake Dickert.
Coach Dickert’s former offensive coordinator and quarterback are now at Oklahoma (just beat Michigan last week), and Dickert doesn’t have any direct ties to the ACC or coaching in this region. His entire coaching tenure has been spent west of the Mississippi River and he doesn’t have a previous relationship with either of his coordinators.
In our eyes, this is a complete re-build in Winston Salem. Dave Clawson led the Deacs for a decade and ran a unique offensive system that few teams in the country could replicate. Dickert has arrived in an area that he’s not overly-familiar with, with a coaching staff that he’s not overly-familiar with, while trying to install a new system.
NC State Wolfpack
While most other college football teams have faced an FCS-level opponent by now, NC State has played a healthy strength of schedule against regional rivals East Carolina and Virginia. The Wolfpack emerged from those two contests with a pair of victories.
Quarterback CJ Bailey was 16-of-23 through the air for 200 passing yards and a touchdown last week against Virginia. The most important numbers from that contest were 0 and 1. The Wolfpack did not commit a turnover in that game and only had one penalty. For a team that has been known to shoot itself in the foot in recent years, that’s a good sign for Dave Doeren’s squad.
Wake Forest vs NC State Prediction
Wake Forest’s game against Western Carolina took over six hours to complete after a pair of weather-related delays (one in each half). After the game, Coach Dickert said, “It’s been a marathon day.” That’s not what you want to hear when preparing for a short week against a conference opponent that will be hungry for revenge after throwing away last year’s contest. NC STATE -7 (-115)
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