12:30 pm • RSN
Radio Coverage Begins at 10:30 am
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DAY PARTY
For the first time in the past 19 home games, NC State will host a midday (noon or 12:30 p.m.) kickoff at Carter-Finley Stadium when Charleston Southern visits on Saturday.
The last time the Pack was picked for the midday TV slot for a home contest was the 2019 contest versus Western Carolina in the second game of the season.
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HOME OPENER
NC State has won all nine of its home openers under head coach Dave Doeren. And the Wolfpack has not just won, but won big.
Doeren’s previous nine home openers have been won by an average of 21.4 points (346-153). The Pack has also scored 45 points in each of the last two (2021 vs. UCF and 2020 vs. Wake Forest).
Overall, NC State has won 12 straight home openers, with the last loss against South Carolina in 2009 (final score 7-3).
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AGAINST FCS OPPONENTS
Under Doeren, the Pack has posted a perfect 9-0 record against FCS foes.
NC State has outscored its FCS opponents 323-96 (35.9-10.7) under Doeren, and has recorded three shutouts.
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HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
NC State enters the home opener with a 10-game winning streak at Carter-Finley Stadium. That’s the fifth-best active home winning streak in the FBS and ties as the second-longest in the history of Carter-Finley Stadium (which opened in 1966).
NC State posted a 7-0 mark in games played in Carter-Finley in 2021 and has not lost a home game since Nov. 6, 2020. The 2021 Wolfpack was the first squad since 1986 (35 years!) to go undefeated at home (and that squad did post one tie) and one of just six teams in school history (1967, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1986) to post an unblemished record at Carter-Finley Stadium.
The Pack outscored its foes 254-115 (36.3-16.4) at home last season.
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SPECIALTIES
It’s becoming a tradition. NC State’s special teams units have like to score touchdowns. In fact, in the last four games - dating back to last season of course - NC State’s special forces have scored points for the Pack.
In last year’s finalé vs. UNC and then in this year’s season opener at ECU, the Pack’s punt block unit has blocked a punt and scored touchdowns in incredibly close games.
Last year vs. UNC, Jordan Houston blocked a punt and C.J. Riley recovered it in the end zone for the game’s first score. Last week at ECU, the unit was at it again, as Jasiah Provillon broke through to block an ECU punt, and Sean Brown fell on it in the end zone to give the Pack its first lead of the game (14-7).
This marks the first time since the middle of the 2003 season that NC State has scored off of a blocked punt in back-to-back games. At Texas Tech that season, Manny Lawson blocked a second quarter punt which was recovered in the end zone by Richard Washington. The next week vs. UNC, Lawson recovered a punt blocked by Pat Thomas in the end zone.
In the previous two games - last year vs. Wake Forest and Syracuse - Zonovan Knight scored on kickoff returns in back-to-back games last season.
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GETTING PICKY
Maybe it was the new Turnover Bone. Maybe it was just defensive coordinator Tony Gibson looking for what he calls ‘dawgs’ in the film room. But the Pack defense has improved in a crucial area over the last couple of seasons: picking off the opposing QB.
In 12 games of 2021 and the first in 2022, the NC State defense has recorded 17 interceptions. The Pack had only two games last season without an INT.
In 2020 and 2019 combined – 24 total games – the Pack’s defense only picked off 14 passes, and went 16 games with zero INTs, including a stretch of seven straight in 2019.
The Pack has recorded an INT in six straight games dating back to last season. This is the longest such streak for NC State since the Pack had a stretch of seven straight games with an INT (the final five games of the 2015 season and then first two games in 2016).
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BABY SHARK
The ECU win marked the first time that Demie Sumo-Karngbaye - known to his teammates as “Sharko” - carried the ball for the Wolfpack. Sharko (let’s face it, it’s much easier to type than Sumo-Karngbaye!) played in six games last season as a true freshman, only on special teams.
His first two carries were both for six yards in the first quarter drive that would end in the Pack’s first touchdown of the day. In the second quarter, he broke loose for a 24-yard touchdown. He also had another 22-yard run in the game.
The Willingboro, N.J., native never took a recruiting visit to NC State before arriving on campus in the summer of 2021.