2025 UNC Football Opponent Preview: NC State

Carolina will wrap up the 2025 regular season when it visits NC State in Raleigh Saturday night. The Wolfpack have won each of the last four meetings with the Tar Heels and seven of the last nine, with UNC’s only victories in that span coming in 2019 and 2020.

This season, NC State enters the matchup with a 6-5 overall record and a 3-4 mark in ACC play. The Wolfpack beat Florida State last Friday to clinch bowl eligibility.

Here’s more on the Wolfpack:

Head coach: Now in his 13th season in Raleigh, Dave Doeren is the second-longest tenured head coach in the ACC, behind only Clemson’s Dabo Swinney. Doeren has been successful at NC State, with 10 bowl appearances and another on the way this season. But it’s his ceiling which has pushed some Wolfpack fans to call for his dismissal: NC State has never reached 10 wins in his tenure. However, Doeren’s track record against Carolina cannot be disputed. The Wolfpack are 8-4 against the Tar Heels under his leadership, including a 5-1 record at Kenan Stadium.

NC State head coach Dave Doeren has led the Wolfpack since 2013. (Image via NC State Athletics)

Showtime: NC State features one of the most productive running backs in the ACC, and that running back also happens to have one of the most memorable names in the nation: Hollywood Smothers. The redshirt sophomore and former Oklahoma transfer has reached the century mark on the ground four times this season, including a 164-yard effort at Wake Forest. He enters the regular-season finale with 907 rushing yards. By comparison, UNC’s entire team has 1,193 rushing yards. Smothers will challenge a UNC defense which allowed Duke running back Anderson Castle to rush for three touchdowns last weekend.

Throw the damn ball: Though his numbers weren’t exactly gaudy, UNC quarterback Gio Lopez had perhaps his best game of the season against Duke. Now, Lopez will look to build on that positive momentum when he takes on an NC State team which is quite literally the worst in the nation in passing defense: 134th out of 134 teams. But there’s reason for caution: UNC has faced several other teams near the bottom of the heap, including Duke (127th), Charlotte (128th) and Stanford (133rd), and Lopez didn’t exactly light the world on fire against those teams, either. Saturday’s game will be a classic case of weakness vs. weakness.

Strength in the pack: NC State’s record sits at an uninspiring 6-5, but the Wolfpack have some of the best wins in the country. They’ve picked off Virginia at home, Wake Forest on the road and Georgia Tech at home, giving them three wins against teams with a record of 8-3 or better. That’s more than powerhouses Oregon, Indiana and Texas A&M… combined. NC State also has a quality win against 7-4 East Carolina, which came all the way back in Week 1. The Wolfpack have put up some stinkers, including an inexplicable home loss to 3-8 Virginia Tech, but they can compete with anybody in the ACC – particularly in Raleigh.

What are the odds? At the time of publication, NC State is a 7.5-point favorite in the game.

Featured image via Associated Press/David Yeazell

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2025 UNC Football Opponent Preview: NC State

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