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Coming off of a dominant performance over the Florida State Seminoles, the No. 22 N.C. State Wolfpack (6-2, 3-2) opened as a 15 point favorite over Wake Forest (4-5, 1-4). The Deacs fell 41-24 to No. 13 Syracuse on Saturday.
N.C. State welcomes Wake Forest to Carter-Finley Stadium for a Thursday night, 7:30 kickoff on ESPN. Raleigh has been a house of horrors for Wake lately, as State has won the past four meetings by a combined score of 150-38 (average of 37.5-9.5). Wake last won in Raleigh in 2006 when Sam Swank made three field goals of fifty-plus yards en route to a 25-23 victory.
With true freshman QB Sam Hartman ruled out for the rest of the regular season (and perhaps just because it’s a smaller line than it should be), the spread has already jumped up to 17 points.
I’m not going to kick our team when it is down, but if you gamble for real then I urge you to make a sizable bet on N.C. State. Dave Doeren has the Pack has looking great this year, and Wake is fading with injuries. I could see this one getting ugly quickly, and State is looking for payback from the close loss in Winston last season.
When you combine all of these factors with the fact that Wake will be starting a new quarterback, it seems like the perfect storm for another Pack romp in a raucous environment.
Here’s to proving me dead wrong Deacs because I’ve been off lately on these types of things.