N&O’s Week 1 college football picks for NC State-ECU, UNC-App State, other area teams
It’s time to hear from The N&O’s experts, who here in the steamy days of Week 0.5 of the college football season have yet to disgrace themselves, although if our collective brackets in March are any indication that’s merely days away. For the moment, our records remain as unblemished as those of the teams we cover. Neither, surely, will last.
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the last season of the Atlantic and Coastal divisions, long may they rest. Without further ado, the two-day marine forecast for the weekend ahead.
North Carolina at Appalachian State: You could say the Tar Heels’ defensive performance against a short-handed Florida A&M team failed to evince confidence. You could also say the actual numbers weren’t all that bad and Rattlers quarterback Jeremy Moussa, a Vanderbilt/Hawaii transfer, can really sling it. Both could be true.
Either way, UNC will have to show substantial improvement in arguably the biggest home game in the history of Kidd Brewer Stadium, named for the original developer of Crabtree Valley Mall. (Miami in 2016 is the other contender.) It figures to be a great environment in the mountains and, by all metrics, a close game. App State has beaten one ACC team in five tries since making the jump to FBS, and it’s UNC. N&O consensus: Pick ‘em
N.C. State at East Carolina: A great way to start the most anticipated N.C. State football season in two decades and perhaps longer. Either the Wolfpack can deal with a riled-up Greenville noon crowd and an opponent that was bowl-eligible last year and returns an elite hometown QB, or it can’t. Sounds simple, but many promising N.C. State teams in many sports have been tripped up by far less. What N.C. State should do and what it actually does are not always on the same page, let alone the same planet.
That said, given N.C. State’s veteran leadership, unfinished business, stout defense and ACC preseason player of the year at quarterback, the Wolfpack has zero excuses if it somehow dumps its CFP dreams in Week 1. All due respect to East Carolina, which is more than capable, but an absolute must-win for the Wolfpack. N&O consensus: N.C. State, unanimously
Temple at Duke: Maybe a great regional final in basketball in 1988 (it was!) or a decent mid-level bowl game in 2015, perhaps not so much of a regular-season football opener in 2022. Both teams shook off years of criminal incompetency — Temple got kicked out of the old Big East, Duke won a lawsuit by arguing it was the worst program in the country — to become newly relevant, but are now back at square one with new coaches.
Temple bottomed out after facing UNC in the Military Bowl in 2019 and Rod Carey’s firing ended a run of four out of five Temple coaches jumping to the ACC, one of whom did it without even coaching a game. (Manny Diaz, famously.) Matt Rhule, who may be available to coach a college team again in three months, was the fifth. Mike Elko will try to get Duke back to where David Cutcliffe had the Blue Devils only four years ago. A home win Friday would be a good start, literally and figuratively. N&O consensus: Duke, but not by much
N.C. Central at North Carolina A&T: Truly a throw-out-the-records game, even when A&T was in Division I and NCCU was in Division II. The already-high stakes in the Aggie-Eagle Classic were even higher in the years both teams were fighting it out for titles in the MEAC, but alas the landscape of college football never stays static for long. Should be another great atmosphere in Charlotte and the rare competitive football game at Bank of America Stadium. A&T has won four in a row. NCCU won seven of the 11 before that. Recency bias applies here. N&O consensus: A&T, 4-1
VMI at Wake Forest: Sam Hartman isn’t walking through that door, and … that should be just fine for Wake Forest in this warm-up for weeks ahead. On a day of great (or at least closely matched, in the case of Duke and Temple) games, a presumed snoozer. N&O consensus: Wake Forest, period, end of story
Never miss a Luke DeCock column. Sign up at tinyurl.com/lukeslatest to have them delivered directly to your email inbox as soon as they post.
This story was originally published August 31, 2022 at 5:10 AM with the headline "N&O’s Week 1 college football picks for NC State-ECU, UNC-App State, other area teams."
