I think Dunlap entered the portal for a bit last year and then pulled his name out and chose to stay(maybe after McCloud and Graves both opted to leave).

He was playing quite a bit but think after either Miami or FSU he seemed to get less snaps. Plus, if we are able to get Ingram, Smith, and Palmer back for next year, I'm not sure where Dunlap would end up on that 2-deep.

12/1/2020 8:48:54 AM

Officially in the portal now.

I searched Dunlap among my Twitter follows and had some positives from early in Miami game but since then only penalties, last mention was fsu. Has he not played much since then?

12/1/2020 10:18:06 AM

^Think he only played a little against Liberty and didn't play a snap against Cuse.

12/1/2020 3:46:27 PM

McNeil going pro after this season

12/5/2020 10:36:16 AM

Probably the least surprising breaking news since Mario Williams turned pro.

12/5/2020 11:19:14 AM

Hope we win today!

Go get your money, Alim

12/5/2020 2:48:57 PM

Wish more people were out there at this game, saying to King Kooper, Roy Pooper, “YOURE FIRED, WE WANT FOOTBALL.”

12/5/2020 4:21:35 PM

colony collapse disorder

12/5/2020 4:33:08 PM

Kick Ingle off the team. 3 ejections in six games. Ridiculous. There is no defending that shit. Leary season ended on a hit like that.

12/5/2020 6:18:09 PM

Leary got a concussion in his leg from a helmet to helmet hit

12/5/2020 7:20:29 PM

Did we set a NC State record for conference wins?

12/5/2020 8:01:57 PM

^^lol.

12/5/2020 8:37:51 PM

^^ I heard someone talking about that in the pregame radio broadcast (that if we won we set an acc win record for nc state)

12/5/2020 10:06:24 PM

I think it is funny that they keep saying we set a record for most ACC wins but don’t mention that we played the most ACC games ever this season. Still a solid season.

12/6/2020 12:06:25 AM

It's actually a record number of conference wins in a season for State regardless of conference (not ACC specific). It passes the record shared by the 2017, 1994, 1992, 1973, 1968, 1963, and 1946 season

^ Though it is true we played more conference games than usual, we still won at a higher rate as well. Normally our conference win % is about 50% or so. This year we won 70% of our conference games

12/6/2020 12:14:28 AM

Yeah the whole season will come with an asterisk for every team. But going 8-3 with 0 cupcakes is impressive (I guess we thought Liberty might be a cupcake when they were scheduled...but weren’t). So 7-3 in the ACC. 7-3 vs P5 teams. However you wanna spin it, it’s impressive. I know we avoided Clemson and ND. But who cares. One knock on DD has been his teams inflating their record vs crappy OOC teams (a lame knock, imo). We didn’t have those this year and still won 8 games. That’s impressive to me. Kept the team focused when they could’ve easily folded after Leary went down or folded after that loss to Miami, with little left to play for but pride. Motivation never seemed like an issue for this team when it was clearly an issue for lots of other teams around country.

Weird year. But good job, DD.

12/6/2020 5:39:12 AM

Is there a chance we can play UNC in the mayo bowl? I could see it being CCU vs UNC but could also see CCU in the NY6 and UNC camping world so i dunno.

[Edited on December 6, 2020 at 5:11 PM. Reason : k]

12/6/2020 5:09:12 PM

Is there a chance we play a conference opponent we’ve already played this year in a bowl game?

No.

12/6/2020 6:39:25 PM

They should have a new bowl game The Wolfpack Bowl played at a stadium King Kooper can’t get to and FILL IT UP WITH FANS

12/6/2020 7:58:56 PM

Our current bowl projections are actually pretty good. I'll include UNC's for comparison and as a discussion to horosho above.

CBS:
- NC State vs Oklahoma State in the Cheez-It Bowl (former Tangerine Bowl)
- UNC vs Penn State in the Duke's Mayo Bowl (former Belk Bowl)
Athlon Sports:
- NC State vs Wisconsin in the Duke's Mayo Bowl
- UNC vs Oklahoma State in the Cheez-It Bowl
CollegeFootballNews.com
- NC State vs Ole Miss in the Gator Bowl
- UNC vs Texas in the Cheez-It Bowl
Bleacher Report
- NC State vs Utah in the Sun Bowl
- UNC vs Oklahoma State in the Cheez-It Bowl
Brett McMurphy
- NC State vs Wisconsin in the Duke's Mayo Bowl
- UNC vs Missouri in the Gator Bowl
CollegeSportsMadness.com
- NC State vs Georgia State in the Gator Bowl under the assumption the SEC wouldn't be able to fill all their bowl tie-ins
- UNC vs Texas in the Cheez-It Bowl
BowlSeason.com
- NC State vs Maryland in the Duke's Mayo Bowl
- UNC vs Arkansas in the Gator Bowl
Dratings.com
- NC State vs Texas in the Cheez-It Bowl
- UNC vs Ole Miss in the Gator Bowl

What I'm seeing is that aside from a few people, everyone seems to think either UNC or NC State is gonna go to the Gator Bowl; whoever doesn't get that one will go to the Belk Bowl. I can get behind most of these predictions aside from us vs Georgia State -- I have no idea what crack they're smoking or why on earth any bowl committee thinks people would want to see Georgia State play.

But, no one thinks we'll play UNC. There's no reason to. It's a game that's already been played this season, on top of being a matchup we can see every year. Most people also have Coastal going to a lower-level bowl than we're projected for but they could've been made before this past Saturday so who knows.

Either way though I'm pretty hype for whatever bowl game we play in this year. These are all pretty solid projections.

12/6/2020 10:28:31 PM

Just cause I'm bored, I did a little thought exercise to see what our conference record would have been in our original schedule.

The following ACC teams we played were on our original schedule, along with our score:
- Florida State - W, 38-22
- Duke - W, 31-20
- Wake Forest - W, 45-42
- Syracuse - W, 36-29
- UNC - L, 21-48

The following ACC teams were on our original schedule but not played after rescheduling
- Louisville (3-7, 2-7 ACC, 1 game TBD)
- Clemson (9-1, 8-1 ACC, 1+ game TBD)
- Boston College (6-5, 5-5 ACC)

As can be seen, we went 4-1 against ACC teams that were originally on our schedule. So what about the other games? I think we can all agree that Clemson could be penciled in as a loss. Now, what about Louisville and BC? Comparative scores are messy and don't give a clear victor.

Luckily, we have technology. Football Outsiders F+ Rating combines a few different metrics to attempt to compare teams holistically. They ranked NC State as no. 55 in the nation (F+ of 0.20), Boston College as no. 60 (F+ of 0.15), and Louisville as no. 41 (0.37). While I think it's odd the metrics like Louisville so much, I can't disagree with the outcome of us splitting those two games.

So, if we had actually played the original conference, we'd be at 4-1 plus 1-2 = 5-3. Still a pretty respectable, but could be better

You could make the argument that a regular season with cupcake openers and more time to practice could have allowed us to get better prepared, but I think the same could be said about other teams too so it's sort of a moot point.

[Edited on December 7, 2020 at 1:25 AM. Reason : e]

12/7/2020 12:57:09 AM

Part of what separates this season for a lot of previous seasons for us is that we did so well in close games. 4-1 in one possession games. And the only loss was to a top 15 team. Maybe that’s partially luck. Maybe it’s a sign of leadership, confidence, better coaching, whatever. But that really seems to separate this year from a lot of other seasons where we maybe would’ve gone 2-3 or something like that in close games.

Also, I think we were 6-0 in games where we were favored (Wake, Duke, FSU, Liberty, Cuse, GT) and I think 2-3 as underdogs. Which is pretty good...taking care of business against teams we should beat and then stealing a couple of games that we weren’t “supposed” to win. Obviously it would’ve been nice to win that Miami game. Or in hindsight, that VT loss looks like one we would like to have back. And then we laid an egg vs UNC. This was a successful season. Especially so considering Leary’s injury and the roster being influx all season with covid and contact tracing. Also the team and staff deserve credit for maintaining motivation throughout the season. I think we’ve seen several teams basically throw in the towel this year and it would be easy to do so when your QB goes down and you get blown out by your rival and then lose a heartbreaker to Miami in the following week.

12/7/2020 7:57:08 AM

Given the crazy state of the world, it's hard to criticize this year's team too much. All the same, IMO this is the worst looking 8 win NCSU team I've ever seen play.

12/7/2020 11:53:52 AM

I disagree with that. We won 8 games vs 10 P5 opponents. That’s impressive. We didn’t play 3 OOC cupcakes and then go 4-4 in conference to have an inflated record. A 7-3 record vs ACC teams is impressive. I know we avoided Clemson and ND. But I don’t care. We beat all the bad teams on the schedule. We won most of the close/toss up games...that all seems like stuff past teams have struggled with.

It wasn’t always super pretty, some of the wins were ugly. I get what you mean, I think. But I think that’s a sign of improvement...if you can win without your fastball and win in other ways, that’s a sign of depth and talent across the roster. Our defense made significant strides this year and we leaned on the D to beat Liberty and GT. Hockman improved a ton over the year and helped us win games. Our WRs emerged as legit threats. I’m not saying we looked like a top 10 team. But I thought we looked pretty solid. Probably deserve to be ranked...but they chose to rank Liberty, 4-0 Buffalo (who didn’t even play this week), and 2-0 Wiscy over us lol.

[Edited on December 7, 2020 at 12:23 PM. Reason : A]

12/7/2020 12:21:40 PM

^^That is just nonsense. We are a first down away from being 9-2 with a win over a top ten team. And played over half the the season with Bailey Hockman at QB. Dude is getting little credit, but he improved a TON. I bashed him as well.

You could argue we would have done BETTER with the original schedule:

09/02 – at Louisville - likely W
09/12 – Mississippi State - likely W (at least favored). They are 2-6.
09/19 – at Troy - W
09/26 – Delaware - W
10/03 – Florida State - W
10/10 – Duke -W
10/17 – at Clemson - L
10/31 – Wake Forest - W
11/07 – Boston College - Likely W again favored
11/14 – at Syracuse - W
11/21 – Liberty - W
11/27 – at North Carolina - L

[Edited on December 7, 2020 at 1:15 PM. Reason : ^Wisconsin is 2-2 and ahead of us. ]

12/7/2020 1:13:54 PM

Yeah ^ that was a typo, meant to say 2-2 Wiscy.

12/7/2020 2:01:39 PM

Payton Wilson dislocated both of his shoulders in the first half, kept playing (albeit only 53 of 84 snapes). Was named ACC linebacker of the week.

12/7/2020 2:22:48 PM

Not sure where to put thia but lol at Satterfield trying to get everyone two hate him. A true clown.

Quote :

"Satterfield talking about balancing commitments and how players and coaches are different. Says players are there and don’t have family. Coaches have families to consider. Players have to be “all in” Coaches have a career to consider"

12/7/2020 7:38:27 PM

I’m sure lots of coaches feel the same way. The players are just a product to sell/entertain. But at least those other coaches aren’t dumb enough to say that shit out loud.

Satterfield is having himself a hell of a few days. Openly admitting to talking to SC and then deciding against taking the job. Again...lots of coaches flirt with job openings. But you don’t openly admit to interviewing during a bye week.

12/7/2020 8:58:44 PM

^^^that's incredible.

Going back to my comment...I'm saying we look horrible while winning. Especially our last 3 games. 14 penalties against Liberty (makes the win even more impressive I guess) and then barely scraping by 2 teams with a combined 3 wins.

12/8/2020 8:56:15 AM

It wasn’t pretty. But finding ways to win while not playing your A game is a huge improvement for us.

12/8/2020 9:14:18 AM

Giglio always seems to be on point with bowl stuff:

Quote :

"Won't be official until Sunday but you can pencil in NC State to the Gator Bowl on Jan. 2 in Jacksonville, Fla. and Wake Forest to the Duke's Mayo Bowl in Charlotte on Dec. 30. The SEC is the opponent in the Gator Bowl. Ole Miss, Auburn or Mizzou are in play. The Big Ten is the opponent in the Duke's Mayo Bowl. Penn State, Mich State, Rutgers and Maryland are in play. The "other side" is not my speciality but I'd guess it's State-Ole Miss and Wake-PSU"

12/17/2020 3:00:05 PM

Least want Ole Miss. That sounds like a nightmare.

12/17/2020 3:09:28 PM

I don't want to play Auburn. Congrats on your great season, now you get to play a team that just fired their coach! What a great matchup!

Don't really care though because third tier bowl games are all the same really.

12/17/2020 4:49:24 PM

Mizzou would be fun/interesting with playing Drink.

Auburn would be boring because they fired their coach and lean on defense. So...snooze fest 21-17 game.

Ole miss might hang 50 on us but at least we might hang 50 on them...so I change my mind. Ole Miss would be fun.

12/17/2020 6:59:18 PM

Kentucky is the bowl opponent. They have a really good defense. Probably in for a boring game.

But whatever.

12/20/2020 4:23:51 PM

I was hoping for a rare big12 or Pac12 matchup. Would've been the perfect year to face Oregon, USC, Texas, OkST or some team like that. There is nothing worse than playing a middle of the road SEC team

12/20/2020 4:41:23 PM

Yes, it would have been nice to play the PAC12 champion.

12/20/2020 5:16:39 PM

^^ I don’t think there was any way it was gonna be a pac 12 opponent. It was always gonna be an SEC opponent in this game. Or B1G in the Duke’s Mayo bowl.

12/20/2020 6:14:19 PM

I'll go ahead and say it. If we lose to a 4-6 kentucky team in a third rate bowl game, just fire Doeren on the spot.

12/20/2020 6:16:07 PM

We open as 3 point underdogs. Kentucky has beaten all the bad teams on their schedule (Miss St, Vandy, Tennessee [sup jibbles], SCar). Lost to all the decent teams.

12/20/2020 6:46:58 PM

I hope this abomination of a matchup gets cancelled due to virus precautions, but no one gets Covid.

12/20/2020 9:08:20 PM

PackPride was already saying "this may be your best chance to see a game" as if FL doesn't have enough covid already

12/21/2020 12:58:43 AM

I laughed at KY's record at first and then looked at their schedule and it didn't seem quite as bad.

Their losses (rankings at time of game):
#1 Alabama
#5 Georgia
#6 Florida
#8 Auburn
Mizzou
Ole Miss

12/21/2020 9:19:31 AM

LMAO @ #8 Auburn.

It's like B1G using Penn State's ranking when they beat them.

12/21/2020 9:36:04 AM

^Yeah, I know, that's why I pointed that out. Still not as bad as I thought when I saw 4-6

12/21/2020 9:43:18 AM

Kentucky is easily a better team than 3-3 Wisconsin, who I've seen a bunch of people on the internet bitching about because they think we should be playing them in the Mayo Bowl instead. Of course these same people think the Gator Bowl is somehow more prestigious than that bowl as well, despite the fact it hasn't been worth a shit in 15 years.

12/21/2020 12:13:38 PM

I mean, later date = better bowl isn't an entirely flawed way of thinking. When we played TAMU 2 years ago that *could* have been a good bowl matchup if 3 of our stars didn't opt out and Finley was actually able to shoulder the team as we'd hoped

12/21/2020 3:55:14 PM

The gator hasn't had a matchup of ranked teams in 15 years. There is nothing about it that makes it a "better" bowl now. It's just a third tier bowl for middling ACC teams and the bottom of the barrel SEC teams

12/21/2020 6:12:29 PM

set em up

12/26/2020 11:35:57 PM