The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1525890
32 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY TIM PEELER ith NC State prepar- ing for a rare early- s e a s o n s p o t l i g h t g a m e , a n t i c i p a - tion is growing for Wolfpack football to break through on the national scene the same way multiple other sports have done during the 2024 calendar year. Head coach Dave Doeren and his team will face nonconference foe Tennessee on Sept. 7 in the Duke's Mayo Classic at Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium, pitting a pair of teams ranked in pre- season polls from neighboring states that rarely face each other, even though the four-game "rivalry" goes back to the be- ginning of the sport, at least for NC State. On Nov. 7, 1893, the Volunteers were the first college team to face the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts after debuting the sport earlier in the year in a game against the Raleigh Male Academy, a cross-town preparatory school. Tennessee made a swing through North Carolina that year, playing four games in five days against North Carolina, Trin- ity (now Duke), Wake Forest and A&M. They lost all four games, badly: 60-0 in Chapel Hill on Friday, 70-0 in Durham on Saturday (a game called after just one 30-minute half), 64-0 in Wake Forest on Monday and 12-6 to A&M at Athletic Park near downtown Raleigh on Tuesday. The season was so humiliating that Tennessee shut down its varsity football program for the next two years, playing the equivalent of a club schedule against neighborhood opponents. W The Pack's matchup against Notre Dame in 2016 was played in the midst of Hurricane Matthew. The two teams combined to throw for 95 yards, but NC State running back Matt Dayes (21) rushed for 134 yards, and quarterback Jalan McClendon added 56 yards on the ground in a 10-3 victory. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS NONCONFERENCE NONCONFERENCE CALL CALL NC State Has Earned Some Of Its Biggest Wins When It Has Ventured Beyond The Confines Of The ACC