The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1543694
TRACKING THE PACK 12 ■ THE WOLFPACKER NC State's Upcoming Football Schedule Unveiled NC State's 2026 football schedule was released by the ACC on Jan. 26. While the next batch of opponents had already been known, the Wolfpack learned the complete order of games going into next season. The Pack will open the season against Virginia in Rio De Janeiro on Aug. 29, as previously announced. The trip to Brazil will be followed by the first of two open dates during the traditional Week 1 of the calendar. NC State will play Richmond (Sept. 12), at Vanderbilt (Sept. 19) and Ap- palachian State (Sept. 26) to round out the nonconference schedule. Following its out-of-ACC slate, Dave Doeren's squad will play host to Louis- ville (Oct. 3) and Wake Forest (Oct. 10) before reaching its second open date. Af- ter that, NC State will play six consecutive weeks to close the regular season. The stretch begins with a road trip to Stanford (Oct. 23 or 24), followed by a return to Carter-Finley Stadium for games against Cal (Oct. 30 or 31), Duke (Nov. 6 or 7) and Syracuse (Nov. 14). The Pack will finish the 2026 regular season with back-to- back road games at Florida State (Nov. 21) and North Carolina (Nov. 28). All told, NC State has reason to feel good about its slate. It avoids ACC pow- ers Clemson and Miami, and it won't face Georgia Tech or SMU, either. The Wolf- pack has a chance to earn 10 wins for just the second time in program history, and doing so could position the squad for the 12-team College Football Playoff at the end of the year. NC State, South Carolina Scrap Nonconference Series With both the ACC and SEC moving to nine-game conference schedules for the 2026 season and beyond, NC State continues to lose marquee home-and- home matchups. Games against Florida slated for the 2026 and '32 seasons were called off in October 2024, and dates with Georgia in 2033 and '34 were scrapped this past December. Now, South Carolina is falling by the wayside, too. NC State had been scheduled to face the Gamecocks in Columbia in 2030, with a return trip slated for Carter-Finley Sta- dium in 2031. The two teams mutually agreed to cancel the games, according to a document obtained by The Wolfpacker via an open records request. The cancellation letter, which was dated Dec. 17, 2025, was sent by South Carolina athletics director Jeremiah Donati and later signed by his NC State counterpart Boo Corrigan. According to the terms of the communication, neither team is required to pay the $500,000 in damages for the cancellation of the two games since it was a "mutual" decision. With this latest move, NC State's only upcoming SEC opponent will be Vander- bilt. That two-game series begins on Sept. 19 in Nashville, Tenn. The Com- modores are scheduled to make the return trip to Raleigh on Sept. 16, 2028. NC State will be looking for a Power Four nonconference opponent to play in 2030. Charlotte is the only opponent presently locked in for that campaign. In 2031, a road trip to Notre Dame will satisfy the ACC's requirement that all its teams face a Power Four opponent outside of league play. Jerry Deng Taking Redshirt Year NC State junior forward Jerry Deng will redshirt the remainder of the 2025-26 season, Wolfpack coach Will Wade an- nounced in late January. Deng, who dealt with a groin injury earlier this season, is working through several situations that prompted both sides to decide that it was best for him to sit the rest of the year, Wade said. "He's got some off-the-court things going on. He's got some medical stuff go- ing on," Wade said. "We met with him and his camp, and we all felt like that would be the best course of action for him. He's got a lot of things he's working through." NC State now has three players red- shirting this season. Freshman forward Mikey Wilkins and freshman guard Jayme Kontuniemi have not appeared in a game this season, with their decisions being made before the campaign began. Deng, a Florida State transfer, played in eight games with the Pack this season, averaging 6.1 points and 2.1 rebounds on 34.8 percent shooting in 12.6 minutes. He is set to have two seasons of eligibility to use moving forward. — Noah Fleischman ■ RED AND WHITE NOTEBOOK Carter-Finley Stadium will play host to seven games during the 2026 season. The Pack went 6-1 on its home field last year. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS 2026 NC State Football Schedule Date Opponent Location Aug. 29 vs. Virginia Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Sept. 5 Bye — Sept. 12 RICHMOND Raleigh Sept. 19 at Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn. Sept. 26 APPALACHIAN STATE Raleigh Oct. 3 LOUISVILLE Raleigh Oct. 10 WAKE FOREST Raleigh Oct. 17 Bye — Oct. 23/24 at Stanford* Palo Alto, Calif. Oct. 30/31 CALIFORNIA* Raleigh Nov. 6/7 DUKE* Raleigh Nov. 14 SYRACUSE Raleigh Nov. 21 at Florida State Tallahassee, Fla. Nov. 28 at UNC Chapel Hill, N.C. * Date TBD