Well, we are one week into the season and here I sit at .500 (2-2) in my predictions. NC State and Wake dominated their opponents which had me feeling pretty optimistic about my predictions. I honestly thought things were looking like a clean sweep but UNC and Duke hit early season snags. The good news however, is that I see one of these two teams bouncing back in week 2, the other not so much. Who is the question. Check out my Four Points of a Triangle Week 2 edition to see just how right, or wrong I will be.
North Carolina A&T @ Duke (Friday Sept. 10th – 8 pm)
Both the Aggies and Blue Devils had tough week 1 losses. North Carolina A&T were taken advantage of by the Furman passing attack while Duke lost a closing seconds heartbreaker on the road at Charlotte. Both teams had their positive moments but neither had enough to pull out the victory. So what will happen when these two teams face each other this week? I think it comes down to how well each clubs quarterback plays and how each teams secondary defends. Duke’s Gunnar Holmberg looked good against Charlotte and kept Duke in the game to the very end but late in the game he looked to force the ball into tight windows, and while he didn’t throw any picks he easily could have and taken his team out of the game. On the flip side, the Aggies Jalen Fowler was less accurate than Holmberg but he used his feet way more. In A&T’s week 1 loss, Fowler had the second most rushing attempts and yards. As for the secondary’s, they both gave up over 300 passing yards to their opponents last week, so this area needs to vastly improve if either team wants to get a victory this week. In the end, I am going to go with the upset for this one. I think that Jalen Fowler can use his ability to run the ball to outplay Holmberg and look for the Aggies secondary to get a vital stop or turnover. Finally, I think that the X-factor in this game is that North Carolina A&T views this as a rivalry game while Duke most likely does not. The Aggies will be up for this one and hope to knock off a Power 5 program while Duke will need to self-motivate to beat an FCS school. The Blue & Gold Marching Band will be playing a joyous song as the Aggies pull off the upset in Durham.
Prediction: North Carolina A&T 27, Duke 23
Norfolk State @ Wake Forest (Saturday Sept. 11th – 12pm)
This one is short and sweet to me, on paper at least. The Demon Deacons offense took it to Old Dominion last week while the Wake defense was able to get two interceptions and shut the Monarchs down. Conversely, Norfolk State struggled mightily on the road at Toledo and lost by 39. In short, Wake Forest hast too many playmakers on both sides of the ball for Norfolk State to be competitive in this one. Look for usual suspects on the WF roster (QB Sam Hartman, RB Christian Beal-Smith, WR Jaquarii Roberson, WR A.T. Perry, DL Jasheen Davis and DB Nasir Greer) to have a field day against the Spartans. Wake to win this one big.
Prediction: Norfolk State 7, Wake Forest 49
NC State @ Mississippi State (Saturday Sept. 11th – 7 pm)
This one has “fun” written all over it! The Wolfpack and Bulldogs both have an offense that can score points at will. Don’t be fooled by the opposite way these two teams won last week, NC State won in a purely dominate fashion while Mississippi State needed a late 4th quarter comeback to get the victory. Just as everyone expects, I see Devin Leary and Will Rogers both having big nights in Starkville. However, neither one of these quarterbacks is going to be the difference maker. I never thought I would say this in a game between these two teams but the difference maker is going to be which defensive unit can step up and get one more stop than the other. For that reason, I lean towards the Wolfpack. NC State’s linebackers, mainly Drake Thomas, Payton Wilson and Isiah Moore, will cause problems for the Mississippi State run game and eventually get to Will Rogers disrupting the Mike Leach air raid offense. Yes, I know there are expectations for the Wolfpack to live up to in this game, they are on the road at night and will be in the heart of SEC country. All of those reasons have me screaming at myself not to do it but for some reason I am any ways. I am going with Wolfpack to get the victory. Give me a late Christopher Dunn field goal to win it for the Pack.
Prediction: NC State 30, Mississippi State 28
Georgia State @ #24 North Carolina (Saturday Sept. 11th 7:30pm)
I would not want to be Georgia State in this one, especially after what Mack Brown had to say about his team after their week 1 loss at Virginia Tech. Coach Brown will have the Tar Heels motivated to play at their best in front of the home crowd at Kenan Memorial Stadium. I think we all can safely say that this week we will see the Sam Howell we expected to see last week. Also, after watching the Georgia State defense get pushed around last week by the Army run game, look to see a heavy dose of Ty Chandler from the Tar Heels. There isn’t much more to say other than Carolina is the better team here, they will just have to play like and should win this one big and hope to put their season on the right track after last week.
Prediction: Georgia State 13, North Carolina 45
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