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Week two of the college football season is here, and there are a lot of great matchups lined up for Saturday. One of the best games of the week is the Duke's Mayo Classic between NC State football and Tennessee. The Wolfpack and Volunteers both got wins in week one, and they are both currently ranked inside the top-25. Saturday's matchup is going to be a lot of fun.
Both of these team are coming into this game with high hopes for the season, and whoever comes out on top is going to be feeling very good. With the new expanded College Football Playoff, there is a much better chance for teams like NC State and Tennessee to make it. However, a loss in week two is not how you want to get things started. One team is going to be feeling good after a huge non-conference win, and the other will have their backs against the wall just two weeks into the season. This is a huge game.
Before we get more into this matchup, let's take a deeper look into both Tennessee and NC State and where they are at heading into this matchup and also the 2024 season.
Tennessee football is a sleeper in the SEC
Because of how loaded the SEC is, there aren't very many people talking about the Tennessee football team, and that might be a good thing for the Volunteers. Tennessee has a very proud fan base that went a long time without any big success, but the past couple of years have been much better. The 2022 season was especially a good one for the Volunteers as they ended up winning 11 games. They narrowly missed out on going to the College Football Playoff because of an upset loss late in the season, but they beat Alabama, and they got to double digit wins. It was a good year.
Last year wasn't as good as 2022, but it was still a solid season for Tennessee as they went 9-4. Now, the Volunteers are about to start the 2024 season, and not really anyone is talking about them in terms of an SEC contender. People are talking about Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss, Missouri and Oklahoma, but not a lot of folks are talking about Tennessee. The Volunteers are flying under the radar, and that's a good thing.
Tennessee has a new quarterback this season in Nico Iamaleava, and he looked very good in week one against Chattanooga. This team could surprise a lot of people. No one is expecting them to win the SEC, but they could absolutely make a push for the conference crown and the College Football Playoff.
The Volunteers easily took care of business last week against Chattanooga as they won the game 69-3. Obviously, that wasn't a very tough opponent, and things will be much more difficult this week, but they did what they needed to. They dominated a lesser team exactly how everyone expected them to. Now, Tennessee is hoping to improve to 2-0 with a win over NC State.
NC State is a contender in the ACC
Now that we know that Florida State isn't very good, the ACC looks wide open, and the NC State football team is certainly a contender for the conference crown. The Wolfpack's biggest threats are Miami and probably Clemson as well. The Hurricanes looked very good against Florida over the weekend, but it's hard to tell how good the Tigers are after their blowout loss against Georgia.
This really could be the year that NC State breaks through. They have a ton of production back from last year which is huge, and they aren't in a good conference. The recipe is there to make a run.
Wolfpack fans have been waiting for an opportunity like this for awhile. NC State has had some solid teams in past years and they have had some big wins, but they haven't really been able to put everything together for an entire season. Could this be the year that they finally do?
One thing is for sure, we are going to find out a lot about this NC State football team when they play Tennessee this weekend. The Volunteers are a very good team, and if the Wolfpack can beat them, we will know that they are legit.
The Wolfpack struggled at times during their week one win against Western Carolina. NC State was down 14-7 after the first quarter, and it was a four-point game going into the fourth before the Wolfpack turned on the jets to earn a 38-21 win.
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NC State will need to play better to beat Tennessee. Here are three predictions for Saturday's big game:
Grayson McCall will throw for 250 yards and two touchdowns
This game is going to feature a great quarterback battle as Grayson McCall will be going up against Nico Iamaleava. Both QBs are capable of putting up big numbers, so so we should see a good show.
Grayson McCall had over 300 yards passing last week and he threw three touchdown passes. He won't be able to do that against Tennessee, but he will still have a good game.
Nico Iamaleava will throw for 300+ yards and three or more touchdowns
Nico Iamaleava is going to have the better day and he will be able to find a way to have success against this NC State defense. He also had over 300 yards passing last weekend and three touchdown passes, and he is going to do it again this weekend as well. Iamaleava could end being one of the best QBs in college football this season.
Tennessee will win by 10 or more points
This should be a pretty good football game, but Tennessee will end up pulling away for a comfortable win. This is a good NC State football team, but they aren't quite on Tennessee's level right now. Still, they will get better throughout the year and they can definitely contend for the ACC crown.
NC State and Tennessee will kickoff from Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina at 7:30 ET on Saturday night. The game will be airing on ABC, and the Volunteers are currently favored by eight points.
