NC State’s fan support propels Pack into Belk Bowl

In the middle of the afternoon of the bowl selection Sunday LAST SEASON, NC State was preparing for a trip to Charlotte to participate in the Belk Bowl. Then Notre Dame snagged a bowl berth reserved for the ACC and Louisville knocked the Wolfpack out of the slot and into the Bitcoin Bowl in St. Petersburg, FL.

This season, the same ACC selection rules that worked against State have served to help the Wolfpack snag that exact bowl slot they lost last year as NC State will be playing in the 2015 Belk Bowl in Charlotte on December 30th against a team from the SEC that is highly speculated to be Mississippi State. State last played in the Belk bowl in 2011 when Mike Glennon and TJ Graham led the Wolfpack to a solid win over Charlie Strong’s emerging Louisville program.

For weeks, the accepted line of thinking was that the Belk Bowl, if possible, would choose Virginia Tech as their ACC selection so as to feature Frank Beamer in his last game as the Hokies head coach. One problem with that scenario was that the Belk Bowl ultimately couldn’t choose Virginia Tech because Pittsburgh is effectively ‘protected’ to be selected ahead of VPI in any scenario.

The way the rules work, a 6 win ACC team can only be selected once all of the 8 win teams have been selected; but, a 7 win team (Louisville or NC State) CAN be selected in the same tier with the 8 win teams. With that said, there is no way for a bowl to select 6-6 Virginia Tech over an 8-4 Pittsburgh…and, the Belk Bowl had Louisville last season. So, that left the Belk Bowl with a decision between Pittsburgh and NC State. Given that choice, there was little doubt that the Belk Bowl would select the program that packs their stadium for every game and will bring about ten times the number of fans than the other program.

Whether you like it or not, NC State’s weak non-conference schedule absolutely worked to our advantage this year. I love the masterful work done by our administration!


This tweet embodies the point/position that we espoused last year when things didn’t go quite as rosy for NC State

Link to the N&O’s article

N.C. State is going back to the Belk Bowl.

The Wolfpack (7-5) will play Mississippi State (8-4) in the Charlotte bowl game on Dec. 30 (3:30 p.m, ESPN). It is the third trip to this bowl game and first since 2011 for N.C. State.

“We are both excited and thankful for the opportunity to play instate at the Belk Bowl in the great city of Charlotte,” N.C. State coach Dave Doeren said in a statement released by the school. “This is a great reward for our young team that has continued to improve over the course of the season.”

N.C. State won the Belk Bowl in 2011, 31-24 over Louisville, and beat South Florida, 14-0, in 2005 when it was called the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

N.C. State is playing in the postseason for the fifth time in six years. It has won three of its past four bowl games and has a 1-0 record under Doeren (a 34-27 win over Central Florida in the St. Petersburg Bowl last year).

The Wolfpack and Bulldogs have met in a bowl game twice before: 1994 in the Peach Bowl, a 28-24 N.C. State win, and the 1963 Liberty Bowl, a 16-12 Mississippi State win.

The Bulldogs went 4-4 in the SEC West and 4-0 outside the SEC. Their only losses this season have been to ranked teams.

N.C. State finished 3-5 in the ACC for the second straight year and swept through a weak nonconference schedule.

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Home Forums NC State’s fan support propels Pack into Belk Bowl

Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 74 total)
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  • #94289
    StateFans
    Keymaster

    In the middle of the afternoon of the bowl selection Sunday LAST SEASON, NC State was preparing for a trip to Charlotte to participate in the Belk Bow
    [See the full post at: NC State’s fan support propels Pack into Belk Bowl]

    #94290
    Fastback68
    Participant

    One year too late. I had to eat Georgia bulldog tickets last December.

    #94291
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    Awesome. I’ll be there.

    #94293
    Pack78
    Participant

    Opponent is Miss St.-hope that they can’t bring those #*%@ cowbells into the stadium-Carrie Underwood is the featured performer-we will have a large group there!

    #94294
    pack_time
    Participant

    Talked to one of my friends at auburn who’s a recruiting assistant, he is not sure but he believes that Auburn is coming to Charlotte.

    #94296
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    It is confirmed that our opponent is Miss State. 12/30 at 3:30pm.

    #94297
    Fastback68
    Participant

    Dirty Dozen, ACC North side, wear ear protection for cowbell

    #94301
    mak4dpak
    Participant

    Great news! I was dreading a trip to Annapolis, thinking we were ruled out for the Belk bowl. Now it is time to go win a bowl game.

    #94302
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    I’m grateful we play a legit opponent and get another chance for a statement win.

    #94303
    Wufpacker
    Participant

    #94305
    TheCOWDOG
    Moderator

    Oooh…Shades of Starkville, and a precurssor of matchups to come.

    #94306
    john of sparta
    Participant

    a lower mid-pack SEC against us.
    we will find out how far we have to go.

    #94307
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    Don’t think it would qualify as a statement win necessarily (unranked and T-5th in their division at .500), but should be a fun and competitive game nonetheless.

    #94308
    Heelh8r
    Participant

    a lower mid-pack SEC against us.

    Haha wonder what they are saying about us??
    I think a win would be a pretty important statement in representing the ACC in a tier 1 bowl, beating the almighty SEC, and show that we can compete with P-5 conference teams that are not bottom dwellers. All of our confidence has to be shaken after that unspeakable debacle of our last game.

    #94309
    Adventuroo
    Participant

    Probably NOT the place for this….but feel the need for it to be brought up.

    If you were in Kenan on October 9, 2004, you saw a call that will live forever in infamy. Jim Knight (the Ref that died there the year before and was recessitated) ruled TA’s Knee was DOWN…and the #25 Pack fell. A year or so later, Woody Durham quipped….”Wonder where TA is now…or TA’s listening to this in Albermarle….” or some other classless comments.

    What goes around…..comes around. Last night to a pack HOUSE that was only 25 – 30% BLUE, an official made a judgement error. If you look at the photos and the videos, he did NOT see but ONE “body” near the far side of the field AND assumed it was one player. When the man to the right of the kicker broke to the near side (as in a pulling guard), he called offsides….as he thought there were only 3 men (remaining) to the right of the kicker PRIOR to the kick.

    SO, now, UNC knows how it feels.

    I for one, plan on a little adult beverage tonight and will salute TA. He has done been avenged.

    What is MORE laughable is the Orlando Bowl that UNC is going to. For those of you that DID not go the Citrus Bowl in the late 90’s or early 2000’s when Chucky took us to Orlando….let me give you MY recollection. Great Hotel….Good Weather…..plenty of hot honey’s in bikini’s sunning their white bodies….good pep rally….good entertainment. LOUSY STADIUM and VENUE.

    We did not travel with the WPC as the hotel was too high…BUT, the Hotel was booking and my travel agent got us discount rooms….NICE Pool Side (no binoculars needed). We talked to the WPC and the Charter Bus operators sold us tickets for the bus ride to and back from the Stadium. There was an Alumni meal there. GOOD.

    BUT, on the way, we rode through the sleaziest parts of Orlando. Ladies of the evening plying their trade and showing their wares at 4:30. Barkers out promoting the Totally NUDE Adult Clubs (OK, Orlando DOES have some good attractions)…..and there were bars and dives on either side of the street. The elderly (he was 82….not a LIE….82) bus driver said if there was a breakdown, he would call the police and then a tow truck….

    The Stadium was OLD….it reminded me of the UAB (Birmingham) stadium. NOT an NFL venue. Rest rooms were the pits and the potty parity was so off scale that my wife stood in line for 15 minutes to pee and she said she was about to perch on the seat as the commode was somewhere that HER bottom was not gonna sit…

    THAT, my wuffie friends, is where UNC is going and I am happy for them….they are getting what they richly deserve.

    BUT, make no bones about it….they are 11 – 2 and we ain’t even CLOSE…but we DO get to go to a nice venue and will be there with the GK’s.

    GO PACK….good SHOW…need to win one for TA…

    #94310
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    No, the Cowbells are plenty good. They went into the Egg Bowl playing for basically the SEC’s “#2 seed” overall (they lost). After Bama and Johnny Reb, their resume is as good as anyone else’s in the league. Beat Pig Sooey on the road next to last week of the season.

    #94311
    blpack
    Participant

    Another team who is about like we are, maybe a little better. Great chance for the Pack to get a W and end the season on a high note. I like our chances.

    #94312
    Zaphod
    Participant

    LOL…I was at the ’94 Peach Bowl, in the official NCSU administration section, but somebody sold their tickets to the seats right beside me to a Mississippi State fan and his son. I was all I could do to keep from grabbing those damn cowbells and crushing them. Glad we won that game…

    #94313
    Wufpacker
    Participant

    LOL…I was at the ’94 Peach Bowl, in the official NCSU administration section, but somebody sold their tickets to the seats right beside me to a Mississippi State fan and his son. I was all I could do to keep from grabbing those damn cowbells and crushing them. Glad we won that game…

    Anyone who was there will never forget that sound in the enclosed dome.

    #94315
    PackerInRussia
    Participant

    Simple way to keep the cowbells out. Miss St. fans have to leave their wives outside the stadium.

    #94316
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    Just like us, the Bulldogs lack any kind of signature win. Their best was a 51-50 win over 7-5 Arkansas a couple of weeks ago. They played LSU very tough in a 21-19 loss the second game of the year. I see this as being a very close and physical contest. A win hopefully can give us some confidence heading into what is a much more difficult schedule next year.

    #94317
    AsheWolf
    Participant

    The Bulldawgs finished the season ranked #25 by Sagarin and they played the 28th toughest SOS. We finished at #47 and played the 66th SOS. They are ranked ahead of Louisville (35) and VaTech (46). It will take a very good game for us to win.

    #94318
    ryebread
    Participant

    Winnable? Yes. Likely? No. Take Miss State and the points. We’re not going to match up well in this one.

    I’d have much rather bowled down with a chance to build some momentum going into recruiting season.

    #94319
    Rick
    Keymaster

    Just like us, the Bulldogs lack any kind of signature win. Their best was a 51-50 win over 7-5 Arkansas a couple of weeks ago. They played LSU very tough in a 21-19 loss the second game of the year. I see this as being a very close and physical contest. A win hopefully can give us some confidence heading into what is a much more difficult schedule next year.

    So they have beaten a P5 team with a winning record. If we beat them it will be our first.

    #94320
    rthomas44
    Participant

    TA fumbled the ball at Ohio state as Rivers was leading a come from behind. He cost State more than one win.

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