College football preview magazines analyze NC State, part II

Every summer, college football preview magazines hit the shelves in grocery stores nationwide for rabid fans hungry to know how their team will fare in the upcoming season.

Despite a fall college football season being very much in question, the preview magazines haven't missed a beat. Now that the Phil Steele, Athlon, Street & Smith's and Lindy's Sports have all been released, here is part two of our NC State-focused review of the big four preseason college football magazines:

Predicted ACC finish

Preseason ACC polls

NC State's projected finish in the Atlantic Division of the ACC

Publication	Standing in Atlantic

Phil Steele	4
Lindy's	6
Athlon	5
Street and Smith's	6

The Wolfpack rate the highest overall in the eyes of Phil Steele with his preseason ranking of NC State at fourth in the Atlantic. Of course, with the uncertainty of the upcoming season combined with the likely schedule changes that are to come, it's safe to assume the ACC will find another solution outside of the division structure in determining the conference standings this fall.

With Street and Smith's and Lindy's low on the Wolfpack in 2020, Athlon finds itself in the middle ground in terms of NC State's predicted conference standing. Interestingly, all four publications have Syracuse and Boston College ranked in the bottom three of the division with NC State (except Phil Steele, where the Pack is predicted to finish fourth).

Bowl Projections

Publication	Bowl	Opponent

Athlon	Gasparilla Bowl	Tulane
Street and Smith's	N/A	N/A
Lindy's	No Bowl	N/A

With a predicted finish of 6-6 overall, Athlon had the Wolfpack facing an American Athletic Conference opponent in the Gasparilla Bowl which is played in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa (Fla.), home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Phil Steele also has the Wolfpack back in a bowl game, presumably one more prestigious than the bid NC State would receive with a .500 record.

Due to technical difficulties with the digital publication, The Wolfpacker will post the specific bowl projection and opponent later this morning.

Notably, Phil Steele has the Wolfpack ranked No. 4 nationally in the publication's "Most Improved List for 2020". The magazine also placed NC State in its bull market for over/under win totals suggesting the over will hit in Las Vegas's five-win expectation for the Pack.

In the magazine's 49 all-time selections for the bull market among predicted five-win teams, the team went on to exceed five wins 37 times which translates to 79.6 percent.