5/18/2018 football Edit

Four game times announced for NC State football

Matt Carter • TheWolfpackCentral

Editor

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The first two games will be noon and 12:30 kickoffs respectively. (Ken Martin/The Wolfpacker)

It will be a couple of early kickoffs to start the 2019 season for NC State football.

The opener against James Madison Sept. 1 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh will be a noon start and televised by ESPNU. One week later, NC State will host Georgia State at 12:30 on RSN. The marquee non-conference matchup on the slate, a home date with West Virginia coming to Raleigh on Sept. 15, will be a 3:30 kickoff and televised nationally be either ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.

Additionally, the Nov. 8 game on Thursday night at Carter-Finley Stadium against Wake Forest will be a primetime affair on ESPN, starting at 7:30.

James Madison has been a FCS powerhouse in recent seasons, going 14-1 each of the past two campaigns and playing for the national title both years. It won the championship in 2016 before dropping a competitive 17-13 affair to North Dakota State last December.

Georgia State went 7-5 a year ago and won its first ever bowl game by defeating Western Kentucky 27-17 in the AutoNation Cure Bowl at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla.

West Virginia has been considered by some a potential preseason top 25 team after going 7-6 a year ago, falling to Utah in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. The Mountaineers will be led by Charlotte native quarterback Will Grier, who like NCSU sixth-year senior Ryan Finley will be considered one of the top NFL draft prospects at the position.

NC State and West Virginia have played 10 times before with each team winning five games.

Wake Forest defeated NC State last season, 30-24 in Winston-Salem, in a game that is most well known for the Pack then-rookie receiver Emeka Emezie fumbling as he was about to cross the goal line for what could have been a go-ahead touchdown in the final minutes of the game. The Deacs finished the season 8-5 and won a thrilling Belk Bowl in Charlotte over Texas A&M, 55-52.

The Wolfpack is hoping to build off its 9-4 campaign that included a bowl win over Arizona State in the Hyundai Sun Bowl and a final top-25 finish in the polls for the first time since 2010.