NC State fans would watch their Wolfpack take on rival North Carolina in most anything where a score can be kept.

But Friday night’s wrestling dual between the No. 3 Wolfpack and 14 Tar Heels (6 p.m., ACC Network) has a much wider appeal.

It’s not just how last year’s dramatic match came down to the final 15 seconds of the final match and sent Reynolds Coliseum into a frenzy that had the entire wrestling world talking about what an electric atmosphere there was in Raleigh.

It’s not because five of the last seven duals have been decided by eight points or less (each individual bout is worth between three and six team points).

It’s not even that NC State will be going for history with its eighth straight win in the series, or that the Wolfpack holds the nation’s longest dual winning streak, currently at 21, dating back to the 2018-19 season.

The Wolfpack and Tar Heels’ showdown is one of the best wrestling duals in the country this weekend.

Both teams have national title contenders. And if both can wrestle their best lineups Friday night — no guarantee in the COVID world — the match could feature 15 wrestlers ranked among the top 13 nationally by one of the five major national polls … out of a possible 20.

That means five of the individual matches — half of the dual — could have wrestlers that fit those parameters facing off against one another. That makes those bouts in particular tossups where the favorite on paper may depend upon which "paper" you’re looking at (more on that later).

That’s on top of all the clichés that go along with rivalry games and throwing out said paper.

“There are some key matchups that are going to be barn-burners and will play a key role in the overall outcomes of the dual meet,” head coach Pat Popolizio said. “We’ve got to be ready to win those key matchups. From start to finish, we need high intensity and focus.”

It’s the second step of a three-week grinder that features consecutive conference matches against No. 12 Pitt, No. 14 North Carolina and No. 8 Virginia Tech, all broadcast nationally on ACC Network. Each of the three are ranked among the nation’s top 14 in the most recent national coaches poll, and in a true sign of respect the Panthers didn’t even drop from their No. 12 spot after the Pack dominated them last week in a 27-6 victory.

“I think the higher the level of competition we wrestle, the better we’ll compete,” Popolizio said. “Guys know they have to be on their A game with the elite competition, so I think we’ll see more and more of that.

“We’re thankful to actually just put on shoes and a singlet and compete with outside competition, let alone have these crazy, intense matches we’re going to get. One week is down, two more to go.

"It's crazy because the noise isn't there [in empty arenas], but there are times the intensity still gets pretty high. I think we're still going to see that and feel that."

Because of all the excellent matchups, we stray from our usual notebook items to go in depth exclusively on this dual’s possible matches below:

In April 2019, Tagg beat Camacho 11-10 in a wild, controversial finish at the U.S. Open.

But freestyle wrestling is different than folkstyle, and it's also worth noting Camacho is a completely different wrestler since then. He's a consensus top-10 veteran college wrestler now and has been one of the Pack’s most dominant this year. But that just shows that despite how the rankings look on paper, it's not out of the question that this could be a tight one.

Hernandez is ranked higher than Trombley, who he beat twice last year — 1-0 in the dual and 7-2 at the ACC Championships — but doesn’t appear in all five polls. Teammate Gabe Tagg is ranked instead of Hernandez in two of the listings, but Hernandez is listed on the probables.

Trombley is coming off a 4-2 loss to No. 5 Micky Phillippi, but it was by far his best performance of the year. Meanwhile, Hernandez has wrestled only once this year, and it was in UNC's extra matches versus Gardner-Webb.

This is a rematch from last year’s ACC championship bout, and there aren’t many competitors more familiar with each other than these two. Wilson beat Sherman the first four times they wrestled in college, but Sherman turned the tables in the most recent meeting and won 5-4 in controversial fashion to claim ACC gold.

Like Trombley, Wilson is coming off his top performance of the season, a tie-breaker win over Cole Matthews, a top 20-ranked wrestler. The result here will be huge for seeding at the ACC Championships.

The true freshman Scott has wrestled well enough to crack a few of the national rankings.

However, they don’t get much tougher than O’Connor, a near-consensus No. 1 in the land. He placed third at NCAAs in 2019 and went 25-1 last season en route to earning the No. 2 seed at NCAAs. He also earned bonus points in 15 of his 25 wins a year ago.

As dominant as O’Connor has been in his college career, Hidlay has been even better. He’s never lost to an ACC foe, made the NCAA finals as a redshirt freshman and is 83-6 overall, including wins in 33 of his last 34 matches.

Bullard, the fifth-year Wolfpack senior, earned the No. 10 seed for the NCAA Championships but got off to a rough 2-2 start this year, including losses in each of the first two duals. However, he turned that around and beat his highest-rated opponent of the year last week, defending ACC champion Jake Wentzel.

Monday was one win away from All-America honors as a redshirt freshman, when he took out the No. 2 seed in the first round, and had a dominant 21-6 win over Virginia Tech four-time All-American David McFadden last year, showing what he’s capable of at his best. But he and Bullard have never wrestled in college.

The two are opposites on the mat, with Monday a dangerous neutral wrestler with incredible length, while Bullard is one of the hardest to secure a takedown against with his superior scrambling.

“That’s one a lot of people want to see how it plays out with their clash of styles,” Popolizio said. “That’d be a big win team-wise; we need to win there.”

That is not a typo, there are five options listed for the Tar Heels at 174 and 184. On paper, the expectation may be Kane — who has not wrestled yet this year but was one win shy of All-America honors at this weight in 2019 before missing last season due to injury. Both he and Lautt seem like legitimate options.

Bullard posted a pair of dominant wins over Kane in 2019, but Kane went deeper at the NCAA Championships that year. Bullard split with Lautt last year, and Lautt had the most recent win, topping Bullard en route to his ACC title.

Kane is currently rated higher than Bullard by four of the five outlets, but it's likely to be competitive, whether it's Kane or Lautt.

Lautt — who earned the No. 14 seed for NCAAs last year at 174 — started at 184 last week against Duke.

Hidlay looks to be back at full speed after his emergency appendectomy — this will be his third match since that surgery, and his last prior to facing No. 2 Hunter Bolen of Virginia Tech next weekend.

After Trumble posted a dominant 6-1 win over No. 5 Nino Bonaccorsi last week, he broke into the national rankings. Now the Pack has quite the decision to make on who to start.

Trumble detailed on this week’s #PackMentality Pop-Ins Podcast how he’s the normal college freshman that plans to be in the bed by 8 p.m., runs about 20 miles a week — usually starting most days around 5:30 a.m., while leaving his cell phone at home — and made his college dual debut by recording the aforementioned win that is probably the most surprising victory in all of college wrestling this year. The performance earned him National Wrestler of the Week honors from The Open Mat and USA Wrestling, in addition to the league’s Wrestler of the Week laurel.

Popolizio has called Trumble the perfect fit for NC State and was impressed with the poise his rookie showed in the victory.

“I wasn’t shocked,” Popolizio said of the win. "We recruit these guys now to be ready to win right away. … He's going to be a threat against every one.

“… We had that much confidence and belief in him, and it makes it dangerous when the kid has the same confidence and belief.”

Trumble made his debut in three of the national polls this week, while Reenan is listed in the other two — but all of the Pack’s rankings are higher than any of Shaw’s.

Gunning qualified for the NCAA Championships last year at heavyweight, while Whitman was a 2019 NCAA qualifier at 197 pounds. But Wilson is the on-paper favorite no matter which it is.

Wilson clinched the dual last year in dramatic fashion with a 5-2 victory over Gunning that was closer than the final score indicated and established him as the second-best heavyweight in the ACC behind a senior who graduated. That makes him the favorite after earning the No. 22 NCAA seed last year. Wilson is also 2-0 all time against Gunning, who was awarded the No. 30 seed.

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