The Wolfpacker game predictions: Florida State at NC State

NC State Wolfpack football is 4-3 on the season, all of it ACC action, while Florida State is 2-5 overall and 1-5 in ACC. Both teams are coming off losses, NC State falling in a heartbreaker 44-41 to Miami and FSU being routed by Pittsburgh, 41-17.

This is just the second time all season NC State has been favored. The line has moved from seven to around 10 points after some midweek developments in Tallahassee have left the Seminoles more shorthanded than originally anticipated.

The Wolfpacker staff makes their guesses on the game's outcome:

We have now reached the portion of the schedule where NC State can start padding its record if it plays as well as it can.

Weirdly, this game has a Groundhog Day feeling to it. Just two years ago, in his first season as the head coach at Florida State, Willie Taggart called out his team after they were destroyed by Clemson, 59-10, the week prior. The question was then, would the Seminoles rally around the motivational ploy or would it essentially quit on its new coach?

NC State won 47-28, which tells you the direction FSU went. That Seminoles team finished the year losing two of its last three, and lost both of those games by about four touchdowns. They became the first FSU team to have a losing record since 1976 and the first to not make a bowl since 1981. In other words, the first sub-.500 FSU team in my life (I was born in 1980).

This year, it is Mike Norvell in his first year at FSU, after Taggart's tenure barely got started before the Seminoles fired him, and he has been dealing with similar adversity. Offseason quarrels have given way to a 2-5 record, and this week brought about more distractions.

Star and future NFL receiver Tamorrion Terry: gone. Star and future NFL defensive lineman Marvin Wilson: out for the rest of the year with an injury. Starting left tackle Devontay Love-Taylor: out for the rest of the year with an injury. Starting quarterback Jordan Travis: questionable for Saturday. Likely backup quarterback James Blackman: gone.

All of that was revealed on a Wednesday that left WarChant.com columnist Corey Clark wondering if it's time to play for 2021.

This is a good matchup on paper for NC State, especially if Travis cannot play. There's a reason why the Vegas line is swinging towards the Wolfpack.

Prediction: NC State 38, Florida State 20

Previous predictions:

Game 1: NC State 27, Wake Forest 17 (Actual: NC State 45-42)

Game 2: NC State 34, Virginia Tech 30 (Actual: Virginia Tech 45-24)

Game 3: Pittsburgh 34, NC State 23 (Actual: NC State 30-29)

Game 4: NC State 34, Virginia 30 (Actual: NC State 38-21)

Game 5: NC State 29, Duke 21 (Actual: NC State 31-20)

Game 6: UNC 42, NC State 27 (Actual: UNC 48-21)

Game 7: Miami 27, NC State 20 (Actual: Miami 44-41)

There's something about seeing Florida State in uniform that always throws me off.

It's Florida State. They're a household college football program. They've been a top-10 team every year as long as I can remember.

At least until NC State broke them in 2017. The Seminoles entered that season as national title contenders under former head coach Jimbo Fisher but found themselves 0-2 after a 27-21 loss to the Wolfpack in Tallahassee.

It's been all downhill from there.

Two head coaches later, Florida State sits at a disappointing 2-5 record with a dumpster fire personnel situation.

In one press conference this week, first-year head coach Mike Norvell announced that the Seminoles are losing a future NFL defensive tackle and a veteran offensive tackle for the rest of the season due to injury, FSU's leading receiver Tamorrion Terry is no longer with the team and former starting quarterback James Blackman is transferring after the season.

That doesn't sound like momentum to me.

After upsetting then-No. 5 North Carolina at home for its first conference win of the Norvell era, Florida State has lost its last two games to Louisville, 48-16, and Pittsburgh, 41-17.

NC State is on a two-game losing streak of its own, but gained momentum last Friday in the 44-41 loss to No. 11 Miami. Only a Heisman-like performance from Hurricanes quarterback D'Eriq King prevented the Wolfpack from advancing to 5-2.

The most positive sign of the game was the strong showing from redshirt junior quarterback Bailey Hockman, who had a career-high 248 passing yards and two touchdowns. He also caught a 31-yard touchdown from redshirt junior Thayer Thomas on a trick play, his first career reception.

Now Hockman will face his former team in Florida State, for the second time with the Wolfpack. The southpaw quarterback had his best game of 2019 against the Seminoles (21-of-40 passing for 208 yards and a score), and I expect similar results this Saturday considering FSU's problems on defense.

Prediction: NC State 45, Florida State 28

Previous predictions:

Game 1: Wake Forest 29, NC State 26 (Actual: NC State 45-42)

Game 2: NC State 30, Virginia Tech 27 (Actual: Virginia Tech 45-24)

Game 3: Pitt 30, NC State 20 (Actual: NC State 30-29)

Game 4: Virginia 38, NC State 35 (Actual: NC State 38-21)

Game 5: NC State 45, Duke 38 (Actual: NC State 31-20)

Game 6: UNC 38, NC State 35 (Actual, UNC 48-21)

Game 7: Miami 31, NC State 23 (Actual: Miami 44-41)

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