College Football’s Week 10:
DG’s “Pick Six” Includes UNC-FSU, Stanford-NCSU,
App State, NC Central, JC Smith, Lenoir-Rhyne, More
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
Each week during college football season, we offer a “Pick Six” package of intriguing matchups — three “local” games that include one or more North Carolina-based team and three “national” contests that involve the Atlantic Coast Conference and/or the most prominent intersectional games.
Week 10: Top “Local” Games
Game Four
UNC (4-4) at Florida State (1-7), Sat., 3:30 pm (ACCN)
Latest Betting Line: Tar Heels a two-point favorite
Just as it was strange to see Duke as a football favorite over Florida State earlier this season, it’s odd to see the Tar Heels favored over the Seminoles on the gridiron, especially with this game being played in Tallahassee.
The Blue Devils, remember, had been 0-22 all-time against FSU in football, but they finally ended that forever drought a couple weeks ago with a 23-16 victory in Durham, as the Devils’ outstanding defense put the clamps on what has been a truly horrific Seminoles offense this season.
Carolina’s all-time head-to-head record against FSU isn’t quite as bad, but it’s still pretty awful: 3-17-1.
The three victories came first under coach John Bunting in 2001, when the Heels put a 41-9 whooping on the Seminoles in Chapel Hill. More recently, in Tallahassee, the scores were 37-35 under coach Butch Davis in 2010 on a Casey Barth field goal in the final minute and 37-35 under coach Larry Fedora in 2016 on Nick Weiler’s famous 54-yard “Tomahawk Chop” field goal as time expired. That most recent victory snapped FSU’s 22-game home winning streak.
Now Mack Brown, a 1973 Florida State grad who was a backup running back for the Seminoles, gets another shot at his alma mater.
The good news for this 2024 edition of the Tar Heels is that, coming off their first open week, they played by far their most complete game of the season last Saturday, during their 41-14 domination of Virginia in Charlottesville.
Carolina’s fifth-year senior quarterback, the elevated third-stringer Jacolby Criswell, played one of the best games of his career, with almost 300 passing yards, two touchdown passes and no turnovers. All-American tailback Omarion Hampton ran for more than 100 yards, again, and two TDs. Senior wide receiver JJ Jones had more than 100 receiving yards and two TDs, one a spectacular highlight-reel grab in the end zone and the other an impressive catch-and-run with some broken tackles.
In addition, both UNC lines dominated the trenches against the Wahoos. The defense welcomed back its best player, fifth-year senior edge rusher Kaimon Rucker, who has missed most of this season with a knee injury; he had eight tackles, including three sacks, plus an interception. Defensive tackle Jahvaree Ritzie had one of the best pick-sixes you’ll ever see from an interior lineman; he rumbled 84 yards for a defensive touchdown while showcasing some spectacular big-guy athleticism.
Against Florida State, which has the worst rushing offense in the ACC and the worst rushing defense in the conference, there are two key questions for the Tar Heels.
#1-Will the Heels dominate the line of scrimmage against FSU the way they just did against UVa, and the way so many others have done against the Seminoles this season? (That has definitely not been among Carolina’s strengths this season overall.) #2-Will the Carolina defense successfully harass, disrupt, confuse or even intimidate FSU’s very inexperienced and very shaky QB rotation of redshirt freshman Brock Glenn and true freshman Luke Kromenhoek, who gave the Seminoles’ offense a brief spark during their 36-14 loss to Miami last week?
If the answers to both questions are “yes,” Carolina will have a great chance to post just its fourth all-time victory over the Seminoles.
Game Five
Stanford (2-6) at NC State (4-4), Sat., noon (ACCN)
Latest Betting Line: Wolfpack a 10-point favorite
First, our viewers, listeners, readers and followers are encouraged to check out our brand-new, in-depth, one-on-one interview with 12th-year NC State leader Dave Doeren, the winningest coach in Wolfpack football history.
The conversation included everything from Doeren’s 2024 Election Day thoughts and observations to his overall assessment of his own 12-year tenure in Raleigh to his reaction — as a football coach in his mid-50s — to the surprise retirement of UVa basketball coach Tony Bennett in his mid-50s.
Doeren also elaborated on how he and his wife, Sara, have rallied around their son Jacob and contributed massive amounts of time and money to issues related to autism and other cognitive differences. He also explored how he and his family have had to deal with some abusive feedback and even personal attacks, including from some members of Wolfpack Nation, after ugly losses and other on-field disappointments.
Finally, Doeren explored the reasons behind his 7-4 record in the Pack’s intense rivalry with North Carolina, the recent retirement of senior quarterback Grayson McCall, the recent rise of true freshman QB CJ Bailey, and the return to campus of legendary State linebacker Payton Wilson. Now with the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, Wilson is going to be inducted into the “Ring of Honor” at Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday.
Regarding the game itself, it’s pretty simple: Stanford is the worst football team in the ACC right now. The Cardinal is last in scoring defense, giving up more than 31 points per game, and next-to-last in scoring offense, at only 19 points per game.
Some of the Wolfpack’s statistical numbers are ugly, too, but that’s mostly because of the team’s blowout losses to Clemson and Tennessee teams that have been ranked in or near the national top 10 for most of this season.
Of the Pack’s four remaining games — that list also includes Duke next week, then an open week, then road trips to Georgia Tech and UNC — this Stanford matchup is by far the simplest.
The Cardinal defense is not bad against the run, but it’s given up huge numbers to opposing quarterbacks all season, so it will be up to Bailey to build on perhaps the two best games of his career so far.
Against Syracuse and Cal, Bailey completed around 70 percent of his passes, and he threw for around 300 yards per game. Those are impressive numbers, and Bailey has plenty of high-quality weapons, with KC Concepcion, Ohio State transfer Noah Rogers and Wake Forest transfer Wesley Grimes at wide receiver, plus UConn transfer Justin Joly, who has become one of the best tight ends in the ACC.
Game Six
Tulane (6-2) at Charlotte (3-5), Thurs., 7:30 pm (ESPN)
Latest Betting Line: Green Wave a 16-point favorite
This one is worth mentioning for a couple reasons, starting with the fact that Charlotte will be enjoying ESPN’s famous Thursday night national television spotlight for the first time in program history.
In the Old North State, at least three schools have pretty well-known brand names at the top level of college football — UNC and NC State as large, public universities in a Power Four conference, plus App State as a three-time Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) national champion and more recently as the winningest Group of Five program in the entire nation over the last decade.
The other in-state FBS programs — Duke, Wake Forest, East Carolina and Charlotte — all have had more valleys than peaks over the long haul, and the 49ers’ place in the state’s sports/entertainment environment is especially complicated.
Unlike even Duke, Wake and ECU, which all have — to steal Bruce Springsteen’s phrase — “Glory Days” and plenty of gridiron legends to celebrate, plus a multi-generational fan base and tradition to build upon, Charlotte re-booted its football program just 11 years ago, and the 49ers have posted only one winning season and played in only one bowl game in their entire history.
On top of that, whereas App State has an especially passionate following in the mountains of North Carolina, and ECU gets plenty of attention — good or bad — in eastern North Carolina, the 49ers are in Charlotte, the state’s largest city, where their place in the sports pecking order is far, far behind a long list of other options.
The greater Charlotte area hosts the National Football League (Panthers), the National Basketball Association (Hornets), Major League Soccer (Charlotte FC), an elite minor-league baseball franchise (Knights), a bunch of NASCAR teams, the Atlantic Coast Conference (headquarters and numerous events), the SEC Network (yes, the Southeastern Conference’s very popular channel and related facilities are based there) and much more, and that’s just the sports subsection of the broader entertainment environment.
So, for the 49ers to play their first regular-season football game ever on the main ESPN channel (rather than its lower-profile platforms such as ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN3, ESPN+, etc.) is a big deal. ESPN even is going to broadcast an edition of its trademark SportsCenter program from the Charlotte campus on Thursday afternoon, with veteran studio host Matt Barrie running the show.
One more reason to get excited about this one is that Tulane, the 49ers’ visitor on Thursday night, might be — with all due respect to Army and Navy — the best team in the American Athletic Conference. So it’s a fantastic opportunity for Charlotte coach Biff Poggi and his guys to make a massive statement on national TV, just a short time after going on the road and pushing Memphis — another quality AAC team — to the limit before falling 33-28 to the Tigers.
The Green Wave is 4-0 in conference play, and at 6-2 overall its only losses were to Kansas State and Oklahoma teams that were nationally ranked at the time. Tulane is averaging more than 40 points per game, and the Green Wave has a sophomore running back, Makhi Hughes, who’s about to surpass 1,000 rushing yards for the second season in a row.
If the 49ers are going to have a chance in this one, they’ll need to slow down that Tulane rushing attack, and they’ll need a big night from their own quarterback. That likely will be some combination of true freshman Deshawn Purdie and their original 2024 starter, Max Brown, who recently returned from an injury he suffered back in September, during the 49ers’ loss to UNC in Chapel Hill.
FBS: When 4-4 Old Dominion visits 3-4 Appalachian State, the Mountaineers will be a two-point underdog. Fifth-year App State head coach Shawn Clark remains on the proverbial hot seat, but his team did what it needed to do last week, with its 33-26 victory over Georgia State at Kidd Brewer Stadium. The passing combination we’ve highlighted all season — senior quarterback Joey Aguilar to fifth-year senior wide receiver Kaedin Robinson — led the way at The Rock last Saturday and will have to be a big part of the solution this week, too. It’s another must-win home game for the Mountaineers, against an ODU team that has played very good defense this season, because App State’s schedule has even more difficult games ahead. …
FCS: Nationally ranked North Carolina Central, the HBCU national champion just two years ago, gets more time in the national television spotlight this week, with a road trip to fellow MEAC contender South Carolina State on Thursday (7:30 pm, ESPN2). The #21 Eagles (6-2) are led by junior running back J’Mari Taylor, who was a third-team All-MEAC selection last year and now leads the conference with nearly 100 rushing yards per game. NCCU is a five-point favorite over the 5-2 Bulldogs in this matchup of the league’s two most prolific offenses, with the winner being in the driver’s seat for the 2024 MEAC championship. …
D2: Nationally ranked Johnson C Smith continues its pursuit of perhaps the most outstanding campaign in program history with its final home game of the season. The #16 Golden Bulls (8-0), who are seeking just their second CIAA championship in almost a century as a member of that league, host 3-4 Fayetteville State. … Elsewhere, an intense, long-standing in-state rivalry resumes, with 6-1 Wingate traveling to #12 Lenoir-Rhyne (7-1). The winner of this one will be in great position to not only play in but host the South Atlantic Conference title game in mid-November, as the league’s Piedmont Division champion.
NOTE: For the complete Week 10 schedule (including television/streaming options) for all ACC and state of North Carolina teams, please click HERE.