Bowl possibilities still exist for Syracuse and North Carolina State, but winning their next game would be a good idea to move toward qualifying for the postseason.
The Orange and Wolfpack will collide Saturday afternoon in Raleigh, N.C.
“Keep pushing to get ourselves bowl eligible,” Syracuse coach Fran Brown said. “To go from bowl-eligible to growing and keep working, making sure the trajectory of our program is consistently going up. That’s what’s important to me.”
Syracuse (4-5, 2-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) had a two-game winning streak end last week with an 18-13 home loss to Clemson. NC State (4-5, 2-4) will play its third consecutive home game, with the Saturday contest marking its home finale.
The Wolfpack have split two games under interim coach Todd Goebbel since the firing of Dave Doeren. A 41-3 setback to Duke last week was NC State’s most lopsided loss of the season.
The Wolfpack’s injury-ravaged roster includes running back Jayden “Duke” Scott, who was on a snap limit last week after missing three consecutive games with a lower-body injury. He had 19 yards on five carries.
“I could definitely see his workload expanding this week,” Goebbel said.
However, NC State receiver Keenan Jackson, who is tied for fifth in the ACC with six receiving touchdowns, is expected to play Saturday after exiting the Duke game with an injury. Still, with a reshuffled offensive line, the Wolfpack face some challenges.
“We put the best five out there that we have,” Goebbel said. “We coach them really, really well, and they go out and compete their tails off.”
That makeshift line could be troublesome against a Syracuse defense that didn’t allow a touchdown vs. Clemson.
“They’re disruptive,” Goebbel said. “They create a lot of bombs in the backfield and pressure on the quarterback. They’re active on the back end. Their nickel (Davien Kerr) has four picks, so they’re opportunistic on that side of the ball.”
On offense, Syracuse will try to improve its execution in the red zone, where Steve Angeli threw an interception late in the game against the Tigers.
“We got to be able to protect the ball, and should be able to just run the football in,” Brown said. “We had some guys that had some whiffs on a few blocks down there, so then when it went time to throw the ball, we just weren’t on point with some of them.”
Syracuse has won the past two meetings with NC State, most recently prevailing 24-17 in 2024 at Raleigh.