NC State opens as significant underdog ahead of road trip to Notre Dame

Although NC State snapped its two-game losing streak with a 56-10 win over Campbell on Saturday afternoon at Carter-Finley Stadium, the Wolfpack is set to be the largest underdog it has been all season at No. 16 Notre Dame this weekend. 

The Irish opened as 22-point favorites over the Wolfpack going into Saturday afternoon’s (3:30 p.m., Peacock) clash at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, according to the Action Network. 

NC State (4-2, 1-2 ACC) is 3-3 against the spread through the first three weeks of the season. The Wolfpack covered a 42.5-point spread in the 46-point win over Campbell this past weekend, while it followed Las Vegas’ lead in its wins over Virginia (-3, 35-31) and at Wake Forest (-7, 34-24). It, however, didn’t cover in its win over ECU (-13.5, 24-17) and its losses at Duke (45-33, +3.5) and against Virginia Tech (-9.5, 23-21). 

The Wolfpack, which was 4-9 against the spread in the 2024 campaign, is set to face its tallest test of the season on the road against the Irish. It not only marks the program’s first trip outside the state, but the 80,795-person crowd will be the most-hostile venue this season’s team has seen to this point. 

Sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey will lead NC State’s offense into South Bend as he has thrown for 1,660 yards (fourth most in FBS) with 13 touchdowns (tied for eighth most nationally) and four interceptions on a 74.6 percent completion rate. He holds the 15th-best ESPN QBR in all of FBS through the first six games with a 81.3 overall mark this fall. 

While Bailey is set to square off with the Irish in what will be his biggest road appearance since he made his first-career start at Clemson last season, a 59-35 loss to the Tigers, he will be aided by redshirt sophomore running back Hollywood Smothers, the ACC’s leading rusher with 693 yards and five touchdowns. 

In addition to Smothers, the Wolfpack’s wide receiving corps is paced by sophomore Terrell Anderson, who has posted 21 receptions for 388 yards and three scores. Senior tight end Justin Joly, meanwhile, has provided a big-bodied target for Bailey to find over the middle with his team-best 28 catches for 256 yards and a trio of touchdowns. 

Defensively, meanwhile, graduate linebacker Caden Fordham is on pace to set a new career best with 59 total tackles through the first six weeks. He has 27 solo stops, while adding 1.5 sacks. Graduate defensive end Sabastian Harsh is the Wolfpack’s top pass rusher with 2.5 sacks to go with 17 total quarterback pressures as he has logged 21 total tackles in his first season in Raleigh.

NC State is 2-2 in the all-time series against Notre Dame after it won its first two meetings with the Irish — 28-6 during the 2002 season in Jacksonville, Fla., and a 10-3 victory during the 2016 campaign in Raleigh. Notre Dame has won the last two battles, including a 35-14 result in 2017, the only meeting in South Bend. The Irish took the most-recent tilt between the two programs, a 45-24 result, which featured a second-quarter rain delay, at Carter-Finley Stadium in 2023.