Louisville and NC State Clash at Carter-Finley Stadium

Game Day Central | Game Notes

	NC State (4-5, 1-4) vs. Louisville (5-4, 3-3)
Date	Saturday, Nov. 16
Time	7:30 p.m.
Location	Raleigh, N.C.
Stadium	Carter-Finley Stadium \| A to Z Stadium Guide
TV	ACC Network
Streaming	WatchESPN
Radio in NC	Wolfpack Sports Network
National Radio	Tunein, Sirius 108, XM 193
Live Stats	GoPack.com
Social Media	Twitter: @PackFootball \| Instagram: PackFootball

RALEIGH, N.C. - Seeking a winning formula, the NC State football team (4-5, 1-4 ACC) returns home Saturday night for an ACC Atlantic Division contest against Louisville (5-4, 3-3).

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., and the game will be televised on the ACC Network.

Despite a crippling series of injuries that have certainly contributed to a three-game losing streak, the Wolfpack is still in the hunt for a bowl game. Becoming bowl eligible, however, will require a minimum of two victories over the last three regular season games.

"We don't want to be home after November," said Wolfpack offensive guard Josh Fedd-Jackson. "We want to keep playing."

No team among the Power-5 conferences has started more different starting lineups than NC State this season. The Wolfpack has started 45 different players since opening day, a figure that has continued to climb from one week to the next.

For a sport that requires continuity to maximize opportunity for improvement, NC State has encountered unusual hurdles produced by a steady diet of personnel changes. Self-inflicted wounds have only served to exacerbate the team's recent struggles.

In losses to Wake Forest and Clemson the last two weeks, the Wolfpack turned the ball over seven times, and now owns an unworkable minus-8 turnover margin for the season.

"These guys wants to win and they're frustrated," said coach Dave Doeren. "They all understand that we're playing with a short deck right now. But we're not playing smart enough to win. We're not giving ourselves a chance with turnovers and poor decision-making. I think you have a football team that wants to win really bad and just isn't getting that taste right now. It's our job to keep them positive and try to win one of these games."

Among other things, slow starts and unproductive first half performances have made life very difficult for a team that is relying on a redshirt freshman quarterback in Devin Leary.

"Why wait to the third quarter,?" Fedd-Jackson asked. "Let's do it in the first and not turn the ball over."

Freshman Zonavan Knight provided most of the offensive sparks in last week's game against Clemson, rushing for a career-best 139 yards, including a 53-yard touchdown sprint in the third quarter. Seventy-six of those yards came after halftime.

Although it has shown tremendous improvement since the beginning of the season, Louisville took a step back in a 52-27 loss at Miami last weekend.

The Cardinals made it easy on the Hurricanes by drawing 14 penalties for 121 yards. Throw in three turnovers and first-year coach Scott Satterfield's team had very little chance to compete.

Louisville quarterback Micale Cunningham and star left tackle Mekhi Becton both left the game with injuries. Running back Javian Hawkins is only 22 yards from becoming the first Louisville back to reach 1,000 for the season since Bilal Powell in 2010. Hawkins is the second leading freshman rusher in the nation with 978 yards.

"They've got good team speed," Doeren said. "He inherited a team that has some really good skill players and those guys make plays for them. For us, it's about giving whoever is in the lineup a chance to execute as well as they can."

With a 7:30 p.m. kickoff, the Wolfpack Sports Network will begin pregame coverage with the Lowes Foods Countdown to Kickoff at 5:30 p.m. In the second hour of the pregame show shortly after 6:30 p.m., longtime network analyst Johnny Evans will take questions from fans on 'Ask the Analyst.' Questions can be sent to Johnny on Twitter @packradio or by going HERE.

Louisville and NC State Clash at Carter-Finley Stadium

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Devin Leary

North Carolina State University Athletics

Louisville and NC State Clash at Carter-Finley Stadium

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