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NC State finished the 2021 season at No. 14 in SP+ after a dominant performance in the Holiday Bowl—it was as if UCLA didn’t show up at all—and takes plenty of figurative momentum into the spring.
The Wolfpack will be ranked in the preseason human polls next season, probably somewhere in the top 20. (At least if said humans are paying attention.) SP+ agrees that State should begin the year in that range, as the Pack sits at 15 in the initial 2022 projections.
Not surprisingly, SP+ likes NC State’s defense a lot, projecting it to be the eighth-best unit in the country. The offense is projected to be slightly worse than it was in 2021, going from 39th to 43rd.
Elsewhere in the ACC, and in the Atlantic more specifically, Clemson leads the way at No. 5 overall. SP+ likes FSU quite a bit, slotting the Seminoles in at No. 24, while Louisville is 29th. Wake Forest is No. 47, Syracuse is No. 58, and Boston College is No. 76. There are still plenty of good quarterbacks in this division; should be fun.