NC State at No. 42 in final preseason SP+ projections

The final preseason SP+ projections were released yesterday, with NC State at 42nd—which is up four spots from where the Pack began in the initial 2023 projection from way back in February.

SP+ expects NC State to have a top-25 defense again and an offense that bounces back to average.

Here’s how State’s opponents stack up:

I’ve seen some lines for the UConn opener around NCSU -15, but SP+ here is saying that it’s really more like NCSU -24. SP+, needless to say, was entirely unimpressed by the Huskies’ surprise six-win 2022.

NC State will be a clear favorite in four other games, a clear underdog in two, and then there are five swing games (UL, Duke, Miami, Wake, UNC) to potentially define the season. That picture will probably change a bit, but that’s how SP+ sees it with just a couple weeks to go before the football starts happening.