On Saturday at 9:00 AM PT on ACC Network, Stanford football will take on the NC State Wolfpack on the road in Raleigh, North Carolina. Stanford comes in at 2-6 overall and 1-4 in the ACC while NC State comes in at 4-4 overall and 1-3 in the ACC.

VIDEO: Stanford Football Weekly Press Conference: NC State

Last time out: Stanford is coming off a 27-24 loss to Wake Forest at home. Stanford threw an interception at the end of the game as they were attempting to at least get into field goal range to force overtime.

RECAP: Stanford unable to complete comeback against Wake Forest

On NC State: The Wolfpack have had an up and down season. They narrowly lost at home to Wake Forest, got drubbed on the road at Clemson, lost by a touchdown at home to Syracuse, and got absolutely spanked by Tennessee. On the positive side, they won their opener handily against Western Carolina, they defeated Louisiana Tech by double digits, defeated Northern Illinois by a touchdown, and had an impressive 4th quarter comeback to win at Cal after trailing by 13 points at the end of the 3rd quarter. They only have the one win in league at Cal, but with the way Stanford has been playing, they’ll be licking their chops to get a sweep of the Bay Area schools.

The Wolfpack have had some drama at quarterback. Their starting quarterback Grayson McCall took a violent hit against Wake Forest and has since retired due to multiple head injuries. Since then, freshman CJ Bailey has had to step in at quarterback, throwing for 1376 yards, eight touchdowns, and four interceptions all while completing 67.1% of his passes.

Senior wide receiver KC Concepcion is leading the way in total receptions and receiving touchdowns as he has 43 receptions for 365 yards and four touchdowns. The leader in receiving yards and yards per reception is junior tight end Justin Joly, who has 26 receptions for 447 yards and two touchdowns for an average of 17.2 yards per reception.

Sophomore running back Kendrick Raphael has rushed for 287 yards and three touchdowns for an average of 5.3 yards per carry while graduate student running back Jordan Waters has rushed for 260 yards and two touchdowns for an average of 3.9 yards per carry.

On defense, redshirt junior linebacker Sean Brown leads the way with his 56 total tackles (27 solo), six tackles for loss, and three sacks. Senior safety DK Kaufman is number in two in total tackles with 53 (23 solo). The leader in tackles for loss and sacks is graduate defensive end Davin Vann, who has 10 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks to go along with his 27 total tackles (10 solo). The leading ball hawk is senior safety Bishop Fitzgerald, who has two interceptions to go along with his 28 total tackles (19 solo) and 2.5 tackles for loss.

Ending with special teams, redshirt sophomore kicker Kanoah Vinesett is 11-15 on his field goals. He’s 9-9 from inside 40 yards, but he’s 1-4 from 40-49 and 1-2 from 50+ yards out. Once he has to deal with a little bit of range, he’s dicey.

Keys to the game: The first thing Stanford needs to do is not be down by double digits at the end of the 1st quarter. That’s been a problem the last two weeks and the harsh reality is you can’t expect to win games if you get down by a lot early. If Stanford can find a way to either be in the lead, tied, or only down by a touchdown or fewer at the end of the 1st quarter, they should be feeling good. They’ve done a nice job of settling in in the remaining quarters, but that first quarter has been rough.

Secondly, I called attention to this last week and I’ll call it out again: Stanford needs to win the special teams battle. Stanford missed a field goal last week that was makeable and also had poor coverage on a punt that gave Wake Forest great field position and set up a score. Stanford needs to make the field goals they get, cover well on punts and kickoff, and then also force NC State to have to attempt some field goals that Vinesett is not comfortable with. Stanford needs to make sure that if they lose this one, it won’t be due to special teams.

Third, Stanford needs to keep up the intensity on defense. Last week, they were active on defense and played with a lot of heart. That led to a clutch interception by Brandon Nicholson and a strip sack returned for a touchdown by Teva Tafiti. Stanford’s defense is capable of making big plays and keeping them in the game. They’ll need another outing like they did last week if they are to win this game.

Finally, Stanford needs to take care of the ball. Ball security has been a major weakness for them. Whether it’s Elijah Brown or Ashton Daniels at quarterback, both guys have struggled in this area. Even the running backs have had their issues. Stanford has to make sure they are taking good care of the ball, making sound decisions, and not giving NC State good field position.

Prediction: I thought Stanford would win last week and I was wrong. With the exception of maybe the game at San Jose State, I don’t see myself picking Stanford to win another game this season. That doesn’t mean I think Stanford will lose the rest of their games, I’m just saying game to game, they’re going to be underdogs going forward. Using common sense, I gotta roll with the Wolfpack to win 24-13.

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