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Backing The Pack

https://www.backingthepack.com/ | 221 entries published

Cheering for anyone else is for quitters.

Latest Entries

The NET is Back!

The season’s first NET ranking is out. The ACC has 8 teams in the top 50. A good start to a better season.

2 months ago | 0 reads

NC State men’s soccer advances to Elite Eight

The men’s soccer program is one win away from reaching the College Cup after knocking off UNC-Greensboro, 2-0, in the Sweet Sixteen on Sunday night. It’s the first trip to the Elite Eight for the men’s program in 33 years. Taig Healy notched NC State’s first goal less than six minutes into the match, capitalizing […]

2 months ago | 0 reads

Dave Doeren isn’t going anywhere

Dave Doeren will be NC State’s head football coach in 2026, not that this comes as any surprise after his team pummeled UNC on Saturday night and clinched a winning season in the process. NC State isn’t releasing anything official on this—that would imply there was some doubt here—but the AP’s Aaron Beard caught up […]

College Football

2 months ago | 8 reads

NC State speeds past UNC, 42-19

Consistency has been a weekly problem for NC State but it wasn’t an issue at all on Saturday night, and how timely that was—NC State scored on its first two possessions of the game, and nearly shut UNC out of the first quarter entirely on the way to a 14-0 lead. UNC did eventually find […]

College Football

2 months ago | 2 reads

The BTP degeneracy dungeon, Week 14

It’s the final week of the regular season, sadly, but that means it’s time for the most important Obligatory Bet Against UNC Of The Week Of The Day Of The Year. NC State is a seven-point favorite to beat the Tar Heels and Bill Belichick, whose joints are going to need an extra can of […]

College Football

2 months ago | 5 reads

NC State women’s hoops picks up two wins in Cancun

I’m still getting caught up on the things I missed while in Maui (there’s a football game today?!) and was encouraged to see that women’s hoops put together a couple of good performances offensively while in Cancun for Thanksgiving. These games were only available on FloSports so roughly six people saw them, but hey. NC […]

College Basketball

2 months ago | 1 read

Maui Wrap Up: What Did the Wolfpack Learn?

Maui Invitational Results 1-2 NC State was favored by some to win the tournament, and they were favored in all three games. The Maui Invitational didn’t turn out exactly the way we had hoped, but the team ended up playing three games against quality competition. Based on the Thanksgiving Day KenPom snapshot, Texas (KP 39) […]

College Basketball

2 months ago | 1 read

Maui Invitational, Day 3: Everyone had fun

During each television timeout, the Maui Invitational has goofy competitions on the court—make a free throw while sitting in a lawn chair! Dribble two enormous basketballs from one end of the court to the other! Stuff like that. The fellow emceeing this stuff will ask the contestants their name and who they’re rooting for. Typically […]

College Basketball

3 months ago | 2 reads

Maui Finale: NC State Locks Up 6th Place, Losing to Texas 102-97

Game Summary: NC State came out of the gate aggressively, at the first timeout leading 8-3 and forcing 3 TO, but already had 4 fouls (2 Holloman, 1 Copeland and Williams) Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to bother Texas at all. Texas is not known as a 3PT shooting team, but when the Pack kept giving […]

College Basketball

3 months ago | 2 reads

Maui Game 3: NC State vs Texas for 5th Place

When: Wednesday November 26 – 9:30 PM ET Where: Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, Hawaii TV: ESPN2 Opponent: Texas Longhorns (SEC Conference) Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): NC State 80-78 / NC State 81-80 Wolfpack Snapshot: Wolfpack Season So Far: NC State played Boise State with energy and intensity, and the result showed it. As Coach […]

College Basketball

3 months ago | 2 reads

Maui Invitational, Day 2: Turns out everything’s fine

NC State’s effort on day two in Maui was ten times better, and the results were a reflection of that. This team has some clear problems defending the paint but a lot of how that works out for better or worse depends on the communication and effort, and today it was a lot better across […]

College Basketball

3 months ago | 3 reads

NC State – Back From the Dead, Beating Boise St 81-70.

Game Summary: NC State hit the floor with much more energy than yesterday and immediately took an 8-0 lead. The defense was energetic and forced 3TO early. Clearly Coach Wade’s message to the guards about rebounding was heard, at the 12:00 timeout the guards had all 6 and finished the half with 9 of 16. […]

College Basketball

3 months ago | 2 reads

Maui Game 2: NC State plays Boise St

When: Tuesday November 25 – 2:30 PM ET Where: Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, Hawaii TV: ESPN2 Opponent: Boise State Broncos (Mtn West Conference) Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): NC State 78-74 / NC State 78-76 Wolfpack Snapshot: Wolfpack Player Notes: Opponent Overview: Leon Rice enters his 16th season as head coach of Boise State men’s […]

3 months ago | 3 reads

Maui Invitational, Day 1: Oops, I broke the basketball team

I can say with great confidence that Monday was my first chance to watch a college basketball game begin at 9:30 a.m., and as disorienting as that was, it was nothing compared to what happened over the next two hours. On the bright side, win or lose, it’s still Hawaii outside. The Lahaina Civic Center […]

College Basketball

3 months ago | 1 read

Game thread: Seton Hall vs. NC State, Maui Invitational

When I floated the idea with my family that we might spend Thanksgiving in Hawaii with NC State basketball, I had no idea that we’d end up trading Kevin Keatts for a chance at being actually good at basketball. Here we are now, the circumstances turned 180 degrees for the trip of a lifetime. The […]

College Basketball

3 months ago | 1 read

Highlights! We’re just watching the punt again, mostly

I was working on about three hours of sleep on my way to the airport early Saturday because I watched the football game until the end, and was it all worth it, to watch the ol’ pigskin clonk off a man’s head and careen backward 25 yards for a turnover? It was, yes. I would […]

College Football

3 months ago | 1 read

Maui Game 1: NC State vs Seton Hall

When: Monday November 24 – 2:30 PM ET Where: Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, Hawaii TV: ESPN2 Opponent: Seton Hall Pirates (Big East Conference) Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): NC State 75-67 / NC State 77-69 Wolfpack Snapshot: Wolfpack Player Notes: Team Statistical Comparison Opponent Overview: Shaheen Holloway was a four-year player at Seton Hall, starting […]

College Basketball

3 months ago | 5 reads

NC State women win 2025 cross country national championship

Well, they went and did it again. After a one-year hiatus, the women’s cross country team is back on top. The Wolfpack beat BYU (and everyone else, but mainly BYU) on Saturday morning to nab their fourth national championship in the last five years. Hannah Gapes and Grace Hartman finished fifth and sixth overall to […]

3 months ago | 0 reads

College football Saturday open thread

The week before rivalry week means that tomato cans are back on the menu for a lot of power-conference schools, sadly. Still there are a number of potentially entertaining matchups throughout the afternoon. Noon Missouri vs. OklahomaLouisville vs. SMU 3:30 USC vs. OregonArkansas vs. Texas After Dark Pitt vs. Georgia TechTennessee vs. FloridaBYU vs. Cincinnati

College Football Oklahoma Texas Florida

3 months ago | 5 reads

NC State bests mistake-prone FSU, 21-11

NC State and FSU had themselves an, um, interesting game on Friday night—not so much from good football, but moreso from weird football. Which is fine when it works out the way it did. NC State had a pretty tough time moving the ball, but the difference was that it avoided big mistakes, while Florida […]

College Football

3 months ago | 0 reads

Game thread: FSU vs. NC State

Fell down a bit of a rabbit hole when I noticed that an NC State win tonight would bring the Pack’s record against FSU in Carter-Finley to 11-11. The only ACC schools with winning home records against the Noles are Clemson and Georgia Tech, s0 .500 would be some pretty good work! (FSU is 8-1 […]

College Football Clemson

3 months ago | 3 reads