RALEIGH — After a one-year absence, N.C. State is returning to a bowl game.
On Sunday, the Wolfpack got an invitation to the Gator Bowl at noon on Jan. 2 in Jacksonville, Florida, the ACC announced on Twitter. The Wolfpack finished No. 23 in the final College Football Playoff poll. N.C. State’s opponent will be Kentucky (4-6), which finished fourth in the SEC East. The two teams have met three times before, their last matchup in 1970.
After finishing the regular season 8-3, N.C. State will go to a bowl for the sixth time in eight seasons. The Wolfpack is 3-2 in bowl games under head coach Dave Doeren. Its last bowl trip was in 2018, when it fell to Texas A&M, 52-13, in the Gator Bowl.
“We are excited for the chance to return to the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl,” Doeren said. “This is a great reward for our players at the end of what has been a very unique season.”
N.C. State is 17-14-1 all-time in 32 trips to bowl games.
“We’re grateful for the opportunity to compete in the TaxSlayer Bowl against a quality opponent from the SEC, “ N.C. State Director of Athletics Boo Corrigan said. “We look forward to heading to Jacksonville, our players, coaches and staff have worked incredibly hard throughout this season to put our program in this position, and we’re glad it will end in a January bowl game.”
The Wolfpack only won four games in 2019, but ended the 2020 season on a four-game streak to finish with at least eight wins for the fourth time under Doeren. N.C. State is 1-2 versus the SEC since Doeren took over in 2013. All three of those meetings were in bowl games.
This is the Pack’s fifth trip to the Gator Bowl. It is 1-4 in its previous four appearances. The lone win was in 2002, when Philip Rivers led the team to a 28-6 win over Notre Dame.
N.C. State started the season 4-1 and cracked the Top 25 before losing quarterback Devin Leary for the season and dropping two straight to UNC and Miami. But the Wolfpack got back on track, settling in at quarterback with Bailey Hockman and running the table with the remaining games on the schedule.
That four-game streak included a win over then-No. 21 Liberty at home. The team also won a school-record seven ACC games. The Wildcats dropped four of their last six after a brief stint in the Top 25. N.C. State is one of four ACC teams playing in a bowl game, not including Clemson and Notre Dame, which made it to the College Football Playoff. In a year when multiple ACC teams opted out of playing in bowl games, the Pack wanted to finish the job.
“Our players and coaches felt like we weren’t done yet,” Doeren said. “It’s another opportunity to compete, we’ve invested a lot to get to this point and we wanted to have one more ride. These kids, they are a special group and I would hate it to not have the opportunity to go out one more time.”
It won’t be the full bowl experience, players will only be in town for about two days, instead of the whole week, and there will b 25% capacity inside TIAA Bank Field. But all that matters is one more game and a chance to pick up win No. 9 for N.C. State.
Doeren wouldn’t go as far to say that the bowl bid validates the 2020 season, but it is rewarding to get a chance to end the year on a high note.
“I think the record speaks for itself on what we accomplished this year,” Doeren said. “We are definitely headed back to the direction that we were prior to last year and happy that we are. I think the coolest part is how many different ways we found to win games. The kids found ways to win games and stick together. It was very rewarding to go through it with them the way we did.”
NC STATE VS. KENTUCKY: GATOR BOWL
When: Noon, Jan. 2
Where: Jacksonville, Florida
Watch: ESPN
