Georgia Southern at NC State

Dave Doeren begins his second year at North Carolina State and would love to go bowling after a 3-9 campaign. He catches a break early on with games against Georgia Southern, Old Dominion, South Florida and Presbyterian to open the year - three at home. A 4-0 start would give them a shot at bowl. Georgia Southern is rebuilding this season under new coach Willie Fritz. Despite a win over Florida a year ago, this team still lost four conference games and steps up into the Sun Belt this year. Fritz is revamping the offense from a run-based attack into a spread-based system, which will entail a bit of a learning curve early on. The Eagles' receiver corps features a mixed bag of players either new to the position or inexperienced. Even the defense changes from a 4-3 base set to the 4-2-5 and this linebacker corps is below average. North Carolina State returns five starters on the offensive line and adds former Florida transfer QB Jacoby Brissett, along with junior RB Shadrach Thornton (694 and 768 yards last two years), averaging 4.7 yards per catch, and 10 TDs. The Wolfpack is 5-2 ATS in their last seven games in August, so grab the motivated home team with a chip on its shoulder. Play NC State.