Louisville at North Carolina State

Despite an unbeaten start to the 2015 season, N.C. State has its share of skeptics.

Head coach Bobby Petrino’s teams are 2-3 in road conference openers during his tenure at Louisville, including a 23-21 loss to Virginia in UofL’s ACC road opener last season.

U of L, which wore an all-white alternate “Uncaged Cardinal” themed uniform for its last game away from home against Auburn in Atlanta, will wear its regular white helmets with the traditional Cardinal bird logo the side, white jerseys with “Louisville” across the chest and red letters and numbers, and white trousers. The four main reasons: Troy, Eastern Kentucky, Old Dominion and South Alabama.

A win is a win and we’ve got four of them and that’s all we’re looking at. We did what we had to do. North Carolina State tried to work outside instead of going indoors during damp conditions this week to prepare, while Louisville has been watching weather reports, too. Aftet turning the ball over once in four games, NC State lost two fumbles – one of them when Jumichael Ramos appeared headed in for an early touchdown. Now the Cardinals have won two straight to build a few momentum. The margin of victory for the Wolfpack was the most since NC State downed Murray State 65-7 in 2009.

So many candidates for the highlight of the game with lots of crucial plays. The Wolfpack didn’t have any 300-yard games between 1995 and 2013. NC State quarterback Jacoby Brissett threw for 223 yards and a pair of scores in a losing effort.

Jones was particularly impressed with the athleticism of N.C. State’s offensive line. “It will be interesting to see how they do”.

The freshman quarterback ran and threw for touchdowns to help the Cardinals beat the Wolfpack 20-13 on Saturday, avoiding an 0-2 start in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

“It is a setback”, Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said, “but it’s not anything that we’re going to panic about, that’s for sure”.

Last season, N.C. State gave up 373.1 yards per game, including 438 to Georgia Southern and 504 to ODU.

NC State is yielding just 49.5 yards per game on the ground and 205.8 yards of total offense, which stands third nationally in both categories.

Jaylen Smith leads the team with 214 receiving yards and is averaging 16.5 yards per receptions, including a team-best 55-yard reception versus Clemson on September 17 and a 40-yarder versus Samford.

“It’s our job to change people’s perception”, Rose said.

TV: 12:30 p.m. ET, ACC Network, ESPN3. Jackson was much less effective in the passing game, finishing just 10 of 27 for 103 yards and a touchdown.