NC State football looks to ease its pain with a rivalry victory over North Carolina

Beating North Carolina won’t erase the disappointment of the football season for N.C. State, but it could ease it.

“Yeah, I think so,” linebacker Drake Thomas said Tuesday. “A lot of things haven’t necessarily gone our way from what we planned for this season, but we’re always looking to the next game, and the next game happens to be Carolina. And to end on a positive note in the regular season would be a great way to end.”

It’s rivalry week in college football and the State-Carolina game has produced a lot of memories through the years, from Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice and Roman Gabriel to Philip Rivers and Gio Bernard with the most fabled punt return in the series history.

Mark Maye was once the Tar Heels quarterback, trying to beat the Pack. On Saturday, he’ll watch his son, Drake, try to do it at Kenan Stadium.

Ben Finley’s older brother, Ryan, once was the Wolfpack quarterback. He led N.C. State to two wins over the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, boasting the Wolfpack had nicknamed Kenan Stadium “Carter-Finley North.”

No one would have expected the starting quarterbacks this week might be Drake Maye and Ben Finley. Certainly not Finley, a scout team member much of the season for the Wolfpack as Devin Leary, Jack Chambers and then freshman MJ Morris played.

“We’ve had four quarterbacks play and I don’t think any team could possibly imagine that,” Finley said Tuesday.

It will be Senior Day at UNC, always an emotional time.

“We had someone come in here and kind of spoiled our Senior Night,” Thomas said Tuesday. “We want to do the same thing. We want to go in there and compete. Go out there and play hard and the right way.”

Boston College was the spoiler for N.C. State two weeks ago at Carter-Finley. Some 30 players — including Drake and older brother Thayer Thomas — were recognized in a ceremony before what could have been be their final home game and the Eagles won 21-20, leaving everyone bummed.

Thomas was involved in the most discussed play, being called for pass interference on a fourth-down pass by the Eagles in the final seconds. Boston College scored on the next play, from the NCSU 2, and pulled the upset.

Wolfpack linebacker Payton Wilson said after the game that he talked with Thomas in the locker room and told him it was a good play and a bad call and to quickly let it go and move on.

And?

“Obviously it’s a hard emotional game and we put a lot into it,” Thomas said Tuesday. “Something like that happens, you’ve got to keep pushing forward. I know that next time the play comes I’ll do everything that I can to prepare myself to be ready to make a play and hopefully help win the game.”

Thomas, a redshirt junior, would like for that to be Friday and he again should be in the middle of things. NCSU coach Dave Doeren said Louisville coach Scott Satterfield told him Saturday that Thomas, in his opinion, was the best defensive player in the ACC.

Thomas calls that “humbling and crazy to think about,” more than aware that such a distinction must be earned and reaffirmed every time he steps on the field, and will be that way Friday.

The Pack (7-4, 3-4 ACC) will be facing a UNC offense that has hummed along nicely this season, but hit some snags Saturday in a 21-17 loss to Georgia Tech. Maye, a redshirt freshman, and junior receiver Josh Downs might be the best at their positions in the ACC, although Maye probably had his worst game against Georgia Tech and Downs shockingly dropped what could have been a game-winning TD pass.

Pack defensive coordinator Tony Gibson, who has coached against such quarterbacks as Patrick Mahomes through the years, said he has been impressed with Maye’s arm strength but also his poise.

“He doesn’t get rattled,” Gibson said Tuesday. “People send the house at him (defensively) and he’ll stand in there and make a throw or just outrun ‘em. He’s well ahead of his age right now. It looks like the guy has been playing four or five years at this level.”

NC State at North Carolina football game

When: Friday. 3:30 p.m.

Where: Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill

TV: ABC