NC State football countdown to kickoff: 94

The NC State football season opener for 2023 is at Connecticut on Aug. 31 — or 94 days away. TheWolfpacker.com’s countdown for the season looks at the significance of the number 94 in Pack history.

NC State Football And No. 94

• In 1994, NC State football head coach Dave Doeren embarked on his career path by being an assistant coach at Shawnee Mission North High in Overland Park, Kan. A year later, Doeren got started in the college ranks, beginning a three-year stint at his alma mater Drake, where he coached linebackers and added the title of defensive coordinator in 1997.

• The 1994 team at NC State was the best during head coach Mike O’Cain’s tenure. The Pack spent 10 weeks ranked in the Associated Press top 25 poll, including 17th in the final edition after defeating No. 16 Mississippi State, 28-24, in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day.

NC State finished the year 9-3 overall and went 6-2 in the ACC. Along with the bowl victory, the Wolfpack also scored ranked wins over Clemson and Virginia on the road and Duke at home.

That team, led by quarterback Terry Harvey and a promising freshman running back named Tremayne Stephens, started the year 4-0, including the aforementioned win over No. 22 Clemson. A brief slump of losing 2 of 3 games, both by multiple touchdowns with one to ranked archrival North Carolina, slowed the season’s momentum, but NC State rebounded to win 4 of 5 to end the year, losing only to No. 8 Florida State during that stretch.

Unfortunately for O’Cain, the next two years resulted in just three wins each campaign, and he never won more than seven games in a season again before being fired following the 1999 campaign. He finished his NC State tenure with an overall record of 41-40.

• The first time that NC State football officially played North Carolina was in 1894. The results did not go well. In two games, UNC outscored the Wolfpack by a combined 50-0. Those were the only two games for NC State football that season.

North Carolina leads the all-time series against NC State, 68-38-6, but that lopsided margin was piled up during the pre-ACC days. From 1894-1952, North Carolina went 31-5-6. The ACC started in 1953, and since then the Heels’ advantage over NC State is 37-33. The Pack is 14-9 against UNC since 2000.

Doeren is 6-4 against the Heels.

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