The #14 Tennessee Volunteers will be favored by -7.5 points on the road against the #24 North Carolina State Wolfpack on Saturday night on the road. One of the more interesting quarterback matchups of the weekend will be Nico Iamaleava of Tennessee and Grayson McCall of North Carolina State.
Iamaleava took the FBS by storm last week despite playing an FCS opponent. There is a lot of hype surrounding the redshirt freshman quarterback right now. Will see if he keeps it up on the road against the Wolfpack for the Volunteers.
PFF Wonders How Tennessee Volunteers Quarterback Nico Iamaleava Will Do Against the North Carolina State Wolfpack Secondary
Pro Football Focus’s Max Chadwick and Dalton Wasserman made some predictions on the biggest college football games this weekend. Tennessee and North Carolina State is the second biggest game this weekend other than the Michigan Wolverines and the Texas Longhorns.
Pro Football Focus’s question when the Volunteers have the ball this weekend is how will Nico Iamaleava do against the North Carolina State secondary? They said:
“Iamaleava has been nothing short of spectacular through two career starts. He has a 91.7 PFF passing grade across the bowl game against Iowa last year and last weekend’s game against Chattanooga, with four big-time throws and no turnover-worthy plays. He has a rocket launcher attached to his right shoulder and appears to already have complete command of Josh Heupel’s offense.
The best part of the Wolfpack’s defense is their secondary, which entered the season as a top-15 unit in college football. Cornerback Aydan White is the star of the group and the sixth-most valuable returning Power Five cornerback since 2022, according to PFF’s wins above average metric. NC State also added some talented defensive backs through the transfer portal, including Auburn safety Donovan Kaufman and Ohio State slot cornerback Ja’Had Carter, who is set to make his Wolfpack debut after missing the Western Carolina game with an injury.
It’s worth mentioning that NC State will be without senior safety Devan Boykin, who is recovering from a torn ACL suffered in December.”
Iamaleava almost completed 80% of his passes last week in one half of football against the Chattanooga Mocs. He also threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns. If he does play the full game this week, he could very well throw for over 400 yards and five touchdowns. Another element of this Volunteers offense against the Wolfpack defense to watch for is junior running back Dylan Sampson.
Senior wide receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr. is another player to watch for against the Wolfpack. He caught three passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns last week against the Mocs. He averaged 35.0 yards per catch.
PFF Predicts Who Will Win
Both Max and Dalton think that the Volunteers will beat the Wolfpack. Max has them winning 35-24 and Dalton has them winning 42-28. Dalton Wasserman of Pro Football Focus said about the Tennessee Volunteers potentially coming out on top this weekend:
“NC State struggled last week. Iamaleava is the perfect player for Josh Heupel’s offense. The Volunteers overwhelm NC State for a big non-conference win.”
The North Carolina State Wolfpack could be in for a long night against Nico Iamaleava and the Tennessee Volunteers. He will be in the Heisman Trophy talks after this game ends.
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