RALEIGH, N.C. — The least anticipated N.C. State-North Carolina game in more than a decade managed to live down to the hype. It’s only a rivalry if both teams have a chance to win, and only one did Saturday.
To their eternal credit at this point in the season, N.C. State fans still showed up at PNC to watch what they almost certainly knew was a fait accompli, one of the better crowds of a dismal finishing stretch for a team that won only one home ACC game all season.
In December or January, there was still a chance Dereon Seabron or Terquavion Smith could shock and surprise, or at the least entertain, but two months of losing wrung the enthusiasm out of an inexperienced team and its fans alike.
