RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – They sit in the catbird seat when it comes to the landscape of college football. The SEC is the most powerful conference in college football, and if you didn’t know that, their fans are always happy to remind you.
“Oh, it’s annoying,” said North Carolina State redshirt freshman guard Dylan McMahon. “You really want to go in there and shut them up.
“We don’t want to just go in there and beat them. We want to go in there and prove a point to them. It’s annoying hearing everything about the SEC, so we want to go in there and shut them up.”
The Wolfpack will get that chance on Saturday when they head to Starkville, Mississippi, to tangle with the Bulldogs of Mississippi State. Game time is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
Now, as far as shutting up the SEC goes, the Pack hasn’t done a whole lot of that throughout the years. N.C. State is 7-31-2 all-time against the conference, including just one win in the past two decades.
“You respect all and fear none,” said junior linebacker Isaiah Moore. “The SEC, you hear a lot about how big they are, how physical they are. We just want to go out there and play the best ball no matter who we play.”
The Wolfpack are coming off a 45-0 thrashing of South Florida on Saturday. They played well against the Bulls, but will have to take it up a notch to win in a hostile environment like Starkville.
“It’s an opportunity for us to continue to earn respect,” said head coach Dave Doeren. “Obviously, playing on the road against a team like that from their league, if you find a way to win that game, it’s good for your team, it’s good for your program.
“Our guys are aware we’re playing an SEC team. It won’t be something I talk about five days in a row, I can tell you that.”
A win, though, on Saturday, would certainly have Pack fans talking for days.
“It would be big,” Moore said. “Being an SEC opponent, night game on the road on ESPN, it would be a big lift for this team if we can pull this win out.”
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