NC State will host Louisville on Thursday night as a ranked team for the first time in a while, but the Wolfpack won’t be the favorite going in. The early lines out of Vegas have NC State as around a 2.5-point underdog to the Cards, which is not so bad given how last year’s game went down.
Louisville is coming off of back-to-back blowout wins over cupcakes, and could be the soft opponent (FCS Murray State) this past weekend gives the Cardinals a bit of an edge heading into a short week. Helps when you don’t have to go all out for 60 minutes with a quick turnaround looming.