This week's picks

Big Al's CFB Lab

Data updated
ACC

NC State

3–4 (1–3 ACC). 2026 season, games through Oct 24, 2026.

SP+ rating-1.078th of 138
SP+ offense29.251st of 138
SP+ defense30.3105th of 138
PRIME-3.084th of 138
Elo146575th of 138
Week 9

California at NC State

Sat, Oct 31, 12:00 PM ET. SP+ projection: NC State 33, California 25. Big Al's pick: NC State (77%).

Full head to head

Offense

StatValueRank
Points per game32.347th
Yards per play6.0676th
Success rate43.2%76th
Explosive play rate11.5%88th
Yards per carry5.3258th
Yards per pass attempt6.9895th
Sack rate allowed4.7%46th
3rd down conversion45.6%34th

Defense

StatValueRank
Points allowed28.1105th
Yards per play allowed7.05127th
Success rate allowed47.5%120th
Explosive plays allowed16.6%136th
Yards per carry allowed5.66116th
Yards per attempt allowed9.11122nd
Sack rate5.1%93rd
3rd downs allowed40.9%89th

Players

CJ Bailey (QB), Davion Gause (RB), Keenan Jackson (WR), Preston Douglas (TE).

Results

WeekOpponentResult
1at VirginiaL 8–34
2vs. RichmondW 73–0
3at VanderbiltL 31–35
4vs. App StateW 41–31
5vs. LouisvilleW 31–28
6vs. Wake ForestL 14–38
8at StanfordL 28–31

Ranks are out of 138 FBS teams. Stats from play-by-play; scoring counts FBS opponents only. Compare NC State with any team.

Site
Picks two teams at random. Any FBS team can come up.

How we picked it

Three ratings look at a team in three different ways. Big Al's pick is the team at least two of them favor.

Where the game is won

Each row puts one team's unit against the unit it faces, by national rank out of all FBS teams. An edge is a gap of 25 spots or more.

What these mean

  • SP+ Bill Connelly's opponent-adjusted efficiency rating. Points better than an average FBS team on a neutral field.
  • PRIME A second opponent-adjusted rating, built from possession efficiency, on the same points scale. SOS is schedule difficulty; SOR is wins above what an average team would get against that schedule.
  • Elo A results-only rating that moves after each game based on the score and the opponent. 1500 is average.
  • Success rate Share of plays that stay on schedule: 50% of the yards needed on 1st down, 70% on 2nd, all of it on 3rd and 4th.
  • Explosive rate Share of plays that are runs of 12+ yards or completions of 16+ yards.
  • Defense rows What opponents did against the team. Lower is better except sack rate and interception rate.
  • Projection Rating gap, plus 2.5 points for the home team, and games usually land within about 14 points of it. A coin flip is 50%.

Ratings: SP+ via CFB Update; PRIME via primecfb.com. Box and play stats computed from CollegeFootballData.com play data (via the public cfbfastR files), FBS games only for scoring. Rushing yards here exclude sacks, so they run higher than official totals. Ranks are out of 138 FBS teams.

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