TAMPA, Fla. – NC State will play in its 11th bowl game in the past 12 seasons as the Wolfpack gets set to take on Memphis from Tampa, Fla., and Raymond James Stadium in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl on Friday, Dec. 19th. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. on ESPN.
The Wolfpack’s invitation to play in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl marks the sixth-straight bowl qualification for NC State. That’s the longest continuous bowl streak under one head coach in school history and marks 10 bowl qualifications in Dave Doeren‘s 13 years as head coach of the Wolfpack.
This is the first-ever matchup between NC State and Memphis. NC State is 7-2 all-time against American Conference opponents, including a win against ECU this season.
NC State advanced to five straight bowls under Doeren from 2014-18. The longest bowl streak in school history was seven, from 1988 to 1994 under head coaches Dick Sheridan and Mike O’Cain. That streak is tied for second-best in the ACC in that time frame (Clemson has qualified for bowls in 12 straight years, and Miami is tied with the Pack for bowl bids in 11 of the past 12 years).
This will mark the third time that NC State has played a bowl game in the Tampa area and the second time playing in what is now the Gasparilla Bowl. In fact, Dave Doeren‘s first bowl game with the Wolfpack was played in Tampa, as his squad won the 2014 Bitcoin St. Pete Bowl (34-27 over UCF, 12/26/14). In 1993, head coach Mike O’Cain took his team to the Hall of Fame Bowl in Tampa, where the Pack lost to Michigan, 7-42.
NC State has faced some tough opposition in 2025. Memphis will mark the Wolfpack’s ninth opponent with eight or more victories this season. That mark leads the country. The Wolfpack played three teams that ended up with 10 wins. So far, the Wolfpack has boasted four victories against opponents with eight or more wins (East Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech). Eight of the Wolfpack 2025 regular-season opponents are bowl-bound, and four were ranked in the AP final regular-season poll.
This time last season, linebacker Caden Fordham was recovering from knee reconstruction surgery after suffering the injury in mid-October. Now, after a season leading the Wolfpack defense and leading in tackles in both the ACC and among P4 programs, Fordham has been named to two All-American Teams by The Sporting News and the Associated Press.
The Wolfpack boasted a player on offense and a player on defense who led the ACC in some pretty important statistical categories this season. Hollywood Smothers finished the regular season as the league leader in rushing yards (per game) with 85.4. He is the first Wolfpack player to lead the league in rushing since 1997. Defensively, linebacker Caden Fordham is not only the ACC leader in tackles, but he also leads the other Power 4 conferences as well. Fordham’s 10.8 stops per game also ranks fifth in the FBS. Although it’s not an ‘official’ statistical category, tight end Justin Joly was also a league leader after leading all ACC players at his position in receptions with 4.3 per game. All three players earned first-team All-ACC honors from the league and the Associated Press for their efforts.
NC State boasts seven receivers who have tallied 20 or more catches in 2025. That’s the second-highest tally in the P4 (Ole Miss has eight). All seven of those receivers have at least one touchdown grab this season. TE Justin Joly (47), WRs Terrell Anderson (38), Noah Rogers (31), Keenan Jackson (27), Teddy Hoffman (24), and Wesley Grimes (26), as well as RB Hollywood Smothers (37), have all hit the 20+ mark. You have to go all the way back to 2010 to find the last time the Pack boasted seven receivers with 20 or more catches in a single season.
NC State’s offense has been strong when it gets in the red zone this season. The Wolfpack ranks second in the ACC in red zone offense (10th in the FBS). The offense has scored .927 of the time it’s entered the zone. The Pack has scored a touchdown on 80.5% of its trips to the redzone (33-41) – the best percentage in the FBS. NC State ranks ninth in the league in trips inside the red zone, after not entering that sacred space vs. Notre Dame and getting in the zone just once at Pitt and once at Miami. However, in the past two games, the Pack is 8-9 in the zone.
