Like Oklahoma State and Tennessee before, LSU has bought out its future home and home series with NC State.
N.C. State will open the 2015 season in Raleigh with Troy and visit the Trojans in southeastern Alabama in 2017. The Wolfpack had been set to play at LSU in ’17 with the Tigers coming to Raleigh in ’20.
LSU recently paid $100,000 to get out of the series, replacing N.C. State with fellow ACC member Syracuse, leaving the Wolfpack with a hole to fill.
Wow. A whopping $100,000!?!? Boy, that Lee Fowler really knew how to strike a deal! What a ridiculously low buyout payment. The insanity of the awful business that Fowler ran (or didn’t run) from his Lake Gaston office never ceases to amaze me. Compare that deal to the deal that Central Michigan had with NC State that required the Wolfpack to pay $350,000 to buyout a return game and I hope you have just another data point of the extreme ineptitude that our Board of Trustees allowed to linger in your Athletics Department for a decade.
In LSU’s place, it was announced yesterday that NC State has added a home and home series with Troy for 2015 and 2017. That usually means that Troy will play at NC State in 2015 and the Wolfpack will buyout the return game with the Trojans 2017.
The following is the current status of NC State’s out of conference football schedule…but, I caution about getting too upset about the next few years as I foresee some buyouts on the horizon.
2014: Georgia Southern, Old Dominion, at South Florida, Presbyterian
2015: Troy, at Old Dominion, at South Alabama
2016: Notre Dame, at ECU
2017: at Troy, at Notre Dame
2018:
2019: ECU
2022: at ECU
The News & Observer has more here:
Yow, who inherited the South Florida and Presbyterian games on the 2014 schedule and the trip to South Alabama in 2015 from former AD Lee Fowler, said she realizes there are valid complaints about the quality of the nonconference opponents.
This year’s home schedule in particular – with Georgia Southern and Old Dominion making the transition from the Football Championship Subdivision and no date with North Carolina or Duke – is unappealing.
“And I understand the complaints, in partial context,” Yow said, “but we have to give ourselves a chance to be competitive.”
Yow pointed out on the upcoming schedule the Wolfpack will play Florida State, Clemson and Louisville in a four-week span with no extra time off to prepare for any of those three games. The Clemson and Louisville games are on the road.
Florida State went 14-0 and won the national title last season and hasn’t lost an ACC game since a trip to Raleigh in 2012. Clemson finished 11-2 at No. 8 in the final AP poll after an Orange Bowl victory against Ohio State. The Tigers’ only two ACC losses in 2012 and ’13 were to FSU.
ACC newcomer Louisville went 12-1 last season and finished ranked No. 15. All three schools finished in the top 15 in 2012, as well. All three are in the Atlantic Division with N.C. State, which is why Yow has been less inclined to seek out a big game out of the league.
Football schedules can be complicated, and N.C. State has had its issues with locking in opponents. The school had a home-and-home with Pittsburgh on the books, and the two played in Raleigh in 2009, but then Pitt joined the ACC.
I’m sure that you’ve got a lot of opinions on this topic as it is a heated topic amongst Wolfpackers. With that said, SFN had a conversation with Debbie Yow about this a few months ago and her comments can be found by clicking here.
