Road Trips

The major fall sports are on the road this weekend, as they head to contend in football vs Virginia and take the volleyball and soccer teams to Florida

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Host

Logan Brumley

What is In The Den?

"In The Den" with host Logan Brumley covers everything from the NC State Wolfpack's NCAA, intramural and club sports. "In The Den" is a podcast from WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2 at NC State University.

RoadTrips.mp3
Meeting created at: 25th Aug, 2026 - 3:35 PM

00:00
Logan Brumley
Welcome to WKNC's official sports podcast in the den. Today we're going to be looking over the football opener against Virginia and two notable sports teams are taking trips down to Florida. The men's soccer team headed to play against FIU and fau, and the volleyball team looking to play in the UCF Invitational to open their season. So get your headphones on and let's get straight to it. Well, the wait is over. This Saturday, the NC State football team will return in Charlottesville to play out of conference Virginia. The former Brazil matchup is now hosted by the Cavaliers. Virginia, they had a great year last year, if you don't remember. They managed to make their conference championship.

00:55
Logan Brumley
It was a crazy year for the acc, but through, I think a bunch of tiebreakers, they made it to Duke, lost in overtime and beat Missouri in the gator bowl, finishing 16th in the rankings. They had a quality offense paired with a really strong defense and they seemed untouchable last year, but now they do seem a little more touchable because they have lost a lot of notable talent. Jamari Taylor with Jacksonville Jaguars, Chandler Morris, the udfa, all that stuff. And at least I'm outside the top 25 with NC State, you know, getting some votes, but not really. So this is going to be a key matchup just to determine whether or not they could be looked at in the top 25 for the month of September. For Virginia, they do have one good thing going for them.

01:51
Logan Brumley
Their secondary returns a lot of key players, including their spur nickel Corey Costner, cornerback Donovan Platt and safety Evan Minter. And they bring in a former Michigan quarterback, cornerback. Yeah, Brandon Hillman. They did have a top five passing defense in the ACC last year. Now they bring back their coach. That could be a really good sign for them coming this fall, especially with NC State's large amount of turnover at the receiver position. We'll see how this start and rotation does. Against Virginia passing defense, but for the time being, we're just going to have to assume that those experienced cornerbacks are going to be able to take advantage of the situation unless if the chemistry is as good as advertised. On the linebacker front, Virginia does have two highly touted transfers, Matthew Fobbs, White from Baylor and Nana Anyanyu from utsa.

03:02
Logan Brumley
The pad, the edge, which again, I mean, that could be a really good pass rush defense if everything works out as it should. I don't see why it couldn't. Though their defensive line would be the big question. They did lose two of their most notable defensive linemen who both I think was like seven and a half and five sacks respectively. They both went to the NFL but they do retain their number three guy Fisher Cormac who is probably going to be the number one. They bring in some younger prospects up. So I think the NC State own line does have an advantage there. You know NC State does have some quality guys like Teague Anderson who have been in this offensive system for a few years. They have some talented incoming transfers.

03:58
Logan Brumley
We'll see how these Virginia backups look when they have regular amounts of play. But I wouldn't be super optimistic if I was Virginia on being able to put pressure to C.J. Bailey and to running back Duke Scott, which I think is going to be the biggest factor for NC State having some kind offensive success. This game is just kind of having a really aggressive offensive line and I think running I will see how these two edges edge guys look. We also have I think one returning linebacker who had a decent amount of tackles.

04:41
Logan Brumley
But ultimately I mean if I had to say there's like a defensive or offensive advantage I would give it to I guess Virginia over NC State just because of having more experienced guy and I I would argue higher quality defensive coordinator though we'll see how this season goes with D.J. Elliott. This Virginia offense could be able to exploit NC State's defense or maybe this is a sign of these of the Wolfpack defense stepping up. The offensive line. I mean they didn't have major turnover on the left side, but they lost the right tackle, the right guard moved to center and although their offensive line was real good with one and a half sacks a game last year, we'll see how these next men up for the offensive line will help.

05:44
Logan Brumley
It could be something that with both of these rosters not having like the greatest quality linemen when it's like NC State's defensive line against Virginia's offensive line, I don't expect that to be a huge factor to the game unless if Isaiah Shirley is going to be like really good, which I do think he has some potential be. I think for the running back game. They bring in two running backs who managed to produce the same amount offense as Jamari Taylor did last year. They bring in Peyton Lewis from Tennessee and Shakai Middlebrook from MTSU who have a combined 1042 yards and 11 touchdowns. I'm assuming both going to take turns sharing the rock. I don't know who they have listed as their number one running back light right now.

06:38
Logan Brumley
I would argue Peyton Lewis just because of SEC experience but we'll See how the offensive the running games look. I think they're both going to have really good running games in this matchup. Passing offense though, there was a quarterback battle this summer with Virginia having Beau Prabua transfer from Missouri and Eli Holstein from Pitt battling for that number one spot and it was given to Bo Pribula. He led the tigers with a 73 win record, 11 touchdowns, 7 interceptions and a 67% completion record and about 10 games started. The most receiving yards for returning wide receiver is Cameron Courtney at 200. I think it's like 242 but they do bring in some transfers of Desean Wright and Rico Flores who I'm assuming are going to be starting wide receivers this year from all I've been seeing with Virginia News.

07:51
Logan Brumley
So I mean this is going to be the biggest variable for Virginia I think. You know Prabula is SEC battle tested so that always feels like a good benchmark for whether a player is actually good or not. And this wide receiver core is very similar to NC State's where it feels practically brand new. So it's really hard to judge how they're going to look like until they get into this game. But what Virginia has that NC State doesn't is like a truly, I guess, elite secondary. NC State doesn't have the strongest secondary. They didn't have it last year. Some of the talent they bring in might be good, but again we'll have to see because I thought that Jaren Sensabaugh was going to be really good, but he hasn't got much playing time.

08:40
Logan Brumley
King Mac is a prospect, but we'll see the linebacker course the biggest wild card for NC State. I'd say it's going to be a really interesting matchup. I think if I had to guess, I think I would give the advantage defensively to I think both of these teams kind of have defensive advantages over each other's respective offenses. I don't think this is going to be last year was very high scoring. I could see it being really close, but Virginia might just be able to edge out NC State because they do have a Kicker of the year player to watch, Will Betridge, which really does not help our case, but I don't think it's going to be a stumble out the gate, which I think is going to be really good.

09:32
Logan Brumley
And you know, this next week with this bye week, I think we can really just dive deep and do like some I guess overreactions and we can really see what would be NC State's benchmark Because we know it's not conference championship, we know it's not going to be contending for the playoffs. We know it's probably going to be a bowl game. But maybe they could get into something that's I guess a step up from like the Gasparilla bowl or the where were they last year? I think I forgot where they were last year, but I know this year I think seen projections of like the Fenway bowl, which might be a little bit better, but again, we'll see. But make sure you tune in for that game. It's going to be really fun. All right, so now I have the soccer.

10:21
Logan Brumley
They had this crazy upset tie against Costa Carolina, which, I mean that was the team that I think could have had the chance to do so. I just don't really think it was actually going to happen, but it did. However, they did beat what's their name, Queens. However, that's enough to drop them down all the way to 20th, which is behind Duke, Charlotte Clark, Clemson. So like they really sunk because of that tide. Nobody thinks Coastal Carolina is going to be that good Coastal in Coastal Carolina to even get a vote, which is crazy, but water under the bridge. They really need to just get off that because their offense has been really struggling. They got 40 shots in both of these games but have only notched two goals. They have a 14% shot in goal and 5% shot accuracy.

11:32
Logan Brumley
Tyler Catton has been as he expected. He got a goal in the last game. Aiden Payne, Kaden Tolentino both got assists. Another player who I didn't know was on the roster, I guess it just got updated recently. Berco Russell, who's a transfer from Mississippi College got another goal. So I expect him to be part of the lineup going forward. This Queen's matchup, maybe it was a tune up. It can make it feel less of an embarrassment to have a decent win. I mean it was kind of like a comeback win, I want to say. Not really though, but they have two opponents, one really tough one that isn't going to be tough and we're going to see from there because after that they head into their conference schedule and just need something to feel confident about them.

12:28
Logan Brumley
FIU had a rough start to their season. They are.011 of a really bad goal differential because of a 60 loss to Creighton over the weekend. I think NC State's defense has their work cut out for them. I think it's been a really good defense. I think it's been as advertised. Queens only got three shots like total on NC State last night and I don't think Coastal got a lot either. Gordon Maloney, Antoine Adu, they've all been good. That's been a really good defense. Romans hasn't really had to work too hard. It's been really good. However, The Panthers have a 9% shot accuracy and a 46% shot in goal. So Romren, although he hasn't had much work, I think this is going to be a really good game to show that he can handle tougher competition regularly.

13:25
Logan Brumley
Because yes, he's only given up on goal and two games he hasn't had a lot of opportunity to do so. But if this offense is really that aggressive to 46% then oh boy, they haven't really played an offense as tough as Wolpach though. This defense for FIU, their opponents get about a 26% shot accuracy and they do have two players that have goals, Santi Basu and Pasquale Capriotti. I think this could be the game that you kind of gloss over. Expect NC State to do really good. I would just watch out because of that ability for FIU to get to the goal posts that if the defense is not as good as it's been in these last two games, I could definitely see them being overwhelmed and losing the game. Especially if the offense is not start picking up right now.

14:26
Logan Brumley
Especially since I got FAU to close off the weekend. FAU made the national tournament last year. I don't think they really made it too far though. Let me double check. They have lost to UCF who that got knocked out by Georgetown, blah blah. Where was I? They have another matchup that's going to be pretty tough. Fau. They're playing North Florida who also made the tournament and I don't think won a game either. Yeah, they lost in penalties to UNC. They have a really good win against Mercer 30 and oh no tie against UCF. They didn't really get revenge there. They've been in some foul trouble but have a pretty good defense and they haven't gotten a yellow card yet. You Only give up 25% shot in goal accuracy but haven't given up a goal yet in these past two games.

15:31
Logan Brumley
Although the North Florida game is going to be after this episode's release so we will see how that goes. They have two really good defenders who have been on the preseason all conference team. Their goalkeeper Alfred McKelsen and the defender David Roberts are going to be players to watch for. They also have a midfielder Felipe Santos and three separate players who have scored a goal and so far Jesus David has about two points, no three points with the squad. So that's I guess the guy to focus on right now is going to be a tougher matchup. But if NC State's defense stays secure and the offense finds itself during the FIU game, that could be just fine. They did manage to beat both FAU and FIU last year when they did a similar road trip, and I expect that to remain the same.

16:33
Logan Brumley
But that's going to be some matchups to watch out for. Especially as I mentioned, they're going to come back and play Virginia Tech at home. So having a really good show in should be important to just make them not flukes from last year fall off the rankings and kind of throw off the whole season. I feel like because there's a lot of not ranked team, I know that the first few weeks have a lot of turnover, but if you're a national champion contender, you don't want to be one of the ones that have the turnover. And they had the biggest drop outside of I guess Washington drop into 11th. But I mean we'll see. They just need to have a good showing and they need to go be Virginia Tech next week. So we'll see how it goes. All right, I'll finish up.

17:25
Logan Brumley
Got one more topic to go over, volleyball, the UCF Invitational. It's going to be pretty easy. They play Stony Brook, Robert Morris and I think the one game that's going to be tough is ucf. But let's just dive right into it. Stony Brook, they made their conference semifinals but didn't make the tournament. They went 79 in conference, 1215 overall. The team doesn't really seem to be too efficient. They had bottom four in every major stat last year including kills, opponent hint percentage, blocks, whatever, and they lose their top kill and assistant producers of Callie Moore and Eva Samora. So this team is really just going to have a question of what are they going to look like and I think they're going to get destroyed by NC State if they don't pull something together real quick. They do have some good players though.

18:31
Logan Brumley
They have Quinn Anderson, an outside hitter who was second in the team in kills and points per set, was a preseason non conference player. Another hitter who just transferred from Tucson. Ella Sanders is an honorable mention and she could also be a secondary scorer for the squad. I don't really have her numbers. She didn't play 2025 I think. But Alice Anders, Quinn Anderson, that's going to be their offensive duo. I think you know, eventually State's defense is that good. That should be something they can handle. But time will tell. We'll see how this matchup goes. They do have a pretty good Willbero too and Madison Signa and they're projected to finish sixth in the conference. I guess we're just going to see how it looks like for them, but this is the matchup I feel the second most confident about.

19:29
Logan Brumley
I don't think it's going to be tough. I don't think they really have tough out of conference opponents when they are open their seasons and Robert Morris is kind of in that same bill. They were just bad. They went 920 overall, 153 in conference, bottom tier offense, lower mid tier defense, bottom and major offensive stacks but about six to seventh in defensive stats and I don't think they really got much better but it did retain some decent players. Watch out for Jasmine Burkall, the libero junior. She was Horizon League defensive player of the year and has the sixth most stakes per set NCAA last year she's player of the year to watch preseason on conference.

20:15
Logan Brumley
Having a really good libero is going to be really helpful for this team just because I mean they dictate the defense and I think just having a really good defensive leader helps boost the quality of the defense overall. And I think that if the offensive players that we have don't pick it up then there is a albeit small chance of an upset. Especially since I do have a decent offensive player. The most Productive has about 1.79 kills per set but she's going to be the number one gal in offense now. Tia Schultz, outside hitter, sophomore so we'll see how Robert Morris looks. But I do believe those two games are going to be pretty easy. The tough matchup is going to be UCF. They're hosting.

21:08
Logan Brumley
They finished 10th in the conference, 17 and 12 overall, 8 and 10 in conference, projected to finish ninth and they do have some really good players who are coming in. Ava Moore, she's preseason all conference unanimous player, second in the team on Diggs, fifth in blocks. So she's really good defensively even as an outside hitter that's pretty good. But the offense she has 4.89 kills per set, 25 hit percentage. She's one of the best offensive players in the Big 12, maybe even the NCAA and I think that could be something that definitely overwhelms NC State's offense if they are not careful. They have Sasha Cohen, a middleback senior. She's probably going to be the number two offensive player with two points per set 36% hidden. That's two really good offensive players that NC State might have a tough time handling.

22:10
Logan Brumley
I know they have a lot of veteran defensive players but and I think they struggle against some really good offenses last year and this kind of this core for UCF's offense feels proven. Even if they didn't have that great of a season it could become a really quick just offensive matchup with just whoever has the ball more and I think in UCF might have the advantage there. They might not. They do have some decent offensive players who are coming in through the transfer portal, the Juco portal. They have a really good setter at 9.6 assists percent in Amy Schomer's it's going to be a rough matchup but if NC State can upset that then that really boosts your confidence about the season.

23:03
Logan Brumley
But it's going to be really uphill battle unless of this team can really just come together and just take care of business down in Orlando which again is easier said than done. Really good offensive players. Those two tune up games might be able to help them. We're gonna have to wait and see. I could go 2 and 13 0. It's just taking advantage of that empty defense but that's pretty much all I have for you guys today. Hope you enjoyed, hope you had a good listen, have a good day and go pack.

Transcribed by https://fireflies.ai/