NC State, UConn, they are the first team, uh, in the area that's kind of getting started this week or playing on Thursday at Thursday on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at uconn. So it is a road game for the wolfpack to get things started. What, what are your first thoughts? As you know, we get ready for NC State to begin their season? Yes. And head coach Dave Doran even downplayed this earlier this week saying does last year's game have any bearing on this year's game. Two, new teams, you got a new quarterback, new offensive coordinator and it's gonna be a first glimpse of Brendan Armstrong. And can they rekindle the magic of 2021 when he was paired at Virginia with offensive coordinator Robert and I it's gonna be the first glimpse of that. And Lewis, what I'm looking at this from a big, big picture standpoint, if your NC State is, you don't want to look past this game, looking ahead to week two against Notre Dame. So we're gonna get a first glimpse of that. And one other thing too, Lewis, we're all gonna have to figure out what channel the CBS Sports Network is on before kickoff. 7 30 on Thursday night, that's, that's 100%. The worst part of these, like, nonconference games early on is you're just like, trying to, ok. How do I watch this? How do I do that? Um, yeah, I mean, I, I don't think NC State is gonna look past you gone just because of the fact that it's the first game of the season. Right. And you've had to prepare for them. You haven't really had much of an opportunity to do anything else. I, I don't even know if NC State would have like looked at Notre Dame, uh film from, you know, their week zero game against Navy, especially since they have so much familiarity already with Sam Hartman. Uh, but yeah, it's, it's gonna be interesting because, you know, there is so much new with this NC State team and I think we're gonna, with all three of these games that we're gonna talk about here. I think we're all going to learn something very quickly about all three of these teams. Right? So, what does offense coordinator Robert and I and Brendan Armstrong, what do they bring to the table for NC State? Do we see this kind of change in philosophy that we are almost expecting where last year it was? All right. Listen, State's gonna play great defense. They're gonna punt the ball, they're gonna see if they can score on defense. They're gonna see if they can get some safeties and they're just gonna try not to turn over the ball on offense. Right. That's, that's how everything started to go down once Devin Leary got hurt. Uh, so do that, does that change a little bit? Are they gonna be running this more of like, kind of fast tempo, spread it out, uh, type offense? Is that what we are gonna see? Is that going to be successful? That's the offensive state is the prime thing. I'm gonna be watching uh against uconn on Thursday. Yeah, and it's like this isn't 2003 anymore. Lewis like it's, it's hard to win football games by not turning the ball over, being able to run the ball effectively playing good defense and then essentially winning the turnover battle and winning special teams. It's hard to win that way. So you're excited about Brendan Armstrong. He's demonstrated the ability to do this two years ago at Virginia and now goes to Syracuse. So then it's like his production completely drops off who he's going to throw to though because because there Thomas is a Minnesota Viking. Now Devin Carter is now at West Virginia. So it's like who are going to be the guys that step up that are gonna catch passes from him this season. I'm looking at Julian Gray, Kean Leanne. Then you got this freshman K ac conception a name we will, we'll probably talk about throughout the course of the season for the Wolf pack, but Armstrong can't do it all on him all by himself who he's going to throw the ball to is more so what I'm looking at than we've, we've seen the lefty play at a high level in this conference before and, and can you rekindle the magic and it's just like, hopefully he's not stunted. Hopefully other teams don't have too much tape on him of these are the things he likes to do. These are the things that we know that we can take away. We get a first glimpse of that on Thursday night. But again, I go back to, it's gonna be a tough matchup again, uconn, this is a team that went five and one at home a season ago. Now, I, I know last year's games have no bearing on on this season, but you're gonna get a first glimpse of that. I just hope the Wolf Pack aren't looking past uconn in advance of the Notre Dame game. That's where I'm at just from a big picture standpoint heading into the game. Yeah, when, when you look at kind of turning to uconn now, right? It, it's, I think we all have this image of what uconn football is in our head, which is not good. That's, that's the image that comes to mind when we think of the Huskies football. Uh, but when you look at where they were last year under, you know, head coach Jim Mora in the first half of the year, their schedule is a lot more difficult in the first half of the year. They're playing some high, higher quality teams that are not power five like a Utah State, for example, uh a Fresh no state. And then you also have some really good teams um that a war power five, the Syracuse, the Michigan, the NC State, Syracuse was, you know, started off really hot last year. Um This is a home and home with NC State. Uh That's why they're even playing and they lost at NC State last year, 41 and 10. So, what does that mean? Does that translate? I, I agree, this kind of feels different because you look at what they did in the backup and I, and I asked, you know, Dave Dorn said LA on Tuesday, right? That was Tuesday. Yeah, it's been a long week. Um Doren Doran said on Tuesday listened, like the team that they played at the beginning of the year last year is a totally different team than who uconn was towards the end of the year. Um You saw them, uh, have commit win against Fiu. Uh they upset Boston College 13 to 3. Uh They beat a solid umass team, they beat Liberty 36 to 33. So they are winning in a lot of different ways. They did end the season with two losses at Army and then in their Myrtle Beach Bowl against Marshall. Uh So it'll be interesting to see they have a new starting quarterback this year. I wanna make sure I'm pronouncing his name correctly. Joe Fignon is his name. Uh He was well well done there. Shout out to the uconn pr uh pronunciation guide. Um The uh but the thing with uh piano is he was a starting quarterback at Maine for the past few seasons and uconn's current offensive coordinator was the guy in charge at Maine when he first got there. So do you see a little bit of kind of coming together there a little bit of synergy between the two. he's someone who can throw the ball and can also run the ball as well. He had a career high in uh yards and carries, I believe last year. So something to keep an eye on because they have uconn's offense last year was just very, very bad passing the ball. They have a solid defense. They have a good rushing group. They have a good running back core, but can they be more than one dimensional? Um, that could make NC State's day a little bit harder, uh in East Hartford? And you certainly see the parallels between uconn's transfer quarterback and the rapport with an offensive coordinator to what NC State has with Brendan Armstrong. I'm looking at the running backs though and that's something that Dave Dorn even mentioned of. They've got two running backs who are capable of playing at an AC C level. So that's gonna be tough to slow those two players down. And, uh it's Devante Houston and then Victor Rosa for uconn. So that's what NC State's defense is tasked with. I go to what NC State's defensive coordinator says though and says in my time here in Raleigh, this is as good of a defensive line group as I've had. It's a line of scrimmage game. We're gonna talk about the big uglies up front right now, Lewis, if you're Davi Van CJ Clark as the nose tackle, Savion Jackson Trivalley Prince, uh re price for me, it starts with Clark up front as the nose tackle. You're, you build your house from the foun from the ground up. That's the foundation, the defense is going to start because this was a very good Wolf pack defense a year ago, right? So if you want to replicate that success, I think there's gonna be some regression. I really do because this was an NC state defense that was ranked 20th in total defense and 11th in scoring defense in the entire country, there's gonna be some regression there. How can you make up for that two experienced cornerbacks if you're the Wolf Pack from a defensive standpoint, linebacker Peyton Wilson is pretty good too, but also too, from a special team standpoint too. Christopher Dunn, who's the Lou Groza winner too is no longer there too. So that style of play where it's low scoring game, you can eke it out in the end. You go eight and five last year. I don't know if that's gonna work again for this season. Lewis. I, I don't know, it's a style of play that I think has a ceiling. Uh And so I think definitely, if you can, if, if there's ever a time to start transition a mindset and transition to team philosophy a little bit, I think now is the time to do that because I don't think there is as much pressure on NC State this year as, as compared to last year. Last year, there were expectations that NC State could come out here and win the AC C. Oh Devin Leary could be the AC C player of the year, all that stuff this year, there are a lot less expectations. So I think that just kind of frees things up for a little bit for state. I agree. I don't think the defense is going to be as good as last year, but I, do you think they're still going to be really solid because they had players, the guys who are starting now played last year, you know, in, in different ways because of injury just getting in the ro rotations, things like that. Um, and their defensive line and their secondary is very good. I look at, um, you know, Dan Van, I, I think he's someone who could really have a great year for them on the defensive line. Uh, he's someone who gets a lot of credit from just his own teammates. Um So I, I think there is a, a lot of potential with the state team that all comes down to. What does that offense do. Um And because uconn's defense is not great by any means, but they have some older, more experienced players now, year two, under Mora, you know, it's, it's gonna be, I think a defense that if NC State struggles offensively, they're going to be good enough to slow them down even more. Um So it's, it's not by any means a it is of all the, the three local triangle teams playing. This is the easiest game for the local triangle team. However, I do think it has the potential to be tricky if NC State is struggling out the gate this season and I'll leave with this Lewis. This game opened up Wolf pack favored by 16.5. It's moved to 14.5 and in keeping Brendan Armstrong upright, you want to keep him clean. You hear that a lot about quarterbacks, you're losing a pair of all conference linemen. Uh Grant Gibson, who graduated Chandler Zavala, who is now on the Carolina Panthers. So something else. Again, it's not flashy to talk about the line of scrimmage and linemen, but it is a very important component of football. Yes, I, I love talking about the big uglies. Don't, don't get me wrong. I, I deserve credit, Lewis. They do, they do, we, we give plenty of credit to the offensive defensive line here on triangle and two.