As much as players like to downplay the pressure of playing on a stage like this Thursday’s game against South Carolina, redshirt senior tight end Anthony Hill went the opposite direction.
“This will be the biggest game that I’ve ever been a part of,” Hill said. “Just to go down to the SEC, it’s a Thursday night game, ESPN, primetime –this is definitely the biggest one.”
Thursday night’s showdown in Columbia will be college football’s first nationally televised game of the season, showing on ESPN at 8 p.m.
For both the Athletics Department and the football coaching staff, it represents a way to greatly increase N.C. State’s national exposure.
“As far as publicity, we’re very excited to be the first game and be on ESPN,” Athletics Director Lee Fowler said. “Everybody can’t wait for the season to start, and when you’re the first one to come out, it helps in recruiting the type of players you want to bring in who want to play on that national stage.”
The ACC has a contract with ESPN for conference teams to appear in seven Thursday night games this season, according to Fowler. State will be in two of those games — this Thursday’s game and the Oct. 16 game against Florida State in Raleigh.
The conference gives each school $20,000 to market the game, but that’s the only additional money the games bring in.
“You have to show them that you’re using that money to market the game,” Fowler said.
The Florida State game is important for State because it avoids hosting a game on the Saturday the State Fair is in town. The game is the Thursday before the fair starts and then the Pack is on the road for the next three weeks.
“We try to stay away from the Saturday of the fair any way we can,” Fowler said.
The agreement with South Carolina is home-and-home, meaning each school will host a home game in successive years. Next year’s season opens with South Carolina at home, and Fowler hopes to nab the Thursday national spotlight again.
But with extra attention comes extra pressure for the team. State will be playing in its first SEC stadium since 1995, and coach Tom O’Brien said he knows there’s no way to simulate that type of environment.
“I’ve never been one of the guys to pipe in all the noise. I don’t know if that does any good anyways,” O’Brien said. “You just have to do the best job preparing to win and you have to count on your senior leadership.”
But with limited seniors, O’Brien will be looking for a cool presence on the field wherever he can find it.
“The problem is we don’t have that many seniors or guys that have played a lot,” O’Brien said. “There might be more freshmen or walk-ons in the two-deep than there are seniors.”
