Who is favored in NC State Wolfpack at Stanford Cardinal?

NC State Wolfpack is favored on the moneyline.

NC State Wolfpack at Stanford Cardinal

·Oct 23, 2026·9:30 PM CT·ESPN·Stanford, CA

By JR·2 min read

NC State(3-3)

Stanford(3-4)

9:30 PM

TLDR: Two ACC teams hovering around .500 meet on a Friday night in Palo Alto, and both have taken a beating from the same Wake Forest team this month. NC State gets to Stanford Stadium off a bye. Stanford gets there on a short week after its first comfortable Saturday in a while.

FRI 10/23, FRI OCT 23, 9:30 PM CT · Week 8 ESPN

NC State

(3-3)

LWWLW

Stanford

(3-4)

WLLWL

Kickoff 64°

NC State (3-3) comes off a bye after Wake Forest outscored it 31-0 to finish a 38-14 win, and travels to face a Stanford team (3-4) that is 6 days removed from a 34-7 win over FCS Elon. On paper the Wolfpack have the more consistent resume, and both teams lost to Wake Forest by very different margins. Stanford's home field and Micah Ford's running offset NC State's missing receivers and a cross-country trip for a late kickoff.

NC State Wolfpack

Bye week to fix second-half collapse vs Wake
Lost to Wake by 24; Stanford lost by 54
First-half defense held Wake to 10 points
Outscored 31-0 after leading Wake 14-7
TE Ritchey and WR Copper both out
Cross-country trip, late Friday kickoff

Stanford Cardinal

Micah Ford ran for 4 TDs against Elon
Home game, clear weather, little wind
Beat Georgia Tech 34-27 at home

This is the football setup: NC State (3-3, 1-2 ACC) used the bye to sit on a bad second half, and Stanford (3-4, 1-3 ACC) turns around 6 days after beating Elon to host a Friday night game. The Wolfpack's whole week since October 10 has been about the Wake Forest game, a 14-7 lead that became a 38-14 loss once the Demon Deacons scored 31 straight points over 5 straight possessions at Carter-Finley. It was NC State's first home loss of the year, and the team blamed execution afterward.

That second half is the worry. NC State's defense held Wake to 85 passing yards, 37 rushing yards and 10 points before the break, then gave up a 265-63 yardage edge after halftime. On offense the Wolfpack have 2 pass-catchers out: TE G. Ritchey and WR T. Copper, both listed out with undisclosed injuries and no timetable. An offense that put up 73 on Richmond and 41 on App State is going to Palo Alto with fewer options than it had in September.

Stanford's swings have been even bigger. In the span of 3 weeks the Cardinal lost 57-3 at Wake Forest and 58-7 at Notre Dame, then beat Elon 34-7 at home. Micah Ford ran for 4 touchdowns against the Phoenix, tying the Stanford single-game record, and finished the day with an 81-yard run in the 4th quarter. Davis Warren found Sedrick Irvin for a 27-yard score. Elon is an FCS team, though, so the win doesn't say much about how Stanford stacks up against ACC competition.

Both teams have played Wake Forest, so there's a direct comparison. NC State lost to the Demon Deacons by 24 at home and led for most of the first half. Stanford lost to them by 54 on the road and scored 3 points. The Cardinal's other conference loss was 35-7 at Duke. Their best ACC result is a 34-27 home win over Georgia Tech. NC State's best is a 31-28 win over Louisville, plus a 31-35 loss at Vanderbilt that stayed close the whole way.

The schedule matters as much as the matchup. NC State gets 2 weeks to fix the halftime adjustments that sank it against Wake, but it also has to fly across the country for a late kickoff that will feel even later on an Eastern body clock. Stanford gets home cooking, a forecast of 64 degrees, clear skies and 4 mph wind, and less than a week to prepare. Whichever team handles its scheduling problem better probably wins a game between 2 teams trying to get back to .500 in conference play.

NC State Wolfpack at Stanford Cardinal

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