By Dave Holcomb
SouthernPigskin.com

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Dave Holcomb previews NC State vs Wake Forest.

As far as the College Football Playoffs go, all eyes are on the other Power 5 conferences. Will the SEC get two teams? Who is the best team in the Big Ten? What has to happen for Oklahoma to make the top four?

Unfortunately for the ACC, no team in the conference really has a path to the College Football Playoffs. Wake Forest had a small one until last week when the Demon Deacons blew a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter against North Carolina.

But that doesnt mean there arent still meaningful games to be played in the ACC. In fact, Wake Forest will get right back into the fire this Saturday when it hosts NC State with the Atlantic division crown on the line.

While the NC State-Wake Forest matchup may not impact the College Football Playoff rankings, it figures to be an entertaining matchup with one of the best offenses in the country squaring off against an elite defense. Wake Forest is ranked inside the top six in the nation in points per game and yards per contest.

NC State gives up just 16.0 points per game. Only five teams in the country have allowed fewer through nine weeks. The Wolfpack are also 11th in the Power 5 in yards allowed per game.

Wake Forest is the only team in the FBS that has scored at least 35 points in every game this season. That will be severely tested this Saturday, though, against the top scoring defense in the ACC.

To bounce back from their loss against the Tar Heels, the Demon Deacons will need quarterback Sam Hartman to play much better. Although he threw for 398 yards last week, he went 25 for 51 (49 percent) and threw two interceptions. Thanks to 26 incompletions, Hartman averaged 7.8 yards per pass — his lowest amount in the category since Week 1.

At first glance, NC State appears better statistically against the run than the pass. The Wolfpack allow almost eight fewer rushing yards per game than any other ACC team but are sixth in the conference in pass defense.

But thats because teams have given up trying to run against the vaunted NC State defensive front and thus have accumulated more passing yards. NC State is tied with Clemson for first in the ACC in passing yards allowed per attempt (6.3).

Last season against NC State, Hartman threw a lot of short passes, averaging 6.6 yards per pass. The Wolfpack won by a field goal, 45-42.

NC State would love to be the first team to hold Wake Forest under five touchdowns, but the Wolfpack are more than capable of winning another high-scoring affair like they did last year against the Demon Deacons.

NC State quarterback Dennis Leary is more of a game-manager than the other elite ACC quarterbacks, but hes been very efficient lately. In the last two games, he has averaged 9.3 yards per pass and thrown eight touchdowns versus only one interception.

Leary is fourth in the ACC with 25 touchdown passes, which is only two behind Hartman. Leary also has two fewer interceptions than Hartman (three versus five) with more passes thrown.

If the NC State-Wake Forest matchup becomes the first to 50 points, the question then becomes whether or not the Demon Deacons defense can make a stop in a key situation. It couldnt last week when the unit gave up 24 points in the fourth quarter to North Carolina.

The Wake Forest defense will look to get back to what it does best — causing turnovers. The Demon Deacons have 18 takeaways to lead the ACC. But that will be difficult to do against Leary and the Wolfpack, who have the fewest giveaways in the conference this year.

The matchup with the Tar Heels last week was technically a non-conference game, so despite the loss for Wake Forest, the Demon Deacons remain undefeated in the ACC. But NC State enters with a 4-1 conference record and will move into a tie for first place with Wake Forest in the Atlantic with a victory at Winston-Salem.

This matchup wont influence playoff seeding, but it could very well decide who advances to the ACC Championship Game. For one school that has never been to the conference championship game and the other who hasnt been there since 2006, thats a big deal.