Wolfpack staying close to home. NC State selected to Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte

N.C. State is headed to the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte to face Maryland.

Like many bowl teams, the Wolfpack (8-4) will have to sort through who will and won’t play in the bowl. The Dec. 30 game at Bank of America Stadium will have a noon start.

Some Pack players could enter the NCAA transfer portal. Others with NFL potential could decide to sit it out.

And which quarterback will the Pack start in the bowl? Ben Finley or MJ Morris, who should be healthy after a late-season injury kept him out of the past two games?

Offensive coordinator Tim Beck has taken the job as head coach at Coastal Carolina, it was announced Sunday.

The Wolfpack finished No. 23 in the final College Football Playoff poll — earning coach Dave Doeren a $50,000 bonus — and was ranked No. 25 in the newly released AP Top 25 poll.

The game against the Terrapins reunites two former — and often fierce — ACC football rivals. The Pack and Terps last played in the 2013 season, in the final game of Doeren’s first as the Pack’s head coach, and Maryland taking a 41-21 win.

The Terrapins left the ACC and were in the Big Ten the next season, memories of their rivalry with the Wolfpack soon beginning to fade.

Maryland finished 7-5 this season, going 4-5 in the Big Ten. The Terps pushed Michigan in their September game, losing 34-27.

Maryland trailed Ohio State 33-30 deep into the fourth quarter of their Nov. 19 game before the Buckeyes pulled away for a final 43-30 win.

It will mark N.C. State’s fourth appearance in the bowl game in Charlotte, and its first since 2015.

The Pack shut out South Florida 14-0 in 2005, edged Louisville 31-24 in 2011 and then was smacked 51-28 by Mississippi State and Dak Prescott in 2015.

The bowl has had several names through the years as sponsorships differed: Continental Tire, Meineke Car Care Center, Belk and now Duke’s Mayo.