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A women’s hoops guide to NC State’s football home opener vs. Richmond.

NC State is 0-1. Virginia was not confused about that. The rest of us are still looking for the box score that makes it look better.

There isn’t one. The opener went 34-8. The Wolfpack gained 168 yards. CJ Bailey, last year’s 3,105-yard, 25-touchdown guy, went 12-of-23 for 84 yards, one interception, and a red-zone fumble that made every basketball fan in Raleigh whisper, “That’s a live-ball turnover. We do not like those.” Dave Doeren said the team was not ready and took the blame, which is coach-speak for “please do not make me watch that tape again without snacks.”

Richmond comes to Carter-Finley on Friday at 7 p.m. on ESPNU as a 2-0 FCS team that has already produced a 100-yard rusher, a 100-yard receiver, and a 100-yard passer in the same game. Freshman wideout Bryce Allen has seven catches, 143 yards, and three touchdowns in two weeks. That is not “cute FCS story.” That is “please cover the slant.” Defensive end Camden Byrd also collected 2.5 sacks against Bucknell, which is the football equivalent of a 6-foot-3 freshman dropping 18 and 11 in her first exhibition and then asking where the film room is.

This is where the women’s basketball program politely clears its throat.

Wes Moore’s teams are graded on a curve that would make most athletic departments cry into a fundraising brochure. Last year NC State went 21-11, 13-5 in the ACC, beat Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament, lost to Michigan, and still got the “down year” label. In Moore World, 21 wins is the basketball version of “we only scored eight points and now we have to talk about complementary football.” The man has spent more than a decade teaching the same lesson: bad night happens, erase the whiteboard, make the next home building feel personally offended. Reynolds already passed that exam. Carter-Finley is the makeup test.

A few things basketball people should know before they wander over Friday looking for a jumbotron and a 3-point contest.

One: NC State leads the series 18-1-1. The last meeting was 2013, a 23-21 home win in Doeren’s first season. That is comforting history. It is also 13 years old. History does not cover the slot.

Two: the Pack lost starting linebacker AJ Richardson to a season-ending biceps injury. In basketball terms, that is your starting four going down in October and the coach saying, “We have options.” Options is a lovely word. It is not a double-double.

Three: Richmond is not Virginia. Richmond is also not a spa day. The Spiders beat Bucknell 35-14 and Howard 28-21. They have already won two games this season. NC State has won the same number of games as your group chat’s fantasy team after Week 0.

What actually transfers from Reynolds is not the offense. Please do not ask Zoe Brooks to explain 12 personnel. What transfers is the attitude. Moore’s best teams do not hold a candlelight vigil for a bad shooting night. They come home, pack the building, and make the other team earn every possession. Football needs that same energy: a first drive that looks intentional, a defense that tackles the correct color jersey, and a student section that sounds less like a library and more like a place that has seen a sellout.

The primer, boiled down for people who measure success in assists and not third-down percentage:

• Friday, Sept. 11, 7 p.m., ESPNU, Carter-Finley. Wear red. Bring a voice. Leave the “it’s only Richmond” energy at the gate.
• Bailey needs rhythm more than he needs another think piece about mechanics.
• Allen is the freshman who already found the end zone three times. Treat him like a transfer guard who can shoot.
• The series says this should be a Wolfpack night. The last 11 days say the Wolfpack has to prove it still remembers how nights work.

Reynolds regulars already know the moral of the story. You do not get extra credit for explaining why the last game was ugly. You get credit for the next one looking like you. Friday is football’s chance to stop searching for a kinder box score and start posting one. The basketball program will be watching. Quietly. With popcorn. And opinions.