Wolfpack still selling tickets

N.C. State's ticket office has sold about 5,500 of its allotment of 10,000 seats for the Papajohns.com Bowl, State assistant athletics director Brian Kelly said Thursday.

The Wolfpack (6-6) will meet Rutgers (7-5) on Dec. 29 in the game, set for Birmingham, Ala. Kelly said school officials still are taking orders daily. The university ticket office will take orders by phone through Tuesday and will continue accepting online orders through Dec. 26.

Bowl sales and marketing manager Bo Kerr said most of the ticket orders taken directly by the bowl are received online, so it's impossible to tell for sure how many patrons of that outlet are N.C. State fans. However, he said, there are a lot of orders from fans who have phone numbers with North Carolina area codes.

"We've gotten very good response from N.C. State," Kerr said. "We're expecting to have a good crowd."