Who’s going to be the quarterback? NC State preps for both Syracuse options.

Freshman quarterback Tommy DeVito rallied Syracuse to a comeback win over North Carolina last week.

Senior quarterback Eric Dungey has started every game this season and leads the Orange (5-2, 2-2 ACC) in rushing and has accounted for an ACC-best 18 touchdowns.

No. 22 N.C. State (5-1, 2-1) expects to face both quarterbacks on Saturday night (7 p.m., ESPN2) in an Atlantic Division matchup.

“They’ve got two quarterbacks that are playing well,” N.C. State coach Dave Doeren said.

It had been mostly Dungey’s show, when healthy, up until the fourth quarter of last week’s home game with UNC. The 6-4, 226-pound senior has run for a team-best 477 yards and eight touchdowns and has completed 119 of 203 passes for 1,433 yards with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions.

DeVito, a 6-2, 211-pound redshirt freshman, has completed 28 of 53 passes for 399 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. The Orange trailed UNC 27-20 with 5:07 left in the fourth quarter when Syracuse coach Dino Babers decided to turn to DeVito. The redshirt freshman had played well (11 of 16, 144 yards, one touchdown) in relief of an injured Dungey in a 30-7 win over Florida State on Sept. 15 but did not play in subsequent ACC losses to Clemson or Pittsburgh.

DeVito finished 11 of 19 for 181 yards against UNC with three touchdowns and an interception. Dungey was 17 of 33 for 225 yards and he also ran for 42 yards and a touchdown.

“I think that there’s no doubt that the performances that he’s put in means that he’s good enough to play in a game and help us win,” Babers said.

But will Dungey or DeVito start against the Wolfpack? Babers is following the time-honored tradition of keeping the opponent guessing. Babers said he has explained the situation to the players but will keep his decision inside the program until Saturday night.

“My thing is, when you have children, you always want to be fair,” Babers said. “You always want to be fair. When you’re the leader of any organization, the leader of a football team, you’ve got 107 sons. They’re not step-sons, they’re not strangers, they’re not kids who play in the neighborhood around the corner — they’re your sons. And you want to be fair. So that’s the big thing is just making sure that you’re fair and that you’re always crystal-clear with the family, that they know what’s going on.”

N.C. State is preparing to have to defend both. Dungey presents more of a running threat than DeVito.

“We have enough film on Tommy DeVito to know how things change,” Doeren said.

N.C. State has won four straight against the Orange and both of its ACC games at the Carrier Dome (in 2014 and ‘16). The winner will be bowl eligible. Syracuse, 4-8 in each of Babers’ first two seasons, has not been to the postseason since 2013. N.C. State has been to four straight bowls under Doeren.

This story was originally published October 25, 2018 at 10:58 AM.