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Tom O'Brien figures the best way to keep his North Carolina State players focused on their opener is to remind them that they're playing "Carolina."

That it's Western Carolina -- and not higher-profile North, South or East -- doesn't matter to the Wolfpack coach.

"One thing about them, they have Carolina in their name," O'Brien said. "That's always a big game for anybody in here at State. This (N.C. State) team, I think, has a little chip on their shoulder. They have a lot to prove."

So does O'Brien, who begins his fourth season in Raleigh on Saturday night with a visit from the Catamounts of the Championship Subdivision.

The accomplished former Boston College coach is still looking for his first winning season with N.C. State.

Still, he hopes that a lineup that includes one of the ACC's top quarterbacks in Russell Wilson, a surprise starter at tailback (former defensive back Dean Haynes) and a healthy Nate Irving at linebacker will be enough to push the Wolfpack over the hump and propel them to success.

"This team is as close to getting towards those teams that I coached at Boston College in terms of being a football team," O'Brien said.

N.C. State is eager to see if Irving, who missed all of 2009 with injuries he suffered in a car accident, can rediscover the form that made him the team's top tackler in '08.

If nothing else, he'll at least have a chance to see how he stacks up in a game situation against a Western Carolina team that went 2-9 last season and finished last in the Southern Conference. The Catamounts, who have never beaten a team from the Bowl Subdivision, will be without two key players -- leading returning receiver Marquel Pittman and defensive end Trey Selby -- who were suspended for the opener for violating undisclosed team rules.

"We've got to make sure we don't give them the big play," Western coach Dennis Wagner said. "It's a great situation for our kids."

MISSISSIPPI: quarterback Jeremiah Masoli has been cleared to play football just one day before the start of the season.

Three days ago, the NCAA ruled that the former Oregon quarterback had to sit out a season after enrolling at Mississippi. But the university appealed that decision and won.