NC State's Football Program Is In Flux After Vanderbilt Loss

The Wolfpack’s early season hasn’t even remotely gone according to plan.

“We think we’re going to win every game, every year,” Head Coach Dave Doeren said during Week 0. “We don’t get into a game thinking we’re going to lose this one.”

While Doeren and his staff don’t think they will lose a game, the reality is his program is currently 1-2 heading into a tough stretch of games.

#16 Louisville and a 2-1 Wake Forest await the Wolfpack after it meets with App State this weekend.

Taking the Blame For the Vanderbilt Loss

The Wolfpack’s blowout loss to Virginia on national television, stung, but State gifting Vanderbilt a win in the final seconds of the game last week has been a stain on the program.

“We decided as a staff to take a safety, and the plan was to use a safety play that allows us to also milk the clock,” Doeren said. “That play is designed to allow the quarterback to roll to his right, milk the clock until people get near him and then fall down and not take contact. And, obviously, that's not what happened.”

No, it’s not what happened at all.

Instead, CJ Bailey fumbled the ball in the end zone with only seconds left in the game.

Vanderbilt recovered and ran away with the win NC State desperately needed. “We were prepared for the moment, and we just didn’t execute in that moment,” Doeren said.

“CJ takes ownership, I take ownership, Kurt Roper takes ownership, we take ownership,” Doeren said. “It's a terrible way to end a football game that you controlled.

Passing the Next Test

Now, suddenly, everyone has an opinion to share on the state of things with the Wolfpack. Josh Pate even called for NC State to shut its program down.

That’s ridiculous, of course, but that’s how bad things have gotten for Doeren and his program. It’ll take more than a (blowout) victory against App State to make this pain go away.

However, even with the 2 embarrassing losses, NC State still has a chance at redemption inside the ACC race.

There's a lot of football left in this season. There's a lot to play for. And I know that we're not gonna quit,” Doeren said. “We're gonna fight our butt off.”

While unlikely, nothing is preventing NC State from going on a run here with 9 games left in the regular season. It would be the biggest surprise of Doeren's tenure in Raleigh.

"Our resolve is being tested, our togetherness being tested. And I know we'll pass the test,” Doeren said.

NC State’s next test arrives on Sept. 26 when it hosts App State.

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