What You Might've Missed in Wolfpack's Loss To Notre Dame

While the Wolfpack hung around in the first half of the game, it couldn't compete for four quarters against the 16th-ranked team in the nation. Notre Dame took over in the second half, beating NC State 36-7 in South Bend, Indiana.

The loss puts NC State 4-3 on the season, a disappointing number for Wolfpack fans following the team's promising 3-0 start. Somewhat surprisingly, NC State's offense failed to get going at any point of the game, while the defense kept things close for the entire first half.

On this episode of the NC State Insider Podcast, check out what beat writer Tucker Sennett's thoughts on the game were and where the Wolfpack needs to go next to turn things around for the 2025 season.

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NC State head coach Dave Doeren was frustrated by the team's inability to play complementary football once again. The issue has been a recurring one for the Wolfpack throughout all three losses, as one phase has failed while the others succeed. Below is a partial transcript of Doeren's thoughts on the difficult afternoon for his Wolfpack:

On what went wrong offensively

"I thought we had four or five down the field throws that we've been making, and at least having a chance to make plays on and that just didn't happen today. Unfortunately, when you get man free as much as we did today, you're gonna have to be able to win some one-on-ones down the field."

"Teddy (Hoffmann) made a couple plays for us, but we had Noah (Rogers) deep. We had (Justin) Joly deep. Not one of those today we connected on."

Sep 20, 2025; Durham, North Carolina, USA; NC State Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren reacts to a call during the fourth quarter against the Duke Blue Devils at Wallace Wade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Zachary Taft-Imagn Images | Zachary Taft-Imagn Images

On sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey's struggles during the game

"CJ was off a little today. I mean, there's no other way to say it and I told him that in the locker room. He's a great player and he's played really good for us this year. I'm not blaming him at any point, but you know, he has huge expectations for himself and so do we. I felt like we could run by their DBs and we did. Every other game, guys have paid for that and we just didn't make them pay today."

On the issues with playing complementary football

"I wish I had the answer. It's not because we don't talk about it every week. That's what I told the guys in there. We've had games where we played lights out on defense, had games where we played lights out on offense. Had games where special teams was really poor."

"We need to put all three phases together, and it's a five-game season now. That's going to be the focus of things, finishing with three-phase football, complementary football, and getting better."

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