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Soooooo, y’all do anything fun last Saturday night?
As we had discussed on the pod and in our prediction posts, we were fairly certain NC State wasn’t going to be able to keep up with Tennessee. Now, we did not expect what happened to happen.
Being an avid fan of SNL throughout its whole history, I was super excited to see the trailer for the new movie “Saturday Night”. The original cast of the show was deemed by critics and executives not suitable for a mainstream audience, not polished enough for prime time. Thus they became referred to as the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. The funny wrinkle is they ended up owning that moniker and used it when introducing the cast in the intro each week as a way to thumb their nose at those that doubted them. They were also able to do that since the show became a success.
And that’s where we now find Dave Doeren and his team. They are in that in between period where they are being labeled, yet again, not ready for prime time, but it remains to be seen whether they can rebound and own this round of criticism. We’ve been through this several times before. The last time was an embarassing week 2 loss at home to Notre Dame. Before that, College Gameday was in Death Valley for a prime time matchup between the #5 Clemson Tigers and the then #10 ranked Wolfpack. Before that it was an embarassing week 2 loss in Starkville to Mississippi State. On and on we go.
These “breakthrough” opportunities don’t often come around when lined up with a roster poised to take advantage. That’s what has led to such feverish excitement this season. With perhaps his deepest and most talented roster to date, with all the staff in place just how he wanted it, this is Dave Doeren’s chance for a magnum opus. A season 12 years in the making, with fans waiting patiently and not so patiently for that real statement piece.
With Tennessee, a win was probably a bit of a stretch, but through 1.5 quarters, it was legitimately anyone’s game. The Wolfpack defense had held UT’s vaunted attack in check for the most part, and were driving down the field only down 10-3. With all the momentum in the world, Grayson McCall threw what can only be described as a back breaking play akin to Bane breaking Superman’s back. I don’t think I’ve seen one play devastate a team like that, and the Pack were never able to recover. Now being down 17-3 felt like being down a million, with the Volunteer defense rejuvenated and their NFL-bound defensive line feasting all night. They were just living in the NC State backfield all game, getting whatever penetration they wanted. The Pack basically sleepwalked through the second half, an Ayden White pick 6 being their lone trip to the end zone and finishing 51-10.
Still Not Ready for prime time, and yet, could be all’s well that ends well
The knock against Dave Doeren’s teams are they (mostly) beat all the teams at their level and below, but rarely step up to take down those above. Doeren is now merely 7-26 against ranked opponenents. You might say, “well we have to play Clemson every year”. True, but on the one hand there were several times Doeren had a chance to beat the Tigers and couldn’t close the deal. On the other hand, those are just 9 of those losses, meaning he’s 5-17 in non-Clemson ranked games. There’s been a handful of these “BIG” chances on a national stage to really put a stamp on the program, and by and large Doeren teams have come away with a loss.
There’s a myriad of reasons for each of these, of course. But when NC State squeaks by with a win we say, “a win is a win is a win.” Okay, then, “a loss is a loss is a loss.”
AND YET…If Dave has the team rebound and win the ACC, these first two weeks will be a distant memory. Nobody seems to recall what happened with Kevin Keatts’ team prior to winning nine straight games when it mattered the absolute most. Hell, if they beat Clemson at Clemson for the first time under Doeren, all the mojo will be back.
This team has enough talent on it to run the table in the conference, or at the least go 7-1 and make it to Charlotte. However, given what we’ve see from Doeren’s teams in big moments, do we have confidence they’ll be able to prevail? Let’s say an undefeated Miami team awaits them, who would you pick in that game?
NC State likes to make a big deal of taking under-recruited prospects and turning them into high quality college players. That’s a great story, but unfortunately, as you look to punch above your weight class in the end stars do matter. That was seen in multiple losses to Notre Dame, Clemson, and again against Tennessee. If the Pack face the Hurricanes in the conference championship game, that imbalance of stars will rear its ugly head once again. There’s plenty of time for Mario Cristobal to implode as is wont to do, so we’ll see how it shakes out. But given how Cam Ward has been looking through two weeks, and how loaded that UM roster is, it seems like a tall order for anyone to take them down this year.
That still doesn’t stop NC State from MAKING it to that game, though. If they beat Clemson and still don’t make it there (as has happened before), then this season would be yet another disappointment. When playing in prime time, and the lights are at their brightest, is a Dave Doeren-led Wolfpack team capable of a HUGE win? Going on 12 years, we’re still waiting. I would say wins against Lamar Jackson and twice against Clemson don’t quite count the same as what a win vs Tennessee would have meant, or winning a potential conference championship game. At this point, it’s a fair question to ask whether it actually can be done.
So where the vibes at??
Ultimately, that Tennessee team might win the SEC and finish as a top 4 team. At the same time, NC State gave up 21 points to Western Carolina, only for them to score just 16 points against Campbell (!) the following week.
Turn the clock back to this summer, we all saw y’all’s prediction tweets. By and large most people were chalking this game up to a loss. Most people would have loved to begin 4-0, but really wanted a 3-1 start, which seemed totally reasonable. But people are diving off the deep end after this loss. The vibes are in the crapper.
I’m gonna put this week’s vibes at 1.5 🐺out of 5.
As bad as the pressure must be for this NC State team, it was higher for Clemson. Everyone and their mama was telling them after week 1 that they were trash, they had no offense, and they were completely and utterly washed. I wouldn’t put it past Clemson fans to demand Dabo Swinney be replaced after the man gave you two national championships. But then, the team rebounded and took App State to the woodshed. All the points they’ve been lacking came out at once last week in a 66-20 win. This now makes a few things have to happen. NC State has to have a similar response to their loss by completely thrashing La Tech. Is Dave Doeren capable from a philosophical perspective putting up 66 points in a game? I’m not sure it’s ever happened. The Pack need to demolish them and set up their game against a Clemson team that seems to have found their groove back. PLUS they have a week to prepare while NC State does not. I’m nervous already, I need to sit down. Oh wait, I’m already sitting down, damn. I’ll just close my eyes for a while, that will make this all better.
AI Image of the Week
The cover image for this week is another AI banger, here was the prompt: “a sad pack of wolves on a broadway stage being booed by the crowd”. Seemed fitting for this week, now? Here’s the full picture:
I like that the computer thought it was appropriate that the audience also be anthropomorphic wolves. But they’re dressed and sitting upright while the wolves on stage are regular wolves. I feel like there’s some underlying symbolism there but I’m not an art major, I have a real degree that I don’t use (as opposed to a fake degree that I wouldn’t use).
So what do you think about the Tennessee game? How do you think NC State will respond vs La Tech and eventually Clemson??
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