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Things are going great right now, aren’t they?? I’ve been trying to think of which clip is best fitting to kick off this sad vibes update. I couldn’t decide between these two:
(Credit to Lotcast host Trey Lower for the inspo on this classic gem)
There’s also an air of trying to remain calm while people are shouting about what’s wrong:
The one thing that’s clear is the sunny outlook for this season has quickly become a dark cloud. Dark clouds make it unclear what to expect week to week.
What this means is the team will be under an immense amount of pressure. The discourse is bound to be f****n* exhausting, and each game will come with a full referendum on Dave Doeren, his players and staff, and his tenure as a whole.
The Wolfpack are Under the Microscope
The one thing that’s obvious is this NC State team will be living under a microscope for the remainder of the season, for worse. It’s not even “for better or worse”. This type of scrutiny is just outright worse. Guys like Red Hibbler are removing themselves from the conversation by deciding to transfer. Best of luck to him but it makes you wonder as a fan what the mental makeup of the rest of the team continues to be. Just last year, Doeren was able to manage replacing the starting QB, then having that backup elect on his own side to sit back down on the bench and needing to reinsert the starter. What a mess that was. That backup chose to transfer, but it hasn’t exactly worked out for him. It often doesn’t, but when you’re young you think you’ll be the exception to all the rules.
We don’t seem to have that same scenario happening here, thankfully. By all accounts, CJ Bailey has a good head on his shoulders and is relishing his opportunity regardless of how long it lasts. He showed a lot of moxie making his first start in Death Valley of all places, and the moment did not seem bigger than him. It would have been understandable to see some deer in the headlights looks, but that didn’t happen.
The next few months are crucial for Dave Doeren’s tenure. If he’s able to right this ship, win 8-9 games (again), AND most crucially secure the core of this offensive roster’s return for next year, it will stave off the growingly rabid fanbase. The NC State fanbase is always looking towards the future in anticipation. If the nucleus on this team (Bailey, Concepcion, Joly, Rogers, Raphael, Smothers, Grimes, Anderson, Paylor, etc.) all agrees to come back, then we get to spend the offseason happy about recovering a shaky start to get back to the standard of 8-9 wins.
Possible hope?
BUT, and this is a big BUT, if the team finishes with let’s say 8 wins (or less, God forbid), AND many of the pieces scatter to the winds of the transfer portal, then like it or not the temperature on Dave’s seat gets cranked WAY up next year. Much has been made on whether fans have the right to boo their home teams, or whether it’s in good taste. Regardless of where you fall on that scale, the dye has been cast with fans feeling more tied to their teams than ever, now that they’re being asked to help construct these rosters via their NIL donations. This has gone beyond buying tickets, you’re being asked to chip in to the pot to go after a killer roster, so the feeling fans have is they are part of a handshake agreement to see a return on that investment. Is it fair? Maybe, maybe not, but that’s how the world works now and there’s no going back.
We’ve been vocal here at TRT in our support of Dave Doeren and everything he’s built. It will be fascinating to see how the rest of the season goes, and to see how AD Boo Corrigan handles it. If the above scenario happens, how do you let someone go for maintaining a consistent standard of winning not seen in school history before? But on the flip side, how do you keep someone for being consistently good but not great? It’s an unenviable position to be in. I lean on the former side, while the vocal part of the fan base is leaning to the latter. At least, that’s the sentiment we get from those burner Twitter accounts. These faceless profiles are only fanning the flames people have against NC State fans, and furthering their negative opinions towards us. Let’s hope Corrigan doesn’t have to make any such decision though. Doeren can simply follow Al Davis and just “win, baby, win.”
One way or another, the last ¾ of this season are going to be looked at with extreme scrutiny. All the internet gumshoes are going to be looking for cracks wherever they think they can find them.
Sooo, vibes??
The vibes rating is unfortunately at an all time low. It’s not that the vibes are simply off. It seems right now there are no vibes. The vibes are gone. The Wolfpack are in deficit of vibes. They are in vibe debt, and owe vibes back to the fans, with interest.
Current vibes: -10,000,000,000,000,000 🐺 / out of 5.
The AI image is super creepy, and I love it. I wanted a scientist looking at a wolf under a microscope and it delivered. Why is she holding that...whatever it is?? What is she going to do to that poor wolf? We'll never know!
Great stuff as usual. One note re: "the dye has been cast", not sure if that was supposed to be poetic license, but the phrase is typically "the die has been cast", coming from the Latin, Alea iacta est.