After one of the most unfathomable losses in college football history, NC State now faces an undefeated in-state rival eager to add to the Wolfpack’s misery.
Can NC State respond after Saturday’s 35-31 loss at Vanderbilt that unfolded in unthinkable fashion?
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Leading 31-28 with seven seconds remaining and the ball on the 2, quarterback CJ Bailey fumbled in the end zone on fourth-and-7 while trying to run out the clock, and Vanderbilt recovered for the game-winning touchdown with one second remaining.
NC State head coach Dave Doeren said Monday that his team has worked on those types of situations every Friday practice for 14 years.
“We decided as a staff to take a safety, and the plan was to take 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.”
Doeren said he knew NC State would still likely have to kickoff after the safety and planned a deep squib kick to try to run out the final seconds.
“We preferred that option over the other option which is throwing the ball as far as you can from the pocket, rolling out and doing that out of your own end zone,” he said.
With the ball on the right hash, there was concern about rolling right — and, being on the road, about how quick or slow the clock operator might be.
“If you do throw that and five seconds go off, they get the ball on the 2,” Doeren said, which would allow Vanderbilt a game-tying field goal attempt or one play for a potential game-winning touchdown. “Just felt like that was a much riskier play in our own end zone.”
Bailey is in his third season as the Wolfpack’s starter. He completed 25-of-37 passes for three touchdowns — all to receiver Keenan Jackson — and one interception against Vanderbilt.
“When a play isn’t executed properly, there’s two things that are true,” Doeren said. “The player didn’t do what he was coached or trained to do, and the coach didn’t do a good enough job training the player to do what he wanted them to do. And both of those things are true.”
He added: “CJ takes ownership. I take ownership. [Offensive coordinator] Kurt Roper takes ownership. We take ownership. It’s a terrible way to end a football game that you controlled and so there was a lot of pain in that locker room after the game and a lot of anger. I know the fans feel the same way.”
Doeren said he and Bailey met Sunday to talk and “vent.”
“He and I love each other and have a lot of respect for each other,” Doeren said. “And just wanted to make sure that we learn from what happened and that I understand completely what was going on with him and how we can move forward and best use this as a galvanizing moment with our football team.”
The play will likely live on in highlights – or lowlights – for years.
Teams with the lead and less than 10 seconds remaining were 1,046-1 in the last 20 seasons before Vanderbilt’s miracle, ESPN reported. The only previous loss came in 2015 on a fumbled punt by Michigan against Michigan State, another improbable ending.
NC State led 17-0 in the second quarter, 24-7 in the third and 31-21 in the fourth. An interception by NC State’s Brody Barnhardt at the goal line with 1:04 remaining seemingly sealed the game for NC State.
But it didn’t. NC State was out of timeouts and took a delay of game penalty before fourth down that pushed the offense back to the 2.
“It’s a shame it came down to that play,” Doeren said after the game. “That should never happen. Obviously a play that breaks your heart more than anything. I was proud of how our guys played for 59 minutes and 59 seconds.”
He compared the loss to the 2016 overtime loss at No. 3 Clemson when NC State forced four turnovers and a 2024 loss to South Carolina in Charlotte when NC State outgained the Gamecocks 504-215 — games where he felt his team was better but didn’t get the win.
Doeren said he absorbed valuable lessons after that 2016 loss to Clemson that could help this week.
“That devastated our locker room for a long period of time,” said Doeren, whose team lost the next three games. “I’m not going to let that happen. I’ve learned a lot from that. With the team, we talked about it. I brought up that game to them and how we can’t let one team get to the next game, the next game, the next game. We’ve got to move on.”
Doeren said he was in shock after the game – and “so mad.”
“Football is a fickle sport, and it’s tough and crazy stuff happens at times,” he said. “It’s just unfortunate that we were part of the crazy this week.”
NC State has already bounced back once this season. The Wolfpack were blown out 34-8 by Virginia in the season opener, a humbling defeat for a team with high hopes entering the year. The Wolfpack crushed Richmond 73-0 and set a slew of offensive records in its next game.
But the loss at Vanderbilt was of a different nature, a gut punch of a defeat. It was NC State’s sixth straight loss against teams from the Southeastern Conference.
“It’s different in that we didn’t underperform,” Doeren said. “We came out and played really good football. Whereas in Virginia, we didn’t. So that part is different, but getting back on the winning side of things and a lot of football left, all these things are still true.”
NC State plays three straight homes, including Saturday when the Wolfpack (1-2) hosts App State on Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium. The Mountaineers (3-0) are seeking their first-ever win over NC State, which is 6-0 in previous meetings, all in Raleigh, including their last contest in 2006.
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU and 101.5 FM in the Triangle.
The Mountaineers defeated East Carolina 27-24 and Charlotte 26-21 the last two weeks.
“We just got to get locked in with loving the process of preparing to win,” Doeren said. “That’s all this week is going to be about. It’s not going to be about what happened on Saturday last week. It’s going to be about what we’re going to get done this Saturday.”
NC State is 33-2 in nonconference home games under Doeren, who is the school’s all-time leader in football coaching victories. Doeren, in his 14th season in Raleigh, is under contract through the end of the 2029 season. The heart-breaking loss has led some to call for the end of the Doeren era in Raleigh. NC State would owe him more than $9.75 million if it fired him after the season.
NC State athletics director Boo Corrigan said last year that he was against in-season firings, saying there has been “a little bit of a loss of dignity in what we do and firing coaches midseason.”
