NC State uses open week to reset. Pack enters Thursday’s game with ‘a lot to play for’
Virginia Tech football coach Brent Pry has his weekly radio show on Thursday nights, but that won’t be the case this week.
“Oh, there’s a show,” Pry said last week. “It’s just in Raleigh on Thursday night. On the field.”
Meaning at Carter-Finley Stadium, in Raleigh. Meaning the Thursday night game against the No. 24 Wolfpack on ESPN.
Pry’s enthusiastic comment on “Tech Talk Live” drew some claps from Hokies fans gathered at McClain’s at First & Main in Blacksburg, Virginia. There were some Virginia Tech offensive linemen on hand, waiting to be guests on the radio show, and Pry said it as if he was making a pregame pep talk to the team.
For a team that’s 2-5, that’s lost three of four ACC games, that’s facing an ACC road game against a ranked opponent that has won 14 straight at home, Pry sounded upbeat and positive.
“When we put it together ... we can be pretty tough to handle,” Pry said on the radio show. “There’s no question we can win every game left on the schedule but we’ve got to play together, play complementary football and play to our potential.”
Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said much of the same Monday about the Pack (5-2, 1-2), citing the need for better “complementary football” and being able to stay in the present and winning the game at hand.
“If you spend your time on ‘what we could’ve done’ you’re not going to get anything out of what’s left,” Doeren said.
Achieving ‘the best things you can’
Doeren came into his Monday news conference conference smiling, asking media members about their favorite foods at the N.C. State Fair. With the Pack coming off an open week, he said he was able to be with family, enjoy a little down time and “get more sleep than normal,” noting he did watch football and see the Syracuse-Clemson game.
Those are the two teams that have beaten the Pack, leaving N.C. State in the now necessary position of having to reassess itself and readjust its goals for the final five games — “How can you achieve the best things you can,” as Doeren put it.
The Pack had a number of players injured during its 24-9 loss to the Orange and played without quarterback Devin Leary, running back Demie Sumo-Karngbaye and receiver Devin Carter. Leary is out for the season after pectoral surgery but Doeren said he was at practice Monday offering encouragement and helping quarterbacks Jack Chambers and M.J. Morris when and where he could.
Doeren did not give an update Monday on injured players but said the Pack was a “lot better than we were in the second half” at Syracuse. Defensive end Savion Jackson was not on the depth chart released Monday.
“It was a good week for guys to mend up,” Doeren said. “It was a good time for us to have a bye. We start in July with the players and there’s not a lot of time for them to reset and spend time with their families.”
Heightened importance
When the N.C. State schedule was first released, one stretch that quickly caught the eye was “at Clemson, Florida State, at Syracuse.” Then came the open date and a Thursday night game with the Hokies.
But the importance of Thursday’s game for the Wolfpack has been heightened. With No. 10 Wake Forest up after Virginia Tech — an 8 p.m game at Carter-Finley, the ACC announced Monday — the season could begin to spiral if the Pack, a 13.5-point favorite over the Hokes, slips up at home.
Doeren said he expects to face an “excited” Virginia Tech team that he said is “super experienced” and said it should make for an intensely physical game. The Hokies, like the Pack, are coming off an open date.
“There’s five games left, three at home. There’s a lot to play for,” Doeren said.
This story was originally published October 25, 2022 at 6:10 AM.
