To move on from ECU fight, NC State seeks better performance in 2025 opener
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Coach Dave Doeren emphasized accountability and discipline after last year’s brawl against ECU.
- Quarterback CJ Bailey emerged as a leader, preaching control and maturity.
- N.C. State opens 2025 season at home vs. ECU, aiming to showcase true program standards.
The fight with East Carolina players during the 2024 Military Bowl still casts a cloud over N.C. State football; coaches and players remain disappointed with how the game ended.
Head coach Dave Doeren said again on Friday that he looks forward to getting a do-over against the Pirates next week when the Wolfpack hosts ECU to open the season.
“As I stated after that game last year, I was embarrassed as the head coach, as a program, and know that I let down our fan base, our alums, our former players,” Doeren said during his first pregame news conference of the season. “What happened after the game can’t happen and won’t happen.”
The Wolfpack still expects to play with toughness and a competitive spirit. The expectation is to be gritty and aggressive in hopes of winning. That part doesn’t change. That expectation remains the same.
Doeren said it’s about competing within the confines of the rules and respecting others.
“During the game, it’s a team you want to beat; whoever you’re playing,” Doeren said. “But it’s also brotherhood. College football, pro football, high school football, whether you’re a coach or a player, you’re trying to win every game, you’re trying to play the game the right way, with the respect the game deserves, and play it to our standard of play. … It’s a gladiator sport. It’s a tough- guy sport, no doubt about it, but there’s also a way to do it.”
Doeren talked to the team immediately after the bowl game about the standard and playing with class, and it has been an ongoing conversation with the players — returning and newcomers — during the offseason. It’s not just about ECU nor is it limited to college football.
The program has standards it expects to meet, regardless of the opponent, and coaches on all levels must educate one another and their players on how to balance the sport’s natural toughness while remaining fair and respectful. To him, it doesn’t matter what an opposing player might do. Doeren wants to see his team — which includes himself and the assistants — to respond with maturity even when situations are emotional or tense.
“Our staff and team know what we have to carry, what the torch looks like and the standard is,” Doeren said. “It’s competing for the name on the front [of the jersey] and the name on the back, and making the people proud that care so much and support this university. We look forward to that opportunity.”
Sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey discussed the incident earlier this summer, describing the fight against ECU and the one against North Carolina in the regular-season finale. It was not the kind of behavior, he said, the players wanted to engage in.
“That’s something that we wanted to change this year. It was really embarrassing last year that we had those two fights at the end of the year,” Bailey said at ACC Kickoff. “That’s one thing we preach in this year and in the spring and in fall camp: Every fight we have, we’re on the line. We’re running. You cannot. You’ve got to know how to control your emotions.”
Eight players between the Wolfpack and Pirates were ejected, and the fight led to an official being slightly injured. The Carolina game featured unsportsmanlike penalties throughout the game and culminated in the midfield brawl.
Bailey has helped spearhead the effort this season for more accountability when it comes to responding out of frustration or defense.
Doeren said that’s why Bailey was voted the youngest team captain in his tenure. He joins offensive lineman Anthony Carter and linebackers Sean Brown and Caden Fordham as the team’s captains.
“How he carries himself, what he stands for, what he speaks about, actions and words, CJ is way more mature than his age,” Doeren said. “I’m proud of him for standing up and saying what needed to be said as a leader. The guys follow him. It’s good to see that, and that’s what you need. Great teams have internal leadership in that locker room, away from the coaches. That’s something he wasn’t prompted to say. It’s something that he believes.”
N.C. State hosts East Carolina at 7 p.m. Thursday for the season opener. It will be the first time since 2019 that the Wolfpack play the Pirates at home, when N.C. State won 34-6. It is the third straight Thursday night opener, after the program played at UConn in 2023 and at home against Western Carolina in 2024.
