Be happy NC State bothered to show up, because that’s about all Wolfpack had to offer
To put words in Dave Doeren’s (newly NSFW) mouth, “S---, be happy we even bothered to show up.”
N.C. State couldn’t even clear his “S---, be happy we won” lowering of the bar after a tepid win over a terrible Virginia team last Friday. If this keeps up, they’re going to have to put eye-wash stations all over Carter-Finley.
There were boos on the Wolfpack’s first possession, one of many three-and-outs, and that was in a half when things actually went relatively well. By the time N.C. State blew a 10-point lead and gave up 13 unanswered second-half points in a 13-10 loss to Louisville on Friday, the fans were at least booing the officials instead after a controversial running-into-the-kicker call extended Louisville’s final drive and deprived the Wolfpack of valuable seconds, not that the offense was capable of doing anything with them.
The game was lost long before infamous referee Jerry Magallanes — who so badly botched the Duke-Miami debacle a few years back — tossed his flag after interminable consideration, and lost long before Brennan Armstrong threw the ball up for grabs and Louisville grabbed it. After that, the boos were, again, for the Wolfpack.
N.C. State’s defense, on the night the school honored Bill Cowher, did him right with an iron-jawed tribute, Payton Wilson and Sean Brown — before he was ejected on a dubious targeting review — in particular. But it broke when it needed to bend in the second half, and the Wolfpack offense is an absolute Superfund site.
Armstrong is a shadow of the player he was two years ago, forcing throw after throw to receivers who aren’t open, but then again his receivers rarely get open and the Wolfpack offers defenses no reason to honor any running threat other than Armstrong running for his life, because he’s not getting great protection either. Armstrong personally accounted for three turnovers, but the failure is systemic.
N.C. State had nine first downs. One was by Wilson on a fake punt. Two were by penalty. There are always going to be ebbs and flows in talent, and this season was always going to be a step back to some degree for N.C. State, but there’s no excuse for being this bereft of talent at the skill positions in Year 11. It’s a catastrophe.
All the players the defense lost, the leaders and stalwarts, and it’s still of a caliber to be competitive in the ACC. That’s how it’s supposed to work. The only way to describe the state of the offense is by putting the word “felony” in front of it. The 201 yards of offense were the Wolfpack’s fewest since Hurricane Matthew, when it only needed 198 to beat Notre Dame, and its fewest outside of a natural disaster since a 41-0 loss at Clemson in 2014.
“We have to stick together as a team,” Wilson said. “There’s no team out there that wins when it’s offense versus defense.”
Easy for him to say. He accounted for 11 percent of N.C. State’s first downs.
If you need a series of outright gifts to barely beat the worst Virginia team in a generation, and you can’t hold a 10-0 lead at home against a Louisville team flattered by a soft schedule, let alone extend that lead, it’s hard to imagine things getting any better against Marshall … or Duke … or Clemson … or Miami … or over the four games still to play after that.
“Got a lot to fix,” Doeren said. “This is a tough football team. They’re good kids. So you go back to work with them.”
At this point, the Wolfpack might be better off yanking the redshirt off M.J. Morris and letting him profit from the experience, at least getting something out of what’s increasingly looking like a disposable season, too painful to be called forgettable.
Either way, no matter how low Doeren tries to lower the bar, this team clearly isn’t equipped to clear it, especially on offense. And it’s totally incapable of meeting the standard set by one of its greatest-ever players.
“I’m not used to losing night games,” Cowher said beforehand. “So I’m not planning on starting tonight.”
So much for that.
S---, be happy they spelled your name right.
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This story was originally published September 29, 2023 at 10:47 PM.
