ECU Beasts State 42-28, Rubs it in their face

ECU 42 – NC State 28
Box Score
NC State football was never picked to have a great season and State fans didn’t expect first year head coach Dave Doeren to come in and be a savior from day one, however they didn’t expect this.

NC State has now dropped 7 games in a row after yesterday’s ECU debacle and it’s starting to get ugly. The Pack played well early in the season. They won their first two and then was a couple close calls from beating a very good Clemson team. Since then it’s been all downhill.

State has been downright embarrassed over the past five games, dating back to their home loss to UNC and tacking on this ECU loss just makes it worse.

The Pirates are a good team, don’t get me wrong. They sit at 9-2 on the year and have some explosive playmakers, but there really is hardly an excuse for getting beat down 42-28 at home to an in-state rival.

Now to the game….

This one was over before it really began. ECU scored first but State answered with a Tony Creecy touchdown run. After that, however it was all ECU. The Pirates reeled off 4 unanswered TDs and went into the 4th quarter 35-7.

The story of the game was the State defense which had absolutely no answer for Vin Cooper (148yds rushing) and Shane Cardin (255yds and 3 TDs). The Pack did put up some garbage time points late in the 4th quarter and Brandon Mitchell did have 312 yds and 4 TD’s but he wasn’t all that accurate and State had trouble keeping drives alive.

When the dust settled it was all ECU 41-28. It’s been a very disappointing year for first year head coach Dave Doeren and it’s going to be a long, long off season, but don’t lose sight of the facts. While he hasn’t really been able to win with this team, Doeren is playing with an empty cupboard. The guys are playing hard (at times), but there’s just not true game breakers on this roster and if Doeren wants to win he’s going to have to start on the recruiting trail.

State closes out the season with Maryland on Nov 30th.