NC State Football
Vonwolf: Many in WPN Will View Saturday as a Lose-Lose for Doeren
If it were up to fanbases to make coaching decisions, there would need to be 100 D1 seats filled each and every football season. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; being a football coach of a Power 5 school is brutal. When the fanbase hasn’t seen much success? It gets even worse.
Saturday brings yet another prime opportunity for NC State to take a step forward. While Clemson is #9 in the country, this is without question their most vulnerable squad in a number of seasons.
And in the end, the results won’t matter to many.
Nov 9, 2019; Raleigh, NC, USA; Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney (left) and North Carolina State Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren chat prior to a game at Carter-Finley Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports
If State Loses
My God. Two weeks ago, WPN was a disaster, and rightfully so. While every loss brings out the ugly in a fanbase, this one seemed to strike a deeper nerve. State had a chance to go on the road and beat a middle of the road SEC team and they fell woefully short.
That’s the State way.
Since taking over State in the 2013 season, Doeren’s teams are 4-19 against top-25 teams. The wins include FSU (12), Louisville (17), Pitt (24) and Liberty (21). Furthermore, there hasn’t been any consistency in these “upsets” with two coming in 2017 and the latter two games last year. That said, find humor in it if you please, Doeren is UNDEFEATED AGAINST RANKED TEAMS…if you only look at FCS matchups.
So a Clemson loss shouldn’t be anything new, but I would argue, it would be.
When defending a coach, you continue to find reasons why it hasn’t worked, why people should give them another chance. Yet, it will become increasingly harder to almost near impossible if things fall apart again. This team has talent and experience…Clemson is struggling…It’s a home game in beautiful Carter-Finley.
No more if’s, and’s or but’s…we need a damn win.
If we don’t, there will be quite the subset of WPN that won’t be coming back until a coaching change is made. Not to say they won’t watch this team on Saturdays, but their literal investment in them won’t be the same.
We’re all done losing. We want to win.
If State Wins
This is the dream right? This is the monkey off the back? State will be 3-3 against ranked opponents over the last two seasons, we’re moving up, right?
Here’s where my aforementioned struggles of coaching a Power 5 team that has underachieved hits hardest. For if State beats Clemson, then the only next step for many in WPN is an ACC Championship Game appearance.
It’s as brutal, as it is true.
When you take down the ACC dragon, you can’t slip up against a struggling Louisville or a Syracuse, or heaven forbid, LA Tech the very next weekend. Every ounce of pressure will be on Doeren and any further loss, especially in conference, will be that much bigger of a dagger into the hearts of WPN.
“We finally beat Clemson and all we got was this Third Place in the Atlantic T-shirt.”
I have mixed feelings on Doeren, but I always tend to skew towards keeping him. Tell me I’m settling, but I also don’t mind knowing we’ll be at somewhere around 8-9 wins a year. However, the overall conference record and history against ranked opponents is brutal. At some point, winning is all fun until you realize a sizable chunk is FCS and just dogsh*t schools.
In Conclusion
Either Doeren’s seat is in flames by 6pm Saturday or WPN has poured gasoline allllllllll around it, just waiting to light the match. It’s not a position I’d like to be in, but I also realize that’s part of the job description.
Regardless, there will be a steady stream of record reminders. There will be debates in the parking lot pre and post game, and swigs of Old Tuffy in C-F with a yell.
For now, I just hope we win. #GoPack
NC State and California will kickoff on the West Coast at 3:30pm on October 19th. The game will be televised on the ACC Network.
Under Dave Doeren, NC State is 9-16 at the 3:30 time slot. If you include 3pm and 4pm kickoffs, the Wolfpack is 14-17 between 3-4pm since 2013.
2023
Virginia Tech – 35-28 (W)
2022
Syracuse – 9-24 (L)
Boston College – 20-21 (L)
UNC – 30-27 (W) (2OT)
2021
Clemson – 27-21 (W)
FSU – 28-14 (W) (4pm)
Syracuse – 41-17 (W) (4pm)
2020
Duke – 31-20 (W)
Georgia Tech – 23-13 (W) (4pm)
2018
Clemson – 7-41 (L)
FSU – 47-28 (W)
2017
South Carolina – 28-35 (L) (3pm)
Notre Dame – 14-35 (L)
Clemson – 31-38 (L)
UNC – 33-21 (W)
Arizona St. – 52-31 (W) (3pm)
2016
Wake Forest – 33-16 (W)
2015
Clemson – 41-46 (L)
UNC – 34-35 (L)
Miss St. – 28-51 (L)
2014
South Florida – 49-17 (W)
FSU – 41-56 (L)
Clemson – 0-41 (L)
Boston College – 14-30 (L)
Louisville – 18-30 (L)
Wake Forest – 42-13 (W)
2013
Central Michigan – 48-14 (W)
Wake Forest – 13-28 (L)
Syracuse – 10-24 (L)
FSU – 17-49 (L)
Duke – 28-30 (L) (4pm)
I see your point… DD has made Wolfpack Football relevant – it’s just that I remember the 80’s and 90’s and 2000’s (with the exception of the Sheridan years). This school doesn’t have a football “name”, but it’s starting to get one – at least with the recruits. The football program has been improving overall year after year since he became coach – and this is reflected in the quality of the committed recruits. Also, in the past, every year, we had at least 2 or 3 football players on suspension or kicked off the team due to run-ins with… Read more »
Well, I’m not as down on football as I am on Wolfpack basketball. The MSU loss once again confirmed we have a mediocre coach, running a mediocre program. That will lead to a longer record of mediocre seasons. After awhile, and we may already have reached this point, we will only get mostly mediocre recruits. Then we’re locked in to mediocre, as long as we have Doeren. So I don’t know if it’s a lose-lose game coming up, but at this point in his tenure, Doeren will get fewer chances to break out of mediocre. And the MSU/Clemson/unc/?? chances each… Read more »