Column: NC State earned that sweet feeling

There are so many emotions to digest, but the one that NC State deserved to feel the most after its home performance against No. 9 Clemson, it got to experience.

NC State was a better team on Saturday than Clemson.

Disregard reputed talent and the recruiting stars — on this given day, the Pack was more physical and efficient than a Tigers squad that was clearly overrated at the outset of the season.

But the Wolfpack has lost games like this before.

Shades of 2016 — when Wolfpack kicker Kyle Bambard missed a 33-yard field goal as time expired in regulation at eventual national champion Clemson in what proved to be a Tigers' overtime win — flashed through everyone’s eyes when Pack junior Christopher Dunn lined up for a 39-yard field goal with two seconds left.

Dunn, who entered Saturday the fourth-most accurate kicker in school history, missed.

Think back to whatever ranks among your most dejected moments experienced in your sports fandom life, and that’s probably what the average NC State fan was feeling in the pit of their stomach.

Yet something strange happened on the way to what was supposed to be the next version of NC State “stuff.”

The Wolfpack pulled it out.

A sea of red-and-white-wearing Pack students and fans stormed the field. Head coach Dave Doeren wished they could have torn down the goalposts and walked them to the Bell Tower.

A happy Doeren unapologetically basked in the moment during his postgame press conference, savoring what he acknowledged was his signature win in nine years with the Wolfpack:

• “The curse is broken, NC State fans, finally. Finally. Been here nine years, seen a lot of crazy stuff, people talked about it and didn’t believe it. But I got to tell you, I think it was real and it’s not there anymore. We can move on now and be happy about that.”

• “Light it [Bell Tower] red, Chancellor [Randy] Woodson. Light it red, and leave it on all night. I hope they [students] have a lot of fun. I hope they have a good night. They deserve to party like that. … That’s what this is all about. If they could rip the goalposts down and walk it down there and leaving them leaning up against the Bell Tower, that’d be better.

“It’s an awesome thing when you light it red like that.”

• “When I saw the ball sail a little bit wide right, Coach [Tony] Gibson was on the headset, said, ‘That’s it boys.’ All of the sudden you see flashes of players running out. Man, it’s a great feeling. I’m so happy for the school, for the program. For the fanbase, man. They’ve wanted this for a long time, and I’ve wanted to give it to them — not that I gave it to them, we gave it to them.

"I’m very happy for the Wolfpack nation tonight.”

• “I know we had a few [fans storming the field] at Wisconsin. At Kansas, I think they stormed the field every time we won. I think one year we won four games, and they ripped the goalposts down every time. It hasn’t happened here, and I’m glad it did. I’m glad security let the fans down there, it’s awesome.

“That’s how it should be. That’s college football, man. That’s what it’s all about.”

Much had been made about Doeren’s previous 1-22 record against teams that finished the season ranked. This Clemson squad has to prove itself before we can assume it’s now going to be at least 2-22, but that’s also a misleading record regardless.

Sixteen of those 22 teams that beat NC State won double-digit games that year, and 10 of them were in the top 10 of the final polls. Those 10 squads combined for a final record of 128-14, or a 90.1 winning percentage.

In other words, a lot of teams would have piled up bad records against such highly accomplished teams.

Yet it was the manner in which NC State’s record was accumulated that led to storylines that the Wolfpack is “cursed.” It was the proverbial one-step-forward, two-steps-back feeling. Which is why many NC State fans were experiencing déjà vu when Dunn missed his field goal.

Pack fans sometimes expect doom. It’s probably why every time there is a third-down stop there feels like a brief lull after the initial excitement from the crowd just because some are expecting to see a flag or some other catch to mitigate the defensive stand.

When it was over Saturday, there were no flags or whistles to blow a play dead. The only signals from the officials were that the pass was incomplete and the game was finished.

NC State won.

Faced with another feeling of doom and gloom, NC State’s players didn’t flinch, as Doeren described it.

They prevailed and felt joy.

They earned it, too.

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