10/7/2020 football Edit

NC State has been strong following Top 25 wins under Dave Doeren

Justin H. Williams • TheWolfpackCentral

Staff Writer

If recent history repeats itself, NC State will beat Virginia on Saturday on its way to a 3-1 record.

That claim isn’t based on any fortunetelling or analytics. Rather, it’s based on Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren’s record following a win against a ranked opponent.

Credit to The News & Observer NC State beat reporter Jonas Pope IV for calling attention to Doeren’s undefeated record in games following a win against a ranked team on Twitter just one day after the Pack’s 30-29 road victory over No. 24 Pittsburgh.

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NC State Wolfpack football Dave Doeren — NC State head coach Dave Doeren is 2-0 in the weeks following a win over a ranked opponent entering the Wolfpack's game at Virginia Saturday. (Charles LeClaire, USA TODAY Sports)

You have to go back three seasons to review the Wolfpack’s last two wins against ranked opponents.

The first was a 27-21 road win over No. 11 Florida State in Tallahassee on Sept. 23, 2017. One week later, No. 24 NC State handled an unranked Syracuse team 33-25 in Carter-Finley Stadium.

The second was a 39-25 win over Heisman Trophy winner and future NFL MVP Lamar Jackson and No. 17 Louisville before a packed Carter-Finley Stadium on a Thursday night. Nine days later, the No. 16 Wolfpack took care of business in a 35-17 road win over Pittsburgh in quarterback Kenny Pickett’s freshman season.

Doeren is now 3-16 against ranked opponents during his tenure at NC State but he’s 2-0 following a win over a Top 25 team with a third opportunity this Saturday at Virginia.

And to be fair, 10 of those 16 losses came against teams ranked in the Top 10.

Whichever perspective you decide to take on the Wolfpack’s record against ranked teams since 2013, the eighth-year head coach has an opportunity to solidify a developing reputation as someone that can keep his team grounded after a big win, even if he doesn’t view it that way.

"It's funny. We don't ever let up, you don't,” Doeren said. “What you have to do is look at your team, and every team is different. If you have a veteran team, they're going to handle a win or a loss differently than a young team. You have a team that's not well led by players, then it's all coach-led.

"In this situation, we have a real-time example of winning a game, thinking that we're all that, getting destroyed the following week, and now winning another tough game. I think our guys know that they can't step back. The chip on our shoulder has to grow so that's the best thing that's happened.”

While NC State’s roster still trends toward a youthful one, Doeren sees that the leadership in the locker room has taken a step forward from a disappointing 2019 campaign that ended with a 4-8 record.

When the Wolfpack faces the Cavaliers in Scott Stadium Saturday afternoon, it will mark the first time Doeren has had to prepare his team for three consecutive road games during his time in Raleigh. NC State hasn’t played three straight road games since 1986 in former head coach Dick Sheridan’s first season.

Doeren also has the chance to accomplish something that has only been done twice at NC State in the past 20 years: win two conference road games in back-to-back weeks. Both times, the Wolfpack had a future NFL quarterback under center.

NC State won two consecutive road games in 2018 during Ryan Finley’s senior season with wins over Louisville and UNC to finish the conference slate. It was the first time since 2001 during Philip Rivers’ sophomore season when the Pack beat Duke and Florida State in back-to-back weeks.

"I said that after we lost the [Virginia Tech] game, it's a loss but it's only a loss for the season if we don't learn from it,” Doeren said. “I think we learned a lot from that game with Virginia Tech, and it helped us beat Pitt. Now we've got to use that lesson of how we prepared going into that Virginia Tech game and not let it happen again to play a really good Virginia team."