NC State Bishop Fitzgerald says Pack hopes to avoid pitfalls from last year

Bishop Fitzgerald thought he might find the end zone when he intercepted a pass in the second quarter of NC State’s loss to Tennessee. The Volunteers stopped the Pack safety after a 29-yard return, but it was still a huge, momentum shifting type of play. 

After establishing himself as a rotational safety for NC State last year, playing 544 snaps across 13 games, the senior starts for the Pack this fall. The former junior college All-American recorded 6 interceptions two years ago with Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College and picked off 2 passes last fall with the Pack. 

In the sixth start of his Wolfpack career, he forced another turnover and put NC State in Tennessee territory trailing 7-0 in the second quarter. 

“I was about 20 yards deep, playing deeper than usual and he kind of just overthrew a little dig over the middle, and I just made the most of the opportunity,” Fitzgerald said. 

The Wolfpack finished the ensuing drive with a field goal— its only offensive points of the contest. Fitzgerald played this game in a different alignment than usual. NC State’s strong safety started 20-25 yards downfield, 5-10 yards deeper than most games. 

Those adjustments helped the Pack slow down Tennessee’s passing attack at times. The Pack forced 2 turnovers and held star quarterback Nico Iamaleava to 211 yards. NC State only allowed 1 pass that traveled more than 30 yards. 

“I think we did a good job of containing them explosively deep and making them take check downs,” Fitzgerald said. “I think we didn’t do too bad. We’ve got to capitalize on a few opportunities though.”

In the days that followed the 51-10 blowout loss, NC State safeties coach Joe DeForest has stressed eye discipline when reading offensive linemen in the run game. Tackling is another area of emphasis for the position group going into Week 3. 

Fitzgerald made 3 stops, 2 solo, to go along with his interception Saturday. He did not miss an attempt against the Volunteers. After missing 10 tackles as a junior, including 3 in the bowl game, he spent this offseason focused on improving that part of his game. 

The safety proved to himself over the past couple of weeks that he can play at a high level for the Wolfpack.

“Those last few games of last season, I knew that I could, and this year I am just finally starting to put it on tape,” Fitzgerald said. 

At the end of the day, the Wolfpack defense still allowed 50 points for the first time since 2019. NC State gave up its highest point total of the 2023 season in the second game as well when Notre Dame put 45 points on the Pack. 

The Pack strong safety called back to that game this week as an example to learn from. NC State won three of its next four games last fall, but that included an FCS blowout of VMI and 1 possession victories over UVA and Marshall. NC State stood 4-3 going into its bye week after losses to Louisville and Duke.

“We still don’t think we learned that much after the Notre Dame game…We’re trying not to repeat that, and we’re trying to let this be our only loss of the season and move forward,” Fitzgerald said. 

That starts with Louisiana Tech this week. Fitzgerald said the Bulldogs are an air raid team and run some similar stuff to Tennessee. 

NC State is favored by three scores going into the contest. Regardless of the final score of that game, the senior defensive back wants to see himself and his teammates support each other in the tough moments after watching how the Pack fell to Tennessee.

“After Grayson [McCall] threw the pick six, it was kind of like people just lost confidence,” Fitzgerald said. “It was still a two possession game, and we were right there. So just trying not to turn on each other and build each other up with words of encouragement instead of tearing each other down.”