NC State coach Dave Doeren ‘disappointed’ in clock operator after 30-29 loss at Georgia Tech
ATLANTA — NC State had a chance to beat Georgia Tech with a walk-off field goal in its 30-29 loss Thursday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium, but the Wolfpack’s 58-yard attempt from Collin Smith missed left to end the game.
While the Pack trotted out its strong-legged kicker with an opportunity to win the game as five seconds stood on the clock, NC State coach Dave Doeren wasn’t pleased that the officials added another second to the clock just before the snap — after he called the final timeout — which could have changed his thinking.
The game clock read six seconds, rather than the five Doeren believed was left until he was notified otherwise. That extra second would have allowed the Wolfpack an opportunity to run one more play with a timeout left to make the would-be game-winning kick a little closer. Instead, Doeren wasn’t told about the game clock error until just before Smith’s attempt.
“I felt like with five seconds, the field goal was the safest thing to do. If you throw it and they don’t get out of bounds, the game’s over. Obviously, the clock operator has some things to do with that,” Doeren said postgame. “The thing I’m disappointed in is after the timeout, after we break the huddle, they come over and tell me they’re adding a second to the clock. Had I known there was six seconds, it would have been a different conversation.”
“We could have thrown a quick out and had a little more cushion. I don’t think people understand how precious every second is. I was disappointed in that. There was another time in the game where three seconds ran off after a punt. It was 2:43 and they let it run down to 2:40. Seconds matter. Say whatever you want about it, but to me, that was bad clock operating by them.”
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NC State, which outgained Georgia Tech 400-391 yards in its sixth loss of the season, took the lead via a redshirt freshman Hollywood Smothers 58-yard touchdown run with 1:30 left. But that was short-lived as the Yellow Jackets scored the game-winning touchdown on an 18-yard scramble from backup quarterback Aaron Philo with 22 seconds left.
That set up the last-ditch effort from the Pack, which had a 28-yard pass from freshman quarterback CJ Bailey to junior wide receiver Dacari Collins to get to the Georgia Tech 41. Bailey then had an incomplete pass to redshirt freshman Noah Rogers with five seconds left — later adjusted to six — before the Wolfpack’s field goal attempt.
Doeren didn’t take anything away from Georgia Tech’s ability to win the game, but he did stress how important every play — and every second — is in a tight ACC game like that one.
And in the end, the Wolfpack came up just short.
“It was a really good football game. You had two teams that wanted it. It was physical. It comes down to one play in a game like that,” Doeren said. “One play of the 170 you get that dictates it. … Every single play in a game that comes down to the last second matters.”
