NC State’s growth has come through complementary football

NC State is three quarters of the way through its season, and with four games to go, it has everything still in front of itself. But as the Wolfpack have gone through its ups and downs, the team has continued to grow in front of coach Dave Doeren. 

The biggest piece has been NC State’s ability to play complementary football. The Wolfpack first had the lack of synchronization between its three phases against Notre Dame, which cost the team a marquee home victory. 

“I think our understanding as a team of the importance of complementary football,” Doeren said of his team’s growth. “You could have a conversation with our guys about that … but I don’t think they understood it and the value of it until we played the way we did in a couple games. That has hit home in a big way to this roster.”

That 45-24 loss to the Irish opened the Pack’s eyes to the importance of complementary football, Doeren said. It also came back to bite NC State against Louisville in the 13-10 loss that the Pack had opportunities to win the game. 

But as NC State has hit the home stretch of the season, Doeren believes those two games were crucial learning experiences and have helped the team in the long run.

“The value of that has been entrenched, and unfortunately branded, through pain,” Doeren said of complementary football. “And sometimes that’s how you’ve got to learn. You gotta walk on hot coals and get tougher.”

NC State’s offense did what it needed to do against Marshall and Clemson — 48 points and 24 points, respectively — while its defense held the Tigers in check, and its special teams have been a top-three group in the ACC all season long. 

As the Wolfpack begin the final quarter of its season, Miami is on the horizon with a visit Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday night. Miami enters the game with the same ACC record as NC State at 2-2 in league play, and this weekend’s game will be crucial as both teams are still in the longshot mix for the conference championship game. 

But the key ingredient that Doeren has hammered home this week ahead of the Miami game has been the importance of one-possession games. The last two times a Doeren led NC State team has played the Hurricanes, the game has been decided by three points or fewer. 

Miami downed NC State 44-41 in its last trip to Raleigh during the 2020 season, and the Hurricanes edged the Wolfpack 31-30 in Coral Gables, Fla., the following season. 

With those two contests fresh in Doeren’s mind, he wanted to stress the importance of a tight game, because the Pack and Hurricanes are likely to embark on another close one. 

That is not exclusively something NC State will need for just the Miami game. It will be crucially important for the final three games — at Wake Forest, at Virginia Tech and against North Carolina — as well. 

“I told the team that you need to be ready for a one-possession fourth quarter game,” Doeren said. “That’s what this game’s been the last several times it’s been played. … This is going to be a tough game, a lot of ACC games are that way. When you get into the league, every team, it doesn’t matter what their record is, they show up.”

But first up is Miami, a team Doeren has yet to beat at NC State. He is 0-3 against the Hurricanes, but after he earned just his second win over Clemson in 10 tries last weekend, another victory could be in store. 

To get his team in the best position to beat the Hurricanes for the first time since 2008, Doeren wanted his team to replicate its practices that it had leading up to its bout with the Tigers. He wanted the Wolfpack to act as if they lost to Clemson, and to bring a fire to the practice field. 

Through the team’s week of practice heading into the Miami game, it appears the Pack took Doeren’s plea to heart. 

“There’s been an edge to them, for sure,” Doeren said. “Obviously the proof will be in our performance on Saturday night. But we’ve had a good week.”