NC State to do ‘soul searching’ in bye week after loss at No. 17 Duke

DURHAM, N.C. — Less than an hour after NC State’s 24-3 loss at No. 17 Duke on Saturday night, Wolfpack sophomore quarterback MJ Morris entered the Wallace Wade Stadium visiting media room after talking with his wide receivers. 

Throughout the contest, Morris overthrew a couple wideouts and he had a couple route runners drop passes that were thrown right where they needed to be. But Morris was not blaming anyone in particular, rather he said the entire offense needs to grow from this performance. 

Luckily for them, NC State will enter its bye week after a 4-3 (1-2 ACC) start to the season. 

While there will not be a full slate of practice this week, Morris said he and his wide receivers will hit the practice field to correct their mistakes. 

“We’re going to keep working together to fix the problem,” Morris said. “It’s not just them, it’s on me too. Sometimes I got to put the ball in a better place for them to catch it. We’re just going to keep leaning on each other, keep working with each other.”

While Morris and his teammates are motivated to right their errors, this week off from games comes at a unique time. It’s the longest stretch without a bye in Dave Doeren’s coaching tenure.

“Seven straight is a lot,” Doeren said. “It’s the latest I’ve had a bye as a head coach, so it’s definitely coming at the right time. There’s a lot of things — mentally we need a break, physically we need a break.”

The Wolfpack’s open week comes at a crucial point of its season. NC State is riding a two-game ACC losing streak, and it has its toughest two-week stretch on the other side: home against Clemson and Miami. 

There’s an opportunity for the Pack to win those games, but it is going to take a lot of improvements to do it. Morris, who took over as NC State’s starter ahead of last week’s 48-41 win over Marshall, said there’s a chance for the Wolfpack to use the bye week as a learning moment. 

“We’re going to do a lot of soul searching to see how we want to finish this season,” Morris said of the bye. “We want to finish off the right way. … We gotta do something to fix it. I feel like this comes at the right time. Definitely a lot of work to be done.”

Morris was outspoken about the week off. The lack of a game does not mean the red and white do not have a chance to improve. He actually said that it will show what this team is made of when it’s just the entire roster working together on the practice fields across the street from Carter-Finley Stadium. 

Those patches of grass will be pivotal in how the Wolfpack respond from a game in which its offense sputtered. 

“I want to see how hard we can finish each day,” Morris said. “It doesn’t matter about the games. It’s each day. How hard can we push ourselves each day? The games are going to come, but it’s the day-to-day, the early mornings, the late nights — how much heart do we have? That’s what I want to see.”

Morris threw for 193 yards on 24-of-40 passing in the loss to Duke, while he paced the Wolfpack with 32 rushing yards on 14 carries. Defensively, the Pack was led by graduate linebacker Payton Wilson, who was candid after the game about the team needing to add toughness to its repertoire. He finished with 11 total tackles, while the next closest player had four against the Blue Devils. 

While Wilson noted the number of games before the bye not being ideal, he did not want to make any excuses about NC State’s poor play in Durham. He was focused on how the team can use the next two weeks to improve, and make a run over the final five contests. 

“The bodies are definitely feeling it, but that’s not an excuse,” Wilson said. “Now it’s just time to be the best team we can possibly be going into these last five games and try to win out.”