What they’re saying after NC State’s loss to Tennessee

No. 24 NC State hung with No. 14 Tennessee early on, but after a game-changing pick six, the Volunteers cruised to a 51-10 win in the Duke’s Mayo Classic on Saturday night at Bank of America Stadium.

Here is what those who covered the game are saying about the Pack’s first loss of the 2024 campaign.

Ethan McDowell, The Wolfpacker — Column: NC State has steps to take before it’s ready for a leap:

No. 24 NC State threw the kitchen sink at No. 14 Tennessee Saturday night. The Wolfpack played its dime package for most of the game, tried out odd formations and deployed plenty of playmakers to try and keep pace with the Volunteers. 

But in a game where the margin for error was razor thin, the ACC program proved it needs to take another step forward before it is ready to leap into the national spotlight. 

The Pack possessed the ball in Volunteer territory three times in the first quarter, coming up with 3 total points on a 40-yard drive that fizzled out at the 7-yard line. Tennessee scored more points off NC State’s red zone possessions than the Wolfpack did.

Noah Fleischman, The Wolfpacker — NC State’s Grayson McCall ‘didn’t play well,’ believes expectations haven’t changed:

Grayson McCall walked out of the NC State locker room in the bowels of Bank of America Stadium with a dejected face, which was still fresh with remnants of his eye black mixed into his beard, after the Wolfpack’s 51-10 loss to Tennessee in the Duke’s Mayo Classic. 

The quarterback entered the campaign with high expectations for himself — and those were reciprocated outside the program. But in his first game in the national spotlight, McCall’s performance didn’t reach the standard he and fans in Raleigh have set for the signal-caller.

“I know I didn’t play well tonight,” McCall said, appearing to search for answers of what went wrong in a back hallway postgame.”

Jadyn Watson-Fisher, News & Observer — ‘Flush it’: NC State football displeased with outing against Vols but staying hopeful:

Twenty N.C. State players hail from the Charlotte metropolitan area, with eight calling the Queen City home. Saturday was supposed to be a joyous homecoming and a chance to positively represent Wolfpack football. 

The performance against No. 14 Tennessee didn’t scream ACC champion or College Football Playoff contender. It made the Pack barely look better than Chattanooga, the FCS school the Vols whipped, 69-3, the weekend prior. 

No. 24 N.C. State fell to No. 14 Tennessee, 51-10, in the team’s worst outing since Nov. 9, 2019. This was the first time an opponent scored at least 50 points since Trevor Lawrence and the Clemson Tigers rolled past the Pack, 55-10, on that day. 

Sitting at the mic in the Carolina Panthers meeting room, NC State head coach Dave Doeren showed visible disappointment in his team but remained steadfast in the belief that no seasons are determined in Week 1 or Week 2, even if people are already giving up on teams.

Andrew Carter, News & Observer — NC State football, after embracing hype and expectations, dealt humbling dose of reality:

It was in this same city, just a few blocks away from the latest football humbling N.C. State endured here on Saturday night, where Dave Doeren in late July verbalized what many a long-suffering Wolfpack football fan had long wanted to hear him say. What many of them had been saying for a long time, themselves: That good was no longer good enough. That the time was now. 

That if the time wasn’t now for N.C. State football, given the investments and the slow-build process to alleged contention; given the admirable evolution in Doeren’s 12 seasons from bad to mediocre to solid to pretty good … then when would such a time ever come for State to take that long-desired and elusive next step toward becoming something more? 

Doeren, for one, accepted the reality. Embraced it, even. He believed it was time, too.

He said as much back on July 24, at the ACC’s annual preseason kickoff event. He walked onto a makeshift stage at the Charlotte Hilton, stood behind a lectern under a glaring light, and said: “What we did last year and the year before and the year before is good. Winning nine games is good. We don’t want to be good, we want to be the best at what we do.” 

Doeren and State would’ve taken “good” here on Saturday against Tennessee. They would’ve taken “competitive” or “competent” or “merely worthy of being on the same field as their opponent.” They were not any of those things, though, during a 51-10 nightmare of a defeat — an annihilation that reflected just how far away State is from where it thought it might be.

Rodd Baxley, Fayetteville Observer — NC State football ‘laid an egg’ vs Tennessee, shows it’s not ready to be ‘elite’:

N.C. State football coach Dave Doeren had a clear message at ACC Kickoff in late July. 

“We don’t want to be good, we want to be the best at what we do,” Doeren said of the expectations surrounding the Wolfpack ahead of the 2024 season.

“We want to be elite.” 

A few months later, in the same city, Doeren’s squad showed in a measuring-stick game against No. 14 Tennessee that it didn’t measure up.

Focused on taking the next step to become a championship program, No. 24 N.C. State took a step back against the vaunted Vols in a 51-10 loss at Bank of America Stadium.

Rob Lewis, Volquest — Tennessee defense dominates NC State:

Since Josh Heupel rolled into Knoxville before the 2021 season the identity of the Tennessee football program has been all about high-powered, fast-paced, explosive offenses.

If all you saw from tonight’s game was the 51-10 final score, you might think, “Tennessee is up to its old tricks again, scoring tons of points.”

The Vols did score a ton of points tonight, just not in the traditional manner for Heupel’s offenses.

Tonight against NC State the Tennessee defense simply dominated the football game and a big chunk of those 51 points were directly attributable to Tim Banks’ guys on that side of the ball.

“Defensively, we played really well. Two weeks not allowing an opponent into the end zone,” Heupel said of his defense on Saturday. “Just starts with defending the run game, violent, disruptive upfront. Being great in our fits and then applying pressure to the quarterback and being really sound in our coverage.”

Brendan Marks, The Athletic — Nico Iamaleava is on his way — but Tennessee’s D-line already looks CFP-worthy:

The orange blurs came fast, far too fast, swirling around NC State quarterback Grayson McCall and the rapidly disintegrating pocket supposed to protect him. (“Supposed to” being the operative phrase.) At the very least, McCall tried to climb out of that chaos, desperately scanning for an exit like a toddler lost in a house of mirrors.

But then, just like a disoriented child, came the inevitable thud. In this case, it was Tennessee defensive end Dominic Bailey slamming into McCall, tossing the 6-foot-3, 220-pound passer to the Bank of America turf like a rag doll. As he did, the football popped loose, and Bailey had the quick intuition to hop on it.

A strip sack and fumble recovery all in one, wrapped up nicely with a bow.

Just a hunch here? That won’t be the Vols’ last such play this season.

Adam Sparks, Knoxville News Sentinel — Why these Tennessee players scared NC State more than Nico Iamaleava, James Pearce Jr.:

NC State football coach Dave Doeren said Tennessee’s defensive tackles were his biggest concern, and his fears came true in a 51-10 loss to the Vols at Bank of America Stadium on Saturday.

NC State rushed for only 39 yards and fumbled three times as UT’s defensive front bulldozed the line of scrimmage.

But think about that.

Doeren’s first concern wasn’t pass-rushing extraordinaire James Pearce Jr. And it wasn’t play-making quarterback Nico Iamaleava or all-purpose running back Dylan Sampson or UT’s deep stable of wide receivers.

Instead, Doeren watched UT’s game film and studied its roster and decided that NC State didn’t have a prayer to beat the Vols unless Omari Thomas, Bryson Eason, Omarr Norman-Lott, Elijah Simmons, Jaxson Moi and Daevin Hobbs could be handled.