‘You can’t give up 45 points and win’: NC State coach, QB react after Wake Forest loss
N.C. State head coach Dave Doeren took longer than usual to get to the podium for his postgame press conference.
Some of his players hung around on the field, watching the Wake Forest players and fans celebrate after their 45-42 home win. It was the final home game at Truist Field for the Demon Deacons, and they went out in style.
Two more wins and Wake Forest is going to Charlotte to play for the ACC championship. N.C. State no longer controls its own destiny and will need to win out and get help from Clemson and Boston College in the final two weeks.
The Wolfpack (7-3, 4-2), winners of two in a row before Saturday, doesn’t have room for much error and needed to play almost perfect to knock off a disciplined Wake Forest team. N.C. State was out of character, committing a season-high 14 penalties and three turnovers.
They also couldn’t get off the field on third down (10-19 by Wake Forest) or convert on third down (3-14). The things they’ve done well in wins this season were MIA in the biggest game of the Doeren era.
“We just weren’t good enough tonight in certain areas,” Doeren said. “You can’t give up 45 points and win and offensively it took us too long to get going in the first half.”
N.C. State settled for two Christoper Dunn field goals in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Wake Forest was scoring touchdowns and the Demon Deacons built a 21-6 lead. The Wolfpack did score two straight touchdowns to pull within one, 21-20, but gave up a 45-yard field goal as time expired to end the first half.
Dunn missed a field goal in the second half that would have made it a one-point game. Instead, Wake Forest went up by as many as 11 in the fourth quarter, as N.C. State clawed and scratched its way back into the game, eventually pulling to within three, but unable to come away with the onside kick attempt.
The Wolfpacks’ own undoing was their inability to get any stops and take advantage of the three turnovers Wake Forest gifted them with. N.C. State scored just seven points off of the three turnovers. Devin Leary was forced to throw the ball 59 times, once again, making the Wolfpack offense one dimensional.
N.C. State showed flashes, but couldn’t consistently get anything going with the ball, or avoid giving up big plays in key moments defensively.
“If we don’t turn the ball over, we’re moving the football and probably get more points on the board,” Doeren said. “That hurt us.”
Usually when teams get to third downs, it’s a pressure situation. Sam Hartman, Wake’s starting quarterback, probably welcomed the down, as he was able to take advantage of State’s biggest weakness on defense.
“Our corners didn’t make any plays,” Doeren said. “We either pass interference them or had balls completed on us. We need to play the ball better and play with poise.”
The entire team lacked poise at times, evident by the season-high flags. They did manage to make things interesting, as Ricky Person touched the ball one yard too soon on the onside attempt late. He was flagged for illegal touching, a fitting end to an uncharacteristic day from Doeren’s veteran bunch.
“I just don’t think we were making our layups,” Leary said. “We weren’t making our layups. We have to make better plays.”
Leary added the team hurt themselves too much.
“We had a good amount of penalties,” Leary said. “That’s not really like us. It comes down to a last couple of plays as you can see, and they made those plays and we didn’t.”
This story was originally published November 14, 2021 at 1:04 AM with the headline "‘You can’t give up 45 points and win’: NC State coach, QB react after Wake Forest loss."
