Earlier in the week, NC State football head coach Dave Doeren took a not-so-subtle shot at Wolfpack fans.

The Wolfpack was coming off three straight noon kickoffs at Carter-Finley Stadium and Doeren didn’t seem to think that the fans brought the energy.

“I’m happy for the fans,” Doeren said. “They get a full day of drinking. It’s nice for them to enjoy that. It’s been three straight early ones. It’s hard when you can just have a bloody mary and some eggs. Now, they get the whole day. Maybe they’ll stand up on third downs, help us this week and be loud.”

To be fair, in those three games, fans left early despite the Pack being in tightly contested games in the fourth quarter.

But in defense of the fans, NC State hadn’t put a product on the field worth cheering for in the first six games of the season. Despite that, Wolfpack fans answered the call Saturday night in NC State’s 24-17 loss to Syracuse.

On the first third down of the game, Wolfpack fans clad in all black, got on their feet and made noise to try to disrupt the Orange. It didn’t seem like the fans made a difference at first, as Syracuse converted its first two third downs. But on its third, the Orange was forced to call a timeout seemingly because quarterback Kyle McCord couldn’t communicate the play call because of the crowd noise.

Syracuse ended up converting that third down and one more on the opening drive, but the Wolfpack got a stop on third down at its own 11-yard line to force a field goal.

On Syracuse’s next offensive drive, it faced just one third down and the Pack made a stop with all of Carter-Finley on its feet. On the ensuing fourth down with the Pack fans even louder, NC State turned the Orange over on downs.

On the Orange’s third offensive drive of the first half, it had to call a timeout on third down once again as it struggled to call a play. After the timeout, an offensive lineman false-started because he couldn’t hear McCord over the sound of the fans. And on third-and-11 after the penalty, McCord was sacked and Syracuse’s kicker missed the field goal on fourth down.

Despite Doeren throwing shade, fans didn’t take it personally. They stepped up to the challenge Doeren set out.

“The crowd was awesome,” Doeren said. “They were loud. They were into it. … Thankful to the fans and student section — they were great.”

While the Wolfpack fans held up their end of the bargain, Doeren and the rest of the Wolfpack failed to give them something to stand up for.

After NC State held Syracuse to three points with the help of the crowd on its first three drives despite it getting deep into NC State territory each time, the offense sputtered. On its first offensive drive, the Wolfpack got down to the Orange’s 24-yard line but redshirt sophomore kicker Kanoah Vinesett missed a 41-yarder.

And when it was driving down the field on its third offensive drive of the first half with a chance to take the lead, sophomore running back Kendrick Raphael fumbled at the Syracuse 17-yard line and the Orange recovered it.

That was a theme that carried over to the second half. On its first drive of the third quarter with a chance to tie or take the lead down 10-7, freshman quarterback CJ Bailey was stripped-sacked on Syracuse’s 21-yard line. Syracuse scored a touchdown on the drive after recovering, and NC State fans didn’t have the chance to get loud on third down because the Orange scored without having to face one.

Like clockwork, NC State’s offensive drive after Syracuse’s touchdown drove down into Orange territory but coughed the ball up once again. From the Syracuse 28-yard line, Bailey threw off-target to Raphael — he still got his hands on the ball — and it tipped off his fingers and Orange cornerback Justin Barron intercepted it.

“I got to be able to take care of the ball,” Bailey said. “That’s what is killing us. We’re playing so well. We’re flipping the field but we just keep turning the ball over.”

After Bailey’s interception, fans started to file out of Carter-Finley. But until then, they did what was called upon them — NC State didn’t. Every third and fourth down, fans were on their feet, but the Pack allowed the Orange to convert on over 50% of its third downs. The offense simply couldn’t get out of its own way.

“The fastest way to lose a game is to beat yourself,” Doeren said. “Been pretty good at that around here, not beating ourselves, over the last four seasons, and this year, we gotta get back to it.”

So who can blame the fans for leaving after Syracuse took a 24-7 lead with just over 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter? Doeren called on the fanbase to be better and they were according to him. But this time, it was him and his team that didn’t live up to the challenge.

In years past, Doeren has earned the moniker of “Salty Dave” because he isn’t afraid to call out someone or even his own fan base to galvanize his team or the fans like he did earlier this week. But when Doeren did this, his team always backed up his talk. Wolfpack Nation was fine with his subtle shots, and even liked them, because there was a winning product on the field to back up his words.

But after tonight’s performance, where his team fell flat because of self-inflicted wounds with a crowd behind it, the fan base might not take his words so lightly the next time he calls them out.

He was already walking a tightrope with NC State fans with a 3-3 start after he proclaimed that this year was going to be different, meaning the Wolfpack was going to compete for 10 wins and an ACC Championship. Now, he’s on thin ice after calling out Pack fans and failing to back it up on the field.

Realistically, no matter what happens this season, Doeren’s job is probably safe. But, if he doesn’t have the backing of the fanbase that could mean fans are less willing to donate to the NIL collective and support the team by going to games. So the next time Doeren decides to call out NC State fans, he might want to be careful. Fans might get tired of the shade, especially if his team puts on a performance like it did against Syracuse.

Doeren preaches that his teams must play complimentary football where the defense sets up the offense and vice versa. Tonight, the crowd at Carter-Finley did its part to play complimentary football. The same can’t be said for Doeren’s squad.