CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The last 12 years have been leading up to this moment. The five straight wins to end the 2023 regular season. The loaded transfer portal haul. The playmakers returning on offense and defense. It seemed like all stars were aligning for NC State football to catapult itself into the elite tier of college football.

But instead, it was the all-too-familiar result of head coach Dave Doeren’s tenure.

NC State was outplayed, outcoached and outclassed by a team from the SEC. This time it was No. 14 Tennesse who took it to the Wolfpack in a 51-10 win in the Duke’s Mayo Classic at Bank of America Stadium, moving Doeren to a 1-6 record against SEC teams and a 7-26 record against ranked opponents.

There’s nothing wrong with losing to a school that pours more resources into football like Tennessee. However, it’s how it happened. After all the preseason hype and the talk from players and coaches saying they were ready to take the next step, just to lay an egg under the lights is simply embarrassing.

“Definitely not what I expected to see from our team,” Doeren said. “If you don’t rush the football well, you don’t control the line of scrimmage, you don’t stop people on third and long. It’s hard to win — bottom line. And so you give credit to Tennessee. They played a good football game. They were very physical, but we weren’t good enough tonight.”

In the grand scheme of things, this loss doesn’t hinder NC State’s chance of making the College Football Playoff. The Wolfpack still has a realistic chance to make the ACC Championship game in a seemingly wide-open conference and win the title, which guarantees it a spot in the playoff. But it does prove, even if it did make the 12-team field, it doesn’t stand a chance against the top-tier teams in the sport.

Tennessee’s defensive line outright dominated NC State’s offensive line. As soon as graduate quarterback Grayson McCall handed the ball off to a running back, the Vols’ front was already in the backfield for a tackle for loss. The Wolfpack rushed for a measly 39 yards on 1.4 yards per carry and graduate starting running back Jordan Waters finished with negative four rushing yards.

“They got speed on the edge and they have size up front,” McCall said. “It’s an SEC football team.”

Safe to say NC State learned what an SEC defensive line is all about.

“It looked like we were just getting knocked into the backfield,” Doeren said. “Their defensive line was our biggest concern, particularly defensive tackles. And we think those guys are really good players, and we just did not block them up front the way that we have to run the football. And so it’s a combination of things … but I watched the line of scrimmage all night, and it wasn’t going our way. It was going their way.”

Once the Volunteers found out they could make the Wolfpack one-dimensional, the contest was over. The only success McCall and the offense had in the passing game was quick throws just a couple of yards beyond the line of scrimmage. While they were successful, Tennessee was willing to give up short gains banking on the fact NC State would make a mistake trying to drive down the field in short chunks.

And that’s exactly what happened.

On the first drive of the game, the Wolfpack’s quick passing game seemed like it would be the formula for an upset win. McCall was leading the offense down the field with short throws to sophomore wide receiver Kevin Concepcion and redshirt junior wide receiver Dacari Collins. Then on a second down in Tennessee territory, McCall took a sack that took NC State out of field goal range and ultimately forced a punt.

Late in the second quarter, down 10-3, the Wolfpack finally got its ground game going with three consecutive handoffs to redshirt freshman Hollywood Smothers that gained 31 yards. Instead of keeping it on the ground, offensive coordinator Robert Anae called a pass and McCall threw an interception that Tennessee returned for a touchdown. The Wolfpack went from looking like it could tie the game to going down 14.

Just like that, it was over.

“We were very efficient the first drive, and that’s what I thought we were going to do,” Doeren said. “Possess the football, keep our defense off the field. I mean, that was our game plan, right? And it was working for a while we were in the game, and then, you know, the pick-six, and then all of a sudden, things just started to kind of unravel, and we just never got back into it.”

While Doeren has been trying to build NC State into a legitimate ACC Championship contender the past few years, Tennessee’s head coach Josh Heupel has turned around the Volunteers in a shorter amount of time while signing recruits from Doeren’s state.

Just recently the number one player in the class of 2026, Faizon Brandon, committed to play for Tennessee over NC State. Not only is Heupel outcoaching Doeren on the field but he’s taking players from North Carolina.

Heupel inherited a Tennessee team that was coming off a 3-7 season in 2020 and has gone 29-12 with nine wins over ranked opponents, including their matchup against NC State. With a dominant effort over the Wolfpack, now it seems Heupel is ready to take his team to new heights, something that Doeren has struggled to do.

While it’s true NC State is one of just five Power 4 programs that has won eight or more games in the last four seasons — a list that includes Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and Notre Dame — it hasn’t been able to reach that next step of 10 wins or a conference title game appearance. And this game’s result doesn’t breed any sort of confidence that the Wolfpack could accomplish those goals.

Who knows, maybe Tennessee will go on to be one of the best teams in the country and this loss doesn’t seem too bad in a couple of months. Maybe NC State doesn’t lose another game the rest of the season and this ends up being a turning point for Doeren and the rest of the Pack.

But for now, it’s another chapter in Doeren’s book of being good but not good enough.