He didn’t have an answer. He couldn’t explain what he had just witnessed. For the second time in three games, NC State football head coach Dave Doeren had just watched his defense give up over 240 rushing yards and get humiliated on national television.
After giving up 249 yards on the ground against Tennessee in a 51-10 primetime loss in Week 2, NC State managed to embarrass itself even further when it allowed Clemson to gash it for 269 rush yards in a 59-35 defeat two weeks later. In a season billed as the Wolfpack’s chance to contend with college football’s elite, it became painfully clear that the preseason expectations were woefully misguided.
“Very surprised for a team that’s been top three in rushing defense [in the ACC] for three years in a row to misfit a bunch,” Doeren said after the loss to Clemson. “It wasn’t like they put in a bunch of crazy run game. Explosive plays, guys not fitting the run properly, not tackling well, playing soft in coverage, just not aggressive. It looked like we were on our heels. I’m not sure why.”
It’s those last four words that encapsulate NC State’s 2024 season. It’s hard to be sure why a team that was supposed to take the next step and contend for an ACC Championship took two steps back.
This was the year everything was supposed to come together. At the ACC Kickoff in July, Doeren was the one who set the expectations so high.
“Winning nine games is good,” Doeren said. “We don’t want to be good, we want to be the best at what we do.”
He felt confident in the team he built and on paper there was every reason to share his optimism. To keep up with his counterparts, Doeren used the transfer portal to help build his team like never before. The 12th-year coach secured 15 transfers — by far the largest transfer class in his NC State tenure — that made up a top 20 transfer class, according to 247Sports Composite.
Coastal Carolina quarterback and three-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Grayson McCall, former blue-chip wide receiver from Ohio State Noah Rogers, UConn tight end Justin Joly and Duke running back Jordan Waters highlighted the class.
This influx of talent bolstered a roster that featured returning All-ACC performers defensive end Davin Vann and cornerback Aydan White as well as wide receiver Kevin Concepcion who stuck around after setting the freshman school record in touchdowns and receptions.
It’s why NC State was selected to finish fourth in the ACC and a trendy pick to make it to the conference championship game. It’s why Doeren spoke so confidently about his team reaching the next level. It’s why the fanbase expected a 10-win season, something that has only been done once in program history.
But after the loss to Clemson, the reality was clear — this would not be the team to end the 45-year conference championship drought. Instead, NC State limped to a 6-6 record and would’ve won the award for the most disappointing team in the conference if it wasn’t for Florida State’s disaster of a season.
So where did it all go wrong?
It stems from how the roster was built. Using the portal to fill areas of need may have been the Wolfpack’s biggest downfall. Indeed, the players Doeren brought had talent but they failed to find chemistry on the field. That was evident throughout the year.
Defensively, a once dominant unit regressed. NC State plummeted from a top-25 ranking in both rush defense and pass efficiency defense the last three seasons to 57th and 77th in those categories, respectively. It had its first season with a negative turnover differential since 2020 after ranking in the top 40 in turnover margin per game for the last three years.
“Fastest way to lose a game is to beat yourself,” Doeren said after his team turned the ball over three times on Syracuse’s side of the field in a 24-17 loss. “Been pretty good at that around here — not beating ourselves — over the last four seasons, and this year, we gotta get back to it.”
Finishing games was another area where the Wolfpack faltered. From 2020 to 2023, NC State thrived in close contests, compiling an impressive 15-5 record in one-score games. This season, however, it went 3-3 in such matchups. Whether it was turning the ball over on the last possession as it did in a 34-30 loss to Wake Forest or allowing Georgia Tech’s quarterback to run for 42 yards on its last possession in a 30-29 loss, NC State’s inability to execute in decisive moments left it stumbling when it mattered most.
“Whether it’s turning the ball over in the red zone, which we did a couple of times in a game that cost us, or a penalty at an opportune time, a lot of our mistakes have been really integral in our failure,” Doeren said.
And that’s where the danger lies when relying on the transfers to play key roles. On offense, McCall never got the chance to prove himself because of injury but Rogers, Waters and Wake Forest transfer receiver Wesley Grimes could never carve out a consistent role within the offense which in turn allowed defenses to key in on Concepcion whose numbers took a significant dip from the previous season.
While the defense was mostly made up of homegrown talent, starters and reserves in the secondary came from different schools. And in defensive coordinator Tony Gibson’s scheme, it is paramount all 11 players are on the same page, which didn’t happen too often in a season where the Wolfpack gave up over 30 points per game for the first time since the 4-8 2019 campaign.
“I don’t blame Dave for wanting to try what they tried. It was worth it,” said ESPN’s David Hale, who has covered college football at the network for the last 12 years. “I thought the additions that they made were pretty good and in areas that they needed to make them. But I think when you go into the portal, there’s always sort of a mercenary effect of it like guys are not bought into a culture, the way that, if you have been recruiting them for three years or something like that, and they understand exactly what they’re getting into.”
“When you go into the portal the way that NC State did last year, not only are you risking the chemistry within the locker room and all those things that I think genuinely matter, but you’re ratcheting up expectations with fans who are like, ‘They went all in with free agency, like we’re ready to go,’” Hale continued.
Despite the setbacks, there were bright spots. Joly emerged as the team’s leading receiver, Auburn transfer safety DK Kauffman was a force in the secondary and Oklahoma transfer running back Hollywood Smothers was the only player who recorded multiple games with 100-plus yards of scrimmage. But these successes were overshadowed by the broader failures of a team that lacked cohesion.
Doeren veered away from what made him the winningest coach in program history. His greatest achievements have come from developing homegrown talent, a strategy that powered NC State to its first-ever streak of four consecutive seasons with eight or more wins from 2020 to 2023. The cornerstones of that era — players like Payton Wilson, Ikem Ekwonu, Drake Thomas, Alim McNeil, Ricky Person Jr. and Zonavan Knight, came from two of Doeren’s highest-rated classes in 2018 and 2019.
With those groups, Doeren could take the time to develop them and they, in turn, became not only great players but leaders who embodied NC State’s culture.
“The identity of our program is hard, tough, together,” Doeren said after his team’s 35-30 win over UNC-Chapel Hill. “It’s something that’s resonated and we look for in recruiting. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes you gotta teach it to him. You gotta ingrain it to him.”
That’s the challenge with transfers. Instilling a program’s values in players who come from different systems and philosophies.
[NC State will] probably want to be more towards recruiting and development than they were last year,” Hale said. “I think part of the growing pains of this season will help for next year.”
And next season seems like it could be the year people were expecting this year. The 2024 class — Doeren’s second-highest-rated group — had a year to develop and NC State retained almost all of its key contributors from last season.
Quarterback CJ Bailey — who impressed after McCall went down — and his young core of receivers and running backs return and now get a full offseason to grow with each other. The defense returns players like defensive tackle Brandon Cleveland and cornerback Brandon Cisse who should only get better after becoming full-time starters at their positions.
The 2024 season was a tough lesson for NC State, highlighting the risks of over-relying on the portal to fill needs while straying away from its developmental roots. But if Doeren can take advantage of the young and talented roster he has and return to the culture of growth and unity that defined his program, 2025 could be the year it all comes together.
