What a difference a year makes.
The NC State football team showed that difference in its resurgent 2014 season, culminating in a 34-27 victory over UCF in the St. Petersburg Bitcoin Bowl.
Many State fans were left dumbfounded and awestruck after the 2013 season. A 3-9 record? No ACC wins? How could a team that made three consecutive bowl trips fail to amass a respectable record? Could it get any worse?
The only direction from last season’s dreadful result was up, and up the Wolfpack went.
With Florida-transfer Jacoby Brissett at quarterback, a revamped offense and a little bit of defensive magic (albeit late in the season), NC State set a formula for a much-improved football team.
Fast-forward to the present: After the Pack’s win in the Bitcoin bowl, the team sits at 8-5, a five-win improvement this season over last. Anchored by a much-improved defense, the Pack finished the season winning four of its last five games, including a 35-7 trouncing of the rival Tar Heels in Chapel Hill.
The bowl win quelled the doubters of head coach Dave Doeren and gave the proof fans needed to put their trust in Doeren for the foreseeable future. Things didn’t go so well for him last year, and if the team stumbled out of the gate, Doeren’s seat was going to get hot.
Now you might as well call him butter because he’s on a roll. He’s recruiting well, he’s coaching well and, most importantly, he’s winning. Starting out the season with four straight wins and playing with then No. 1 Florida State for three quarters showed the improvement in this year’s team and helped many forget the woes of 2013.
But what people still don’t understand is what a bowl win means for a program like State. Recruits see what’s transpired over the season. They see the atmosphere at the Florida State game. They see the wins over UNC and UCF. They see the culture Doeren’s established and begin to consider State as a potential suitor for them.
It proves to critics who wrote the Pack off after last season, the beginning of the season, or during the midseason losing streak that this team is resilient and won’t go down without a fight. After all, it’s not about how you start; it’s how you finish.
It gives fans hope. After two great quarterback eras of Russell Wilson and Mike Glennon ended, fans wondered whom the gauntlet would be passed to. And after a season where the quarterback position was less of an iron throne and more of a revolving door in Times Square, enter Jacoby Brissett.
Although Brissett only has one more year of eligibility, it’s one more year in Raleigh wearing Wolfpack red. Brissett’s shown greatness in his first year as the Pack’s starter, and after a solid performance in the bowl win, he’s got fans swooning head over heels, while faint chants of “Jacoby Football” ring throughout Wolfpack Nation.
I trust Dave Doeren. He’s proved to students, fans and alumni that he’s the right choice to lead the Wolfpack.
Helming one of the best turnarounds in the FBS, Doeren’s ability to coach and develop players is evident in the team’s improved play throughout the season.
I’ll admit I didn’t have high expectations this season. Winning an ACC game or two would have been nice, maybe crank out four or five total wins.
But eight wins?! Eight!? That’s phenomenal in itself, regardless of the non-conference schedule.
Consider the position this team was in last season. No certainty at the quarterback position, doubts about a first-year coach from a small conference and an awful season to boot. That’s a transition year. Sure it’s not pretty, but it’s a season that helps seasons like the one State just had, possible.
