Only six plays stood between the Wolfpack and a 10-win regular season
It’s no secret that in NC State’s 119 year history, the Wolfpack have hit double-digits wins in a season just once. On 13 occasions, State has reached nine wins – including four times under Dave Doeren – but has not been able to hit that elusive 10-win mark. Despite all the warts that the 2024 Wolfpack team had, it came a lot closer to hitting that mark than you’d think.
Only six plays kept the Pack from 10 regular season wins in 2024.
I know, I know, I know… This is such a ridiculous view. It’s not like all of these games came down to one single play at the end of the game that didn’t go State’s way. If the plays mentioned below play out differently, the entire game likely plays out differently. Maybe State isn’t as aggressive on offense – we all know how conservative Dave Doeren can be with a lead. Maybe the opponent is more aggressive on offense. The play calls definitely differ and things likely shake out in a different manner…
But we’re now past the regular season and I don’t care. Humor me.
Let’s start early. After getting smoked by a pair of College Football Playoff teams (hey, be nice) in Tennessee and Clemson and surviving a trio of games against what should have been overmatched teams (Western Carolina, Louisiana Tech, and Northern Illinois), the Pack hosted Wake Forest. I don’t need to show a replay of this one, but the game-changing play was simple.
Down 3-0, NC State drove the ball 65 yards in just 7 plays on their first drive of the game to reach a 3rd & 11 at the Wake 19 yardline. Grayson McCall scrambled and was hit in the helmet causing both the ball and his helmet to be dislodged. Now, this can easily devolve into a completely different story about the trajectory of the season, but let’s live in a vacuum and just say that one play doesn’t end in a fumble but rather a 9-yard run and a 4th down play. That takes the subsequent Wake touchdown following the 88-yard fumble return off the board and adds a field goal for State. In a 4-point loss, that 10-point swing is all the difference.
In the following game, State hosted Syracuse. The Pack turned the ball over three times inside the Orange 30 yardline, plus missed a 41-yard field goal attempt early. Oh yeah, and had to settle for a field goal in the 4th quarter after having 1st & goal from the Syracuse 3 yardline. Convert on that horrendous 2nd & goal call and hit one of those opportunities for a field goal and that’s a Pack win.
After snagging a pair of wins against the ACC’s west coast brethren and building some good momentum, State hosted Duke on November 9th. A pair of early 1st quarter mistakes by the Pack’s offense led to five points on the board for the Blue Devils. At the start of the 4th quarter, a pass behind Justin Joly ended up tipped and intercepted, setting up a quick Duke touchdown to extend their lead to 14 points. Take away the 1st quarter fumble and the 4th quarter interception, and it’s a 3-point State lead when the Pack punts the ball away with under 6:00 to play in the game. Do the Blue Devils still make a drive to set up a field goal? Does the Pack pull out the win?
And in the most obvious of these four losses, in the trip to Atlanta in the penultimate regular season game, a poorly called – and somehow even worse executed – pop-pass to K.C. Concepcion resulted in a Georgia Tech interception returned for a touchdown. Not hard to see the difference that play made in a 1-point game.
So, yeah, this 6-6 incredibly flawed NC State team was just a handful of plays away from cracking 10 wins. Did it, though? No, which stinks – but maybe next year.
And the truth of it is that if this flawed State team did manage to pull out a few more of those aforementioned plays and hit 10 wins – or, heck, even 8 or 9 – rather than the season hitting the snags it did, the coaching staff probably doesn’t go through the needed self evaluation. It’s the mix of that changes that come from a poor season together with a core group from a team that still almost made it happen that holds a hope for 2025.