Dave Doeren doesn't play well with others (Power Conference teams, that is)

Have you ever said a sports stat in a group with such confidence that the people around you just nodded their heads because it just sounded true? Well, that happened to me on our recent episode of the Lotcast. Leading up to NC State's game against Notre Dame, I boldly claimed that since he's been at NC State, Dave Doeren has never beaten a power conference opponent away from Carter-Finley stadium, including true road games or neutral sites.

For this scenario, I'm including Notre Dame as a power conference opponent.

Now that I said it, I figured it would be a good idea to actually check the numbers and see if I was talking out of my derriere or not.

Let’s first start with Dave Doeren’s overall non-conference performance against power conference-level opponents:

A 4-13 record? Yeesh, and all kinds of yikes, to say the least. In the losses:

• The average +/- is a paltry -19

• 7 of the 13 losses are by 20 or more points

Let’s look at just the bowl record; maybe that’s better. Keep in mind, two bowls are missing here. ECU is not, and UCF was not yet a power conference team:

Okay, well, who likes bowls anyway? CLEARLY not Dave Doeren. Yes, you have to deal with opt-outs for bowls, but that’s not THAT many people, and the other team has them as well, so that’s not really an excuse. 

How about at home? Doeren has always been more comfortable in the comfortable confines of Carter-Finley:

One legitimate win, and one win that was heavily influenced by both a hurricane and Brian Kelly.  The Texas Tech win was much closer than the final score would portray.I should also note that the 2018 home game vs West Virginia was canceled due to a hurricane affecting the safety of travel. WVU was 14th at the time; the game might not have gone NC State’s way anyway. 

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Now onto the main event, to see whether I was making any sense with my original proclamation. How have Dave Doeren’s teams performed on the road or at neutral sites against power conference-level opposition?

Turns out, the reason no wins came to mind was because there were none to remember. 

What’s the point of all this?

Playing competition at-level is a measuring stick for your program. Think about how the NCAA college basketball Selection Committee heavily weights non-conference records when comparing resumes. 

Having an 0-6 record in this area is objectively terrible. All but one are double-digit losses, and half of them greater than 20 points. At that point, you’re not even staying on the field with the opponent.

In combination with the bowls, Dave Doeren is 2-11 in these games away from home, with his last win coming in 2017, currently sitting at an 8 game losing streak. There’s no other way to sugarcoat that as anything but terrible.

Two areas we’ll address in a future column after this season is over will be his record against ranked teams, and his conference record. Spoiler alert, those won’t paint his tenure in any better light. The point of all this is to put in context the last 13 years of NC State football. When looking at this level of competition, Dave Doeren simply has not been able to keep up with the Jones’. 

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Why did you give him two hats? Silly, AI, never change.