What Makes This One Special

It is incredibly difficult to win consistently in college football. Many things need to go right if you want to win games of any kind, let alone contests against the cream of the crop.

It is accurate to say that many things have not gone right for N.C. State football this year. Portal evaluations were missed. Injuries have ravaged this team. Unspeakable tragedy on the coaching staff. Justified questions about the future of the program. This has not been any easy path.

Which is perhaps why we shouldn’t have been surprised when thousands of fans ended up on the field at Carter-Finley stadium around 11 PM last night.

Photo from N.C. State Athletics

One of the hallmarks of Dave’’s tenure has been his teams’ propensity to get nasty when backed into corners. Some of the best moments from the program this decade fit this bill: the pandemic performance that should have netted him ACC Coach of the Year. Insane comebacks against UNC in ‘21 and an injury filled ‘22. The Brennan Armstrong hero arc in 2023. “The Catch” from Noah in 2024.

Coach said it best in his postgame press conference Saturday night:

"Resiliency is what this place is about. It's why I've always loved NC State. It's definitely a part of my DNA, and the harder it gets, sometimes I think the better we are."

It’d be difficult for it to get much harder for this group this year. Ahead of Saturday night, State listed 14 players as “out” on the ACC’s mandated injury report. At least five other major contributors wound up sitting, including the best running back in the ACC.

Operating nowhere close to full strength, the Pack spent just 3 minutes and 54 seconds trailing against the number eight team in the country. Their postgame win expectancy per SP+ was 85%. They didn’t rely on a crazy turnover margin or lucking their way into winning the game with explosives. They went toe to toe with the Yellow Jackets and had a three score lead with 4 minutes left in the fourth.

Don't get me wrong, the game itself was certainly entertaining. 1,100 yards of total offense and 84 points on a Saturday night in November is the best college football has to offer. This game had meaningful ACC title and college football playoff implications, and set the table for a wild finish to the year.

But high offensive output and postseason ramifications can’t vault a single contest into “truly special” territory by themselves. The thing about Saturday night was the underlying storylines from individuals staring at a season teetering on edge, and their decision to fight.

Look at C.J. Bailey. Coming off a month plus stretch of imperfect play, he responded with a 75% completion rate, 11 yards per attempt, three total touchdown performance that landed him the second highest QBR of his career. He made some of his biggest plays limping around with a nagging lower body injury, including an improvised 55 yard bomb to Teddy Hoffman that pushed State’s second half lead to 15. In one of the biggest spots of his career, he delivered.

Look at Dante Daniels and Cody Hardy. With star tight end Justin Joly out this week, the duo executed some of their best blocking in an N.C. State uniform, and combined for 67 yards and a touchdown through the air. They were essential in State’s rushing attack.

Look at Duke Scott, an under-rated high school talent who has quietly waited his turn behind Hollywood. To chants of “Duuuuuuuke” all night long, he put up a season high 196 yards and forced 11 missed tackles: that’s more than State’s entire backfield has forced in every game other than week one.

Look at Caden Fordham. The man rocking the storied #1, who has received a ton of criticism this year - and was fighting back tears after State couldn’t deliver a win for his grieving coach against Virginia Tech - made 15 total tackles, one of those for loss, and finished the upset with an interception in the end zone.

Look at D.J. Eliot’s defensive unit. They know what they’ve put on tape this year hasn’t been pleasant. They know they’re missing 8 players off of the two deep from the start of the year. Playing against one of the best offensive coordinators in the country, playing with no back ups in some spots, starting a true freshman safety, this defense helped build a 48-30 point margin with 4 minutes left in the game. They stood up.

Against the cool night backdrop of a deafening Carter-Finley, this group played its ass off.

I can’t tell you why it feels like the Pack needs unfathomable adversity to perform at its best. It would be incredible to experience a season of full health and undefeated play without stressing over anything - every fanbase yearns for this. But I can tell you that the downs make the ups so much sweeter, certainly for us as fans, but even more so for the humans in the arena playing the game.

There will be plenty of time to talk about the future of this program, who should lead it, and what it should look like. That time is not right now. With a bye week ahead of us, this win deserves to be savored and appreciated.

These moments do not happen often in college football. It happened this week because a group of tough people looked at a difficult situation and elected to pour their hearts out.

That’s on the culture that Dave and company have built in Raleigh. This was a special win that feels big to many people, and I hope everyone can take a step back and truly appreciate it. I have a feeling the head man certainly will: