Can’t run the ball. And it’s hard to maintain any drive if you can’t at least be a threat to run.

10/10/2026 2:22:51 PM

I’m getting too old for this shit

10/10/2026 2:27:07 PM

This defense is atrocious.

Cant get pressure. Every wr wide open. It’s crazy

10/10/2026 2:30:01 PM

Coach fired yet?

10/10/2026 2:30:37 PM

Fuck Wake

10/10/2026 2:34:34 PM

We didn’t punt until late 2nd Q. They didn’t have a sustained drive till late 2nd Q and even that ended in FG. And since half it’s been a total 180.

Wake has ballers. We do not.

10/10/2026 2:36:19 PM

Our offense stretched the field early in the game and we had success with it. Now everything is very short. Nothing downfield. I don’t get the complete change in our style of play. Maybe Wake’s defense made significant adjustments to take stuff away. Idk. But it’s crazy how the offense can go from so smooth and efficient to just a complete dumpster fire in like 3 possessions.

10/10/2026 2:40:42 PM

Just turned the game on. Did the crowd ever show up?

Not that they have an excuse to stick around for this garbage.

10/10/2026 2:41:57 PM

I like that the announcers were commenting on the however many consecutive sell out streak as they panned to a half empty stadium lol

10/10/2026 2:50:00 PM

Started 16/16 for 173

Since then 4/12 for 19 yards

Good god

10/10/2026 2:52:09 PM

Hernandez 13 targets
Foley 10 targets
Next highest is 2 targets for Wake

They feed their playmakers. We don’t. Granted, I don’t think we have playmakers as good as Hernandez or Foley on our offense. But we do nothing to scheme favorably for our ballers. Scheme something up for Victor Snow. Scheme something up for Kenan Jackson. We spread the ball around too much. Identify your ballers and force feed them. We don’t have the quality depth to spread it around like we try to.

10/10/2026 3:00:46 PM

^^
OK, so they might be playing a little streaky. . .

NTTAWWT!

10/10/2026 3:01:02 PM

Down 24. Dumping if off to the RB and TE. What are we doing

10/10/2026 3:07:32 PM

I would’ve preferred to pay Hollywood a few million and gotten some QB from the MAC to feed Hollywood like 30 times a game.

Not even hating on Bailey. He’s a solid qb. But not good enough to win by himself when he’s surrounded by minimal skill talent

10/10/2026 3:10:28 PM

By the way, we won lost that football game.

10/10/2026 3:15:09 PM

We have no identity. And really haven’t had one since I guess the Payton Wilson/Drake Thomas defense days?

10/10/2026 3:30:58 PM

Quote :

"Wake 38 Pack 21"

Pretty close, unfortunately

10/10/2026 3:31:27 PM

We do have an identity. Don't make half time adjustments and completely collapse in the second half.

10/10/2026 3:40:14 PM

I want somebody smarter than me to tell me why the offense looked totally different half to half in this game. I don’t think it’s as simple as “other team makes an adjustment and we don’t”. The other team has all week to prepare for what we do. OL definitely got worn down by the end of the game. But the quick hit passes in the first half just disappeared in the second half. Everything took forever to develop and ended in a dump off to Gause.

Also, this feels like a game (with bad and injured OL) that maybe you could’ve tried some Will Wilson run packages on early downs just to mix things up. Obviously all that goes out the window once it’s a blowout.

10/10/2026 4:38:06 PM

I wasn't able to watch the second half of the game, but imagine my surprise to see that we went from a great first half performance (relatively speaking) to getting absolutely bitch slapped.

So surprised! /sarc

10/12/2026 10:56:35 AM

The dumb thing about the “wake made adjustments” thing is doesn’t that imply Doeren had a great game plan and Wake didn’t? And then Wake adjusted and we didn’t. I mean…I guess that could be true but i just don’t believe it’s that simple.

10/12/2026 11:32:19 AM

Quote :

"I want somebody smarter than me to tell me why the offense looked totally different half to half in this game. I don’t think it’s as simple as “other team makes an adjustment and we don’t”. The other team has all week to prepare for what we do. OL definitely got worn down by the end of the game. But the quick hit passes in the first half just disappeared in the second half. Everything took forever to develop and ended in a dump off to Gause."

Look to TRT in these cases.

https://www.trinityroadtimes.com/p/game-analysis-nc-state-acquiesces

Quote :

"TEX stunts"

IMO, Bailey's poor decision making and slow snap-to-pass time plays a big factor. Wake was getting to Bailey a lot more in the second half, but it's not like we saw a ton of all out blitzes.

10/12/2026 11:37:47 AM

I guess my question is more of a coaching philosophy question than an X and O question. Was Wake actually dumb enough to not think to bring pressure in the first half? They knew we were down several OL and a starting RB.

This is where the “halftime adjustment” discourse loses me.

10/12/2026 12:31:21 PM

Quote :

"The dumb thing about the “wake made adjustments” thing is doesn’t that imply Doeren had a great game plan and Wake didn’t? And then Wake adjusted and we didn’t. I mean…I guess that could be true but i just don’t believe it’s that simple."

It's a gut reaction to how DD coached teams appear to drop off after halftime.

Maybe it's a conditioning thing or a depth thing. Maybe it's a combo of all that.

10/13/2026 8:29:46 AM

Yeah I get that it’s a gut reaction. That’s why I’m asking for actual specifics. And it’s not in an attempt to defend Doeren. I’m ready to move on from him. I just want an informed discussion rather than “other team coached good, we coached bad”. And if you’re gonna do that then don’t you have to give Doeren credit for his team’s good 1H performances vs Vandy, UL, Wake? I don’t even really think this has been such an issue in the past, feels exclusive to this year. But I’m also not going back and doing any research on our half by half point differential over 14 years.

To me the far more glaring and obvious issue than “halftime adjustments” is that we just suck. We don’t have playmakers. Bailey is a fine QB and he’s surrounded by very average players. Our defense has no difference makers. Across the board, it’s a talent issue. And, yes, that’s the coach’s fault.

[Edited on October 13, 2026 at 11:27 AM. Reason : J]

10/13/2026 11:25:25 AM

This is a total guess but the way I think about is: Wake notices in the first half that stunts are working better than other things on pass rush, starts spamming it, State doesn't have a fix. Wake notices when QB rolls, Safety shifts in a way that leaves middle open, puts in a play that takes advantage, qb rolls but instead of a scramble or short pass, passes into that deep middle "wow that was easy should we try again??"

10/14/2026 10:44:47 PM

So what you’re saying is, Wake made adjustments? Why didn’t you just say so?!?!

10/15/2026 5:52:01 PM

Still reviewing my sources, but it appears the team that makes better adjustments wins the game #speculation

10/15/2026 5:55:19 PM

Doeren thinks halftime is for juice boxes and orange slices, not scheming up new plays!

10/15/2026 5:56:18 PM

Frankly any fan that doesn't like orange slices is a fan we don't need

10/15/2026 10:34:26 PM

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/50196582/cfp-expansion-problems

TLDR: This guy put us in a 24 team CFP field twice in the last 5 years.

Imagine the possibilities in 2021 and 2023. Hahaha

10/16/2026 9:53:01 PM

We're #1 #24!!!
We're #1 #24!!!
We're #1 #24!!!
We're #1 #24!!!

I don't remember making the playoffs but I do remember that one year we went 0-8, one year we went 1-7, and four years we went 3-5 in the conference.

[Edited on October 16, 2026 at 11:04 PM. Reason : ACC]

10/16/2026 11:03:19 PM

Half the years he’s beeen .500 or better in conference. Not bad!

[Edited on October 17, 2026 at 8:52 AM. Reason : My take away from that ^ is 2 bad seasons in 13. Maybe not the best anti DD argument ]

10/17/2026 8:51:28 AM

Are they still staying in a hotel before home games, all while still sending emails saying they need more money?

10/17/2026 4:23:25 PM

https://x.com/geoffschwartz/status/2112162614877061248?s=46&t=lHWRQcd88WhEW7wh4gQSIw

Quote :

"Halftime “adjustments” is one of the biggest myths in the NFL. You’ve already made the adjustments to new things after the first few drives. You just go over a second half plan. You have like 5 minutes to talk after everyone settles and the coaches meet."

Just found this interesting re: halftime adjustments. Clearly we have second half issues. I continue to believe it’s not as simple as “other team adjusts and we don’t”

10/19/2026 9:30:23 AM

It's a game of attrition.

10/19/2026 10:50:09 AM

Quote :

"Jojo Trader, Kamen Smith and Duke Scott are day-to-day. Yousef Mugharbil is out for the season. Vander Ploog is also out for the season."

Jwatsonfisher on Twitter


Also Rico Jackson must be really good bc currently on the depth chart he is #1 at LG and RT

10/19/2026 5:42:13 PM

Is anyone planning to watch the whole game live Friday??

I plan to watch first quarter or two, then watch the rest Saturday morning #Old

10/21/2026 9:48:18 AM

Wait, we are still playing football? Thought it was basketball season

10/21/2026 10:32:52 AM

I doubt I’ll watch any 10:30 start is criminal. I’m usually asleep by 10:30.

9:30 pm start and I’d begrudgingly stay up to watch. 10:30? Sorry, that’s asking too much. Also I know myself, and I know that if I stay up with the intention to watch a quarter or two, I’ll just end up watching the entire thing. Which is a bad choice. So I’ll avoid it altogether.

Cal and Stanford should’ve never been voted into the conference. But I guess they all quit actually caring about the fan experience long ago.

10/21/2026 12:18:31 PM

Are yall careful about spoilers or what?

10/21/2026 1:12:51 PM

For the last several years, i typically record it and may start an hour or so into the game, so I can do other things, then watch and fast-forward through commercials. And if I was busy and couldn't watch any of it during realtimet, I'd be careful not to watch hear any spoilers and watch it later. Now I don't care as much. I check to see if we won, and if we lost, I may go back and watch some and fast-foward some. Some games this season I haven't even gone back and bothered watching the second half. Seems like a waste of time, I've got better things to do (#bandwagon)

10/21/2026 1:20:44 PM

Quote :

"Also I know myself, and I know that if I stay up with the intention to watch a quarter or two, I’ll just end up watching the entire thing. Which is a bad choice."

Same! I'll have to remind myself on Friday around 10pm to avoid it.

You would think they could throw the ACC a bone and start the game at maybe 9:30pm.

10/21/2026 3:07:17 PM

Yeah the 10:30 start instead of 9:30 just feels like salt in the wound.

10/21/2026 3:10:42 PM

Its like they think nc state fans are a bunch of nerds or something

10/21/2026 5:24:47 PM

I just want to state that MST is the perfect time zone for sports viewing, in my humble opinion. Not that I'll be watching much of, if any, this game. But in general, I love it.

10/22/2026 1:58:02 PM

Go Pack

10/23/2026 12:42:10 PM

Oh god todays that late game...

[Edited on October 23, 2026 at 6:12 PM. Reason : ^^i like central for tv viewing. I dread ever going back to eastern tz for that reason]

10/23/2026 6:11:28 PM

Hope we win! I’ll check in tomorrow morning to see how things went.

Halftime score prediction: Pack 17, Stanford 7

Final score prediction: Pack 34, Stanford 14.

No halftime adjustments were made. Everything remained status quo from first half to the second.

10/23/2026 7:56:56 PM

2-1/2 hours until game time

Without knowing the team's travel arrangements, I'm going to assume that they have some fatigue from having 3 hours added to their day.

Pack: 27
Cardinal: 17

[Edited on October 23, 2026 at 8:09 PM. Reason : -]

10/23/2026 8:08:33 PM