After North Carolina State’s stunning collapse last week, coach Dave Doeren is trying to turn the attention to Saturday night’s game against visiting Appalachian State in Raleigh, N.C.
“There’s a lot of football left in this season,” he said. “There’s a lot to play for, and I know that we’re not going to quit. We’re going to fight our butts off.”
The Wolfpack (1-2) are coming off a devastating 35-31 loss at Vanderbilt, where a last-second fumble by quarterback CJ Bailey in the end zone, while trying to run out the clock, resulted in the Commodores’ go-ahead touchdown.
“It’s a terrible way to end a football game that you controlled,” Doeren said. “There was a lot of pain and anger in that locker room after the game. I know the fans feel the same way.”
Appalachian State is 3-0 for the first time since 2019 after defeating visiting Charlotte 26-21 last weekend.
“We’ve got a lot to clean up from that game,” said Mountaineers coach Dowell Loggains, whose team was outscored in the fourth quarter for the second game in a row. “We have to learn how to close out games.”
Despite Bailey’s blunder last week, Loggains expects him to be a handful for his defense to deal with.
“You forget how big he is, so you’ve got to do a great job containing him,” Loggains said.
NC State receiver Davion Dozier caught five touchdown passes last year when he played for Appalachian State.
Appalachian State’s Malachi Singleton was named Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week after throwing for a career-best 331 yards and two TDs against Charlotte. Ten Mountaineers caught at least one of Singleton’s 28 completions.
Jaquari Lewis has scored a rushing touchdown in each of Appalachian State’s games. James London has gone 6-for-7 on field goals, missing only a 59-yard attempt.
NC State has won all six previous meetings with the Mountaineers, all in Raleigh and most recently in 2006.
For the Wolfpack, this game is part of the healing process.
“We’ve got three straight home games, and this is the first,” Doeren said. “I’m looking forward to it. … It’s not going to be about what happened last Saturday. It’s going to be about what we’re going to get done this Saturday.”