Final Thoughts Before NC State vs App State

The Wolfpack will meet App State tonight in one final tune-up before the rest of their ACC schedule gets underway.

We’ll highlight a couple of interesting storylines heading into this in-state matchup.

Bigger Than A Game

This matchup is personal to Doeren. He was friends with former App State legend Sean Clark, who died nearly a year ago at 50.

“I miss him dearly,” Doeren said. “Sometimes you can just tell who your people are, and he was one of those guys. He loved helping his players.”

And then within the NC State program, it’s been close to a year since the passing of Defensive Coordinator DJ Eliot’s daughter, Drue, who died from a long battle with cancer.

“Perspective is a tough teacher,” Doeren said. “When you lose people, you really get perspective on how fortunate you are to have what you do. And what we have here is a family that care a lot about these players and these coaches that look forward to fighting against this team we’re about to play.”

Quarterback Matchup

All eyes will be on CJ Bailey (QB) as he takes his first snaps with the Wolfpack offense. It’ll be interesting to see how he rebounds from last weekend’s setback.

Bailey played well before the fumble; he completed 25-for-37 for 275 yards and 3 touchdowns.

The team has had Bailey’s back through everything that followed their heartbreaking loss to Vanderbilt.

“[Bailey] and I love each other, and have a lot of respect for each other,” NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren said on Monday. “I wanted to make sure that we learned from what happened and that I understand completely what was going on with him, and how can we move forward and best use this as a galvanizing moment with our football team because he is an important leader for us.

Bailey will need to bring a similar effort against an APP State defense that has only allowed 16 points per game. He doesn’t need to be perfect, but Bailey must limit the costly turnovers.

Meanwhile, App State is rolling right now. Its former Big Ten transfer quarterback Malachi Singleton currently leads the Sun Belt with a 74.5% pass completion rate.

“We got to pressure their quarterback,” Doeren said. “We can’t give him all day, and he’s had a lot of clean pockets to throw the football with a lot of time. If you do that, it’s not going to be good.”