NC State’s collapse against Vanderbilt is Music City Miracle 2.0, and Dave Doeren deserved to be left in Nashville
CJ Bailey just had to take the safety, and the Wolfpack had this game wrapped up. Instead, it turned into one of the most embarrassing moments in college football history.
We witnessed a Music City Miracle 2.0 on Saturday between NC State and Vanderbilt. All quarterback CJ Bailey had to do was take the safety, lay down, not give up the football, and the game was in the bag.
NC State had this one wrapped up against Vanderbilt after recording the interception, and yet somehow the Wolfpack found a way to lose it in one of the most baffling endings college football will produce all season, and perhaps one of the worst moments ever.
NC State blew a surefire win in Week 3, and it’s a tough look for Dave Doeren
This is why I try to tell NC State fans that just because you have an easy schedule doesn’t equal wins on a football field. If you have incompetent coaching that will not have you prepared every given Saturday, it doesn’t matter. The schedule is irrelevant when the execution falls apart in the moments that should be the simplest to manage.
And it goes beyond just that one play with Bailey. NC State had this game in the palm of their hand. They just had to execute in the late part of that football game, and yet they could not do it. One mistake after another led to Vanderbilt somehow pulling off the win.
Now, I don’t say this lightly. Head coach Dave Doeren should have been left in Nashville. Let him go spent the night on Broadway and have a good time and not bring him back to campus, because what we just witnessed on Saturday was insanity.
Do not get it twisted. Vanderbilt this season is not a great football team. They’re not going to win a ton of football games. NC State should have been able to win this game. They had it in the bag. It is baffling they lost.
Football is not rocket science. It may sound like it, but Bailey just had to fall down in the end zone without taking a hit. That’s it. And he couldn’t do it, or more accurately, the coaching staff couldn’t put him in a position to understand that was the play. That’s a failure of preparation, a failure of sideline communication, and a failure that falls squarely on the head coach.
Now we have to see how NC State will react to one of the craziest endings we’re going to see all year. Because if your team can’t execute the most basic situational football in a game they had already won, no schedule in the country is easy enough to save your season. And for Doeren’s case, his job.
