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N.C. State Athletic Director Boo Corrigan only attends football postgame news conferences when the team loses.
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True to form, he was in the room Saturday after the Wolfpack’s stunning 35-31 loss to Vanderbilt, during which it led for all but one second. His appearance came minutes after head coach Dave Doeren was spotted leaning against a counter outside the hallway leading to the visitor’s locker room, sweat dripping off his face, his body language signaling defeat.
Following a 7-minute, 38-second availability that included comments from Doeren, Keenan Jackson and Popo Aguirre, Corrigan scurried out of the media room without comment.
On Aug. 21, Corrigan explained why he does this.
“It’s not, ‘Hey, this is great,’” Corrigan told the media on Aug. 21. “You just want to be there with him as he goes through the process and mourns.”
There was plenty to mourn Saturday, but quarterback CJ Bailey was not among those who did so publicly after fumbling on the final play of the game.
Doeren spoke for three minutes. The players spoke for two each. It was a shorter press conference than the one at Virginia — probably because this one hurt more. There’s nothing quite like leading an entire game only to fumble the football in the end zone.
The plan, Doeren said, was for Bailey to roll out, burn time, fall on the ground and protect the football. N.C. State was willing to give up a safety, because it still would’ve maintained its advantage. But Bailey didn’t protect the football. His blockers — four wide receivers and an offensive line — didn’t protect him.
Forget giving up two points.; the mistake cost a full a seven.
“Very sad ending where I thought we did a lot of good, and fought really hard, controlled the football game, responded when we needed to — responded multiple times,” Doeren said. “They’re a good program. They fought back and got some momentum, and we get it back all the way down to the end when we intercepted a pass. It’s a shame it came down to that play where that should never happen; a play that breaks your heart. I was proud of how our guys played for 59 minutes and 59 seconds.”
That’s how it always is. Doeren said it’s the same way when a basketball player makes a buzzer beater. That’s the play people talk about. Not what came before.
But there was no explanation for not snapping the ball into the stands or setting up plays to throw down field. No one knows if taking a knee was an option or if there were discussions about simply running around the back of the end zone. There was no clarity on what message Bailey received before the final play.
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“It really, really hurts when you lose a game like that where the guys went all in and did a lot of good,” Doeren said.
Beyond the result itself, it felt like there was a huge elephant in the room while everyone spoke. Doeren’s job has been questioned on and off for years. It was questioned before N.C. State even got on the plane to Nashville. He’s now 1-8 against the SEC and is the only coach in the past 20 years whose team lost, despite having the ball and a lead with 10 seconds remaining.
Corrigan said in 2025 that he doesn’t believe in firing coaches midseason. That may still be true, but the disdain from fans — at least on the internet — is loud. Where does that leave the program?
Saturday, there was no time for questions about the future, the public perception or feelings about job security — for Doeren or for his players. Corrigan’s quick escape meant he didn’t answer any questions.
The only big picture answers came by way of the lessons learned, all of which focused on not placing blame, limiting mistakes that put the team in that position to begin with and evaluating what each individual can do better.
When Doeren was asked what he could do differently, he didn’t ignore the question, but never full answered it, either.
“I can’t go out there and tackle for them, and I can’t hang on to the ball for guys,” Doeren said. “We called a good game. They made some plays, and we made some plays, and we made enough of being elite for 59 minutes and 59 seconds at an SEC school on the road. Played pretty damn good, and we coached pretty good, but we didn’t make that play at the end. There’s always things when you watch the game and think about what you did, but that’s not how life works. It’s not. You can learn. You take the lessons from the day, and you try to get better for the next one.”
This story was originally published September 19, 2026 at 6:58 PM with the headline “NC State postgame comments after Vanderbilt loss leave more questions than answers.”
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