Blake Harrell responds to NC State's Dave Doeren saying he wants to 'beat the shit' out of ECU in 2025

There’s not a lot of love between Blake Harrell’s East Carolina team and Dave Doeren’s NC State squad. The Pirates defeated the Wolfpack last season in the Military Bowl, and the two teams broke out in a melee. Evidently, there are still some hard feelings entering a new campaign.

Ironically enough, ECU and NC State will meet in Week 1, and the Pirates’ actions from last season are on Doeren’s mind. On Thursday, the Wolfpack leader had some strong words for Harrell and his program at ACC Media Days.

“I don’t want to just win that game. I want to beat the shit out of that team,” he proclaimed. “Not because of them, but because of how we played. I told our team in the locker room, that’s the most embarrassed I’ve ever been as a coach. Not because we lost, but because of how we behaved at the end of it.”

The incident last December stemmed from ECU receiver Yannick Smith appearing to grab the towel of NC State defensive Back Tamarcus Cooley. Cooley then chased after Smith and grabbed him before other players got involved.

Eight players were ejected as a result of the carnage. Five of the players were from Doeren’s own squad. An official was left bloodied. That stuck in the craw of the NC State head coach, it seems. Harrell delivered his response on Friday.

“Our main focus and for the 2025 season is not necessarily about our opponents right now, it’s about us, and how much better we can be every single day,” Harrell responded, regarding Doeren’s comments via the American Athletic Conference Media Day. “We’ve got 34 days until Aug. 28, but we’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’ve got a long ways to go. We’ve got to push every single day to get better and better.

“When you get to your opponent, whichever week that may be, that’s going to be the biggest game of the year, because it’s the next game. We all have that competitive mindset that we want to win, and we want to take care of business. Right now, that’s the mindset. Seeing how much better we can get next week during preseason camp.”

Additionally, Harrell isn’t putting too much stock into last season’s result, as it pertains to this year’s Week 1 showdown: “It’s a very competitive game. There’s a lot of emotions and energy that gets built up into the game. We talk to our players all the time — no matter what happens in life, positive event, negative event — at some point, we’ve got to forget the event and learn the lesson,” he stated.

“I think that’s a valuable lesson there. There’s no place for how that game ended. Maybe it got blown more out of proportion than it really was. At the same time, there’s no place for that. Sportsmanship needs to be at the forefront of what we do. It’s a very unique opportunity, that you finish this season with the same opponent you’re going to open the season with. Still, it’s a different roster for both them and us. It’ll be a great atmosphere up there in Raleigh on Aug. 28. Looking forward to it.”

Amid the war of words, NC State is favored at the moment, an early 11.5-point favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. That might not be enough for Doeren’s liking, but it’s expected to be a high-scoring affair, as the over/under set at 57.5 points.

The gloves will come off on Thursday, Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. ET. The game will air live on the ACC Network from inside Carter-Finley Stadium. We’ll see whether Blake Harrell or Dave Doeren has their team more ready for that one between East Carolina and NC State.

— On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this report.