How NC State's halftime defensive adjustments have been key the past two weeks

NC State’s defense opened the 2025 season on a roll. In the season opener, it forced four straight East Carolina three-and-outs, which allowed the Wolfpack offense to quickly build a 17-0 lead as it took momentum from complementary football. But ever since that fast start, NC State’s defense has been unable to find that same early-game rhythm. While the Wolfpack is 3-0, its defense has spotted Virginia and Wake Forest multi-score leads, which required a pair of comeback efforts to emerge with victories.  Even though the Pack has overcome back-to-back deficits of 7 or more points in the past two weeks — the first such feat for the program since 2014 — NC State’s defense has looked like a totally different unit across the final 30 minutes of each of the last two victories.  It was evident in Week 2 against Virginia, a game that the Wolfpack trailed by 10 at the half before outsourcing the Cavaliers 21-7 in the third quarter to earn a 4-point win. And it reappeared at Wake Forest last Thursday night as the Pack fell behind by two touchdowns in the first quarter before pitching a second-half shutout to leave Winston-Salem with a 10-point victory.  The trend between the last two slow starts, which featured a pair of teams that utilized new starting quarterbacks with a significant amount of new faces around them, was an easy one for NC State coach Dave Doeren to point out.  “It was bad football.” Doeren said with a matter-of-fact tone. “That was the trend. We weren’t playing aggressive. It’s not about blitzing, it’s about getting your feet in the ground, getting off, playing with technique, trusting what you see.”