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NC State continues to learn from Military Bowl brawl vs. ECU with rematch to open 2025 campaign

image_6483441 (3)by: Noah Fleischman5 hours agofleischman_noah
NC State EcU brawl
Dec 28, 2024; Annapolis, MD, USA; North Carolina State Wolfpack and East Carolina Pirates players fight during the second half of the Go Bowling Military Bowl at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

It’s been just under eight months since NC State coach Dave Doeren sat in the postgame press conference at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium to apologize for his team’s actions in the waning seconds of the Military Bowl. 

The Wolfpack, which was on the brink of a 26-21 loss to in-state foe East Carolina, ended up in an all-out brawl that featured eight total ejections and left an official bloodied from the fray. It wasn’t what Doeren wanted to see from his team, but he took responsibility for it in the moments following.

“I’m embarrassed as a coach,” Doeren said on the rainy night in Annapolis, Md. “I know our players are too. That is not how people of this program, the players of this program, staff of this program, want anything to do with something like that. To me, it was a terrible response to something that happened to one of our players, and there’s no excuses for it. So I apologize to ECU and their team for the way we responded.”

Now, with NC State set to open the 2025 campaign against that same ECU squad Thursday night (7 p.m., ACC Network), the focus has been to learn from that moment. Doerne said it started in the locker room afterwards, and the Wolfpack has continued to talk about it over the months since. 

The goal? To avoid that happening again — no matter the opponent, but especially with a rematch against the Pirates coming as soon as it is.

“The standards and the culture of this football program, on and off the field, are to do things a certain way,” Doeren said. “How you react versus respond is part of maturity. Two wrongs don’t make a right. It doesn’t matter what somebody else does. It’s how we respond to what happens. In a game — and in life — it’s all the same. Just having the maturity, the leadership, and as coaches, doing our part to educate. It’s an ongoing topic.”

NC State’s players are well aware of looking to right the ship against ECU, but they want to do it the right way. Sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey noted the team has focused on controlling its emotions, looking to use them in a positive way against an opponent — not in a brawl.

One way of doing that, finding a way to beat the Pirates to open the new season.

“It left a bad taste in our mouths,” senior defensive end Travali Price said early in fall camp. “We want to go out there and dominate. You need to make a statement on Day 1.”

NC State holds a 19-14 advantage in the all-time series against ECU, including a 17-8 mark in Raleigh. In fact, the Wolfpack has outscored the Pirates 92-9 in the previous two meetings inside Carter-Finley Stadium as it looks to replicate those performances once more. 

But in doing so, the Pack is focused on doing it the right way. Doeren, an old-school soul, believes in respecting the game to represent its players, both past and present, in a positive light. That doesn’t change with ECU heading to Raleigh. 

Instead, the 13th-year coach believes that it might make this game more about the Wolfpack than it does about the team they’re playing to open the season.

“To me, we didn’t live up to the privilege we have to be at this university, to work at this university, and it starts with me,” Doeren said of the end of the Military Bowl. “This is way more about how we play, how we carry the torch for this university and our reputation. … What happened after the game can’t happen, and won’t happen”

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