In a week of transition, the Pack found its footing in the second half and rolled past Cal, 31-10.
It started fast enough. On the game’s opening offensive series, CJ Bailey dropped a 49-yard touchdown pass to Deandre Desinor, who was lined up as a wide receiver. The move created a mismatch against Cal, and the linebacker assigned to Desinor couldn’t keep up with his speed.
After that, though, the Pack’s offense stalled. From that opening score until halftime, it managed just 108 total yards, and the game was tied 10-10 after two quarters.
That was a familiar problem for the Pack through seven games. In first halves, it had outscored opponents 135-72, a plus-63 margin. In second halves, the script flipped: the Pack had been outscored 125-91, a 34-point deficit.
Not this time.
The Pack opened the third quarter by scoring touchdowns on its first three possessions. Bailey hit Chance Robinson for a touchdown, Darius Johnson powered in from 2 yards out later in the third quarter, and Davion Gause finished off a 6-yard run. Gause piled up 104 yards on 19 carries.
“That's huge because Coach Goebbel said we like to count by sixes and not by three,” Gause explained. “So when we get in the red zone, we want to score.”
The surge came from more than just execution. It was also about halftime adjustments and Bailey settling in as the game wore on.
“Well, that says a lot about Coach (Kurt) Roper and the halftime adjustments we made, and that guy that we have at quarterback is pretty stinking special,” interim head coach Todd Goebbel said of Bailey. “And I give him a lot of credit.
The man's been through one heck of a year, but man, what a warrior, what a player, leader, all those things. We know if he's back there playing quarterback for us, we always have a chance.”
The defense did its part, too, blanking Cal after halftime. Popo Aguirre led the way with 16 tackles, his second-highest total of the season. Michael Tate added 7 tackles, Jackson Vick had 5, and Ronnie Royal III and Brian Nelson II finished with 4 apiece.
A lot of those stops came in open space, where technique mattered as much as effort. It was also the first game of the season with Charlton Warren serving as defensive coordinator, and after the final whistle, Warren and Goebbel shared an emotional embrace.
“I challenged Coach Warren and the defense earlier in the week,” Goebbel said. “I thought if we could set edges, we could be gap sound, and we tackled well in space, we would have one heck of a game plan.
I'll tell you right now, shout out to Coach Warren and that defense. They did exactly that, so I'm very proud of them.”
Goebbel may be new in this role, but he’s not new to the room. The running backs already knew him as their position coach, and his time as special teams coach gave him a broader view of the roster when it came time to build those units.
In the locker room after the win, Aguirre handed the game ball to Goebbel. “I got a little choked up when they gave it to me,” he said.
All week, Goebbel had talked about three Fs: focus, fundamentals and fun. After the game, he said the Pack delivered on all three.
“We went with the 1-0 mentality,” Goebbel said. “The fun piece, just watching the smiles on those guys' faces.
They believed, which is good. And the fundamental piece, we talked about it, executing third downs, running the ball effectively and, at the end of the day, tackling in space.
All those are base fundamentals. And again, they took the message, they ran with it, they made it come to life for four quarters.”
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NC State Finally Gave Fans A Reason To Believe Again
For a program that has spent too much of this season searching for something to hang onto, Saturday offered a cleaner kind of hope. NC State beat Cal 31-10 at home, and the win had the feel of a team finally settling in after a shaky start, with the offense finding a rhythm and the defense doing what it has too often been asked to do on its own.
CJ Bailey gave the Wolfpack steady quarterback play, Davion Gause helped tilt the game on the ground, and the defense smothered Cal for long stretches, allowing points in only one quarter. Popo Aguirres 16 tackles stood out in a performance that looked more like a reset than a fluke, even if the bigger question now is whether NC State can carry that edge into the next stretch. [Read more 🡒]