Vanderbilt is about to find out a lot about Jared Curtis, and NC State is bringing the kind of pressure that can make a first start feel a lot bigger, a lot faster.
The Commodores host NC State on Saturday, and the matchup comes at a sharp step up in competition for a Vanderbilt team that opened the 2026 season with wins over Austin Peay and Delaware. NC State is coming off its first victory of the year, a win over Richmond, after dropping its Week 0 game to Virginia on Aug.
- For Vanderbilt, this is the first real test of the season, and it lands with Curtis making his first start at quarterback.
Clark Lea isn’t sugarcoating what the Wolfpack will try to do.
“You’re seeing a little more two-three-four kind of looks and a react attack front. But they really have the ability to pressure. We’re expecting to see man-to-man and we’re expecting them to challenge us on the perimeter,” Lea said.
That’s the challenge in a nutshell: NC State wants to get after Curtis early, make the pocket uncomfortable and see how the freshman handles the first punch from a power conference defense. If the Wolfpack can land those early hits and keep Curtis under heat, it can tilt the game in its favor before Vanderbilt gets into a rhythm.
Curtis, though, isn’t walking in without answers. He’s primarily a pocket passer, but his movement matters more than people tend to give him credit for.
He’s not Diego Pavia as a runner, but he did show bursts of speed and solid escapability during fall camp. He’ll need that touch of mobility if NC State starts collapsing the pocket, and he’ll also need to win some throws on the perimeter.
He flashed that a few times against Delaware, but this defense is a different level.
For Vanderbilt, the simplest path is the one that starts on the ground. The Commodores need the run game working so Curtis isn’t asked to carry everything in his first start. That means getting Sedrick Alexander and MK Young involved and staying ahead of the chains.
NC State’s run defense against Virginia gives Vanderbilt reason to believe there’s room to operate. The Wolfpack gave up 258 rushing yards in that game, with more than 100 of those coming from Virginia quarterback Beau Pribula. Whether that was a product of Pribula’s dual-threat impact or just a bad day for the defense, the number stands out, and Vanderbilt will be looking to take advantage.
If the Commodores can run the ball, they can keep the pressure off Curtis and avoid the long-yardage situations that make life harder for any quarterback, especially one in his first start. That’s the big objective.
“We’re going to have to find ways to get the box loose in the run game and then when those pressure moments come, we’re going to have to find ways to get conversions,” Lea said.
That last part matters because Vanderbilt’s offense has not been consistently sharp through its first two games. The Commodores know they need more rhythm, more staying power and fewer empty possessions. The hope is that Saturday brings some of that back into view.
Lea also admitted after the Delaware game that he may have made things tougher than they needed to be. He said Tuesday that he felt he pressed too hard with his play calling, and that it hurt the offense’s total output.
“What I said to the team is I think especially this week, we got to finish every offensive drive with a kick. And we can’t look at a punt as a bad thing,” Lea said.
“I was self-critical after the game and I owned this with the team. I think part of the issue has been I’ve been pressing.
So, hyper aggressive at times putting our offense in a disadvantaged position rather than taking points or punting the ball. So I think I’ve got to help get these three units synced up and complementary.”
So the plan feels clear: keep it manageable, stay on schedule, and don’t force the issue just to chase explosives. If Vanderbilt can simplify things and execute, the Commodores believe they can give Curtis a workable runway in a game that should tell a lot about where this offense stands.
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Ireks background gives the addition a little extra intrigue. Originally from Nigeria, he sharpened his game at the NFL Academy, the international development program designed to expand American football around the world, and Vanderbilt is now betting on that growth curve as it adds another long-term piece to its defensive line pipeline. [Read more 🡒]