RALEIGH — NC State got right against Richmond.
Now the Wolfpack faces a much stiffer test and a chance to earn a signature victory when it visits Vanderbilt on Saturday.
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NC State (1-1) and Vanderbilt (2-0) kick off at 12:45 p.m. in Nashville. The game will be televised on the SEC Network and can be heard on 101.5 FM in the Triangle.
“It’s a really good team that won 10 games last year, and they’re from a good conference just like we are,” NC State head coach Doeren said Monday. “It’s a great measuring stick that way. You’re playing a 10-win team in their stadium and arguably the best team in program history there last year, so you’re getting them at their peak. They had every coach on their staff, I believe, return so their continuity is there. It’s a great test.”
Doeren’s team hammered Richmond 73-0 on Friday night, setting school records for total offense (734 yards), rushing yards (428 yards), rushing touchdowns (eight) and extra points (10) in the game. The Wolfpack played 85 players in the game, which served as a cleanser after NC State’s clunker in a season-opening loss at Virginia on Aug. 29.
“All of us had to feel that stench that was over us for 14 days of losing, and you got to remember that,” Doeren said. “It’s my job to remind them of that, their coaches’ job and our leadership needs to understand just the type of urgency and edge you have to have in this sport to play well.”
Vanderbilt, long a laughingstock in the Southeastern Conference, won a school-record 10 games in 2025 under head coach Clark Lea. The Commodores are 19-9 since the start of the 2024 season, including victories over Austin Peay and Delaware to start this season.
Vanderbilt seems to have settled on freshman Jared Curtis at quarterback after he led the Commodores’ second-half comeback against Delaware. Curtis ran for two touchdowns and threw a touchdown in the third quarter.
“He’s got a huge arm,” Doeren said. “He just flips that thing, and it’s flying across the field. Really talented arm strength. You can see that he’s strong when he runs. He’s not just going down, he’s trying to get yards.”
The Wolfpack struggled to stop the quarterback run game in the loss to Virginia, but limited Richmond to 110 total yards. The Spiders ran several of the same plays, hoping to take advantage of issues the Wolfpack showed in their first game.
“I thought we fixed it,” Doeren said. “... There were some copycat plays that ran that hurt us the week before, but these are different athletes in this game.”
ACC teams are 0-3 against SEC teams this season with losses by Clemson (to LSU), Georgia Tech (to Tennessee) and Louisville (to Ole Miss). Doeren is 1-6 against teams from the SEC since taking over in 2012, including five consecutive losses. The Wolfpack’s lone win came in a 2016 bowl game against Vanderbilt. All of those games were on the road or at a neutral site.
It is the third game between the schools all-time.
“For us, it’s building on what we just did and learning from what happened in the first game, seeing the improvement in the second and then continuing, obviously, with better competition to be able to go out and play well and put ourselves in position to win this next football game,” Doeren said.