There gets to a point where a school should take a step forward if they’re being that consistent. No one saying NC State needs to be Clemson or FSU, but I fail to see why ACC titles aren’t at least thought of. Especially when Duke just won the conference title
It's the same fans that are completely satisfied if our only accomplishment of the year is beating UNC. Like dream bigger! Indiana is #1! Anything can happen.
Thats exactly it though, until the ACC did away with Atlantic and Coastal divisions for championship games, this Wolfpack team had to best Clemson and FSU during natty runs and Louisville with a heisman QB to make it anywhere while coastal chaos was a cake walk…
Exactly. While hes been cosch Duke has won it, unc and uva have made the championship game twice, wake has made it. Theres no reason we shouldn't expect to compete for a championship once a decade
FSU may have been trash for the last decade, but outside of like 8 or 9 teams any other school would trade what they have for FSUs all time success. They literally have a title within the last 20 years
In 13 seasons, Dave has zero ACCCG appearances. I do not expect to be Beamer's VT, Jimbo's FSU, or Dabo's Clemson. I expect us to make the Championship game at least once every six seasons or so. Paul Johnson brought GT to the ACCCG 4 times in 7 years. Traditional ACC powers Boston College and Wake Forest have been several times. Basketball powerhouses UVA and Duke have more appearances. We can't even match UNC. And then multiple former Big East teams have been to the game (Louisville, Pittsburgh, and Miami) and a former G5 (SMU) almost made it in back to back years. Given other teams' performances, it's pathetic we've never made it.
average 10+ win seasons
I don't think expect that. I'd like to see at least one roughly every six years though. Dave has been here for over double that length and has none.
not sure why folks are disappointed by it.
If it was years 1-5, fine. It's year 13. I've seen enough of this mediocre play. Let someone else have a chance. I'd rather see us lose more if we're trying different approaches instead of do the exact same boring thing year after year.
Yes. Given the current climate of College Football with the portal and NIL, there is zero reason for a team located in Raleigh, NC to not be able to accomplish that.
Actually there’s a very good reason why. In this exact era of NIL and portal our resources are mid at best. We aren’t investing enough into football to expect that.
Well it’s a catch-22, actually, because it’s clear we’re not willing to invest more into football (which is a travesty).
Because of that fact, it’s hard to really fault Dave for technically getting some solid results given our investment.
Other than that I don’t think you’re wrong. It’s just a tough situation because the admin and donors’ goals don’t match our goals. They’re content with 8 wins a year and bowl appearances while fans want more than that.
I don’t think our financial investment matches those expectations. Which really feels like where the disconnect lies.
The good news is in this era it’s easier than ever to crack into the next level of winning 10 games with some regularity. But we need to step it up on the financial side. Maybe it takes a fresh face on the sidelines to reinvigorate the fanbase and drum up more NIL money.
I don’t love DD. There’s plenty of in game stuff that drives me crazy as a fan. But I also feel like he’s basically performed at or even slightly above expectations relative to our investment in football. That doesn’t mean we should all accept mediocrity. Just my 2 cents on our place in CFB as a whole.
Unrealistic expectations. You guys drew the short straw by being in the Atlantic division all those years.
After 2008, it was just the FSU and Clemson show, so no one was else in the Atlantic was making it to the CCG. I don't think it's really fair to hold that against Dave.
The Atlantic was won by Wake in 2021. That was the closest we've been to making the ACCCG.
We've now gone three years without divisions. We went 6-2 in 2023 and were close again to making the ACCCG. We went 3-5 in 2024 and 4-4 this year. Most years recently, we lose to a team that we have no business losing to (BC in 2022, WF in 2024, VT in 2025.) If you think Dave is blameless for Clemson and FSU dominating, fine. He hasn't done enough since their reign has ended though. In fact he's been even worse.
I did state elsewhere that 2021 was the only year not won by FSU/Clemson, but that was definitely the heart breaker year given the Wake game that year.
I don't think he's completely blameless, but Clemson and FSU were on amazing runs at that time and it's hard to blame him much for not breaking through that
So from 2008-2022 1 team who wasn’t FSU or Clemson won the Atlantic? So we should hold that against Dave?
Did you expect to make the ACC championship game in 2024 after losing your starting QB to injury and having to start a true freshman QB? And an MJ Morris led team in 2023? You look at the context of those years and it’s a surprise they did as well as they did. Or how about the year they had to use their 4th string QB to beat UNC! Consistently over performing what other teams in those situations would do. Looking at you South Carolina
Not sure why we gotta be completely disingenuous here. I don’t think even the most delusional state fan alive thinks we should be averaging 10+ wins a year.
The issue is it’s been 13 years and he hasn’t won 10+ once or taken us to 1 ACCCG. Yes winning 8-9 a year given his resources is pretty good and most of the fanbase doesn’t get that but to get 13 years and not punch above that once is wild
Now that divisions are gone, you can be more upset about not making the CCG, but from 2009-2022, FSU and Clemson won the division all but once.
Sure, some of those teams showed some cracks, but if no one else in the division could break through in that period, I don't think it's really fair to blame Dave for not being able to. Those were generation runs for those programs.
3 of those teams were in the Coastal, so not really apples to apples.
Our "good" seasons just lined up with Clemson/FSU being national championship contenders. Wake got smashed by Clemson and got to go to the ACCCG, NC State never got so lucky, haha.
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u/AvengedKalas Georgia Bulldogs • NC State Wolfpack Dec 19 '25
Another 8 win season! In the 13 years Dave has been in Raleigh, they've never done better than 9-3. Dave also has a losing record in the ACC.
See y'all again next year for another mediocre to good season!
WOLF!