Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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34 OCT. 11, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: NORTH CAROLINA STATE BY ERIC HANSEN D ave Doeren droned through a Monday press conference Sept. 29, trying to put a two-game losing streak into context with- out acknowledging the big-picture swirl about whether his tenure as North Caro- lina State's head football coach will run its course after this, his 13th season. And yet never quite striking a resonant chord. Compounding and complicating that was the sobering personal tragedy suf- fered by the family of first-year Wolf- pack defensive coordinator DJ Eliot, who lost daughter Drue after a six-year battle with pediatric cancer just ahead of the Wolfpack's 23-21 upset loss to Virginia Tech Sept. 27. It's a Hokies team that came into Raleigh, N.C., 1-3, a double- digit underdog and playing under an in- terim coach. Eliot sat out that game and only planned to be in a support role Oct. 4, rather than calling the defense for the Wolfpack's nonconference breather with FCS lightweight Campbell. Co-defen- sive coordinator/safeties coach Charl- ton Warren would preside over the FBS' 112th-ranked unit in total defense for the second straight week. The services for Drue Eliot were Oct. 2 in Philadelphia. Which brings Doeren and his program to an inflection point, North Carolina State's Oct. 11 road game with the Irish at Notre Dame Stadium (3:30 p.m.) for the annual contest that will air only on Peacock and not on NBC. At least if Doeren is booed, it's not likely to be from his own fans. Doeren, as the injuries amass amid the personal heartache, is pushing for the ad- versity to galvanize the Wolfpack (3-2, 1-2 ACC) rather than further depleting it. The remaining schedule offers equal opportu- nity for either scenario, with no easy path to victory. Pitt, 17th-ranked Georgia Tech, third-ranked Miami, 18th-ranked Florida State and rival North Carolina follow the Irish on the schedule. "Other than having to talk to you guys, TOUGH TIMES Amid turmoil, the Wolfpack faces a defining test at Notre Dame Head coach Dave Doeren, now in his 13th season with the Wolfpack, entered the 2025 campaign as the seventh-longest tenured head coach in Division I football. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS