N.C. State football changed its preparation schedule prior to heading west to play at Stanford on Friday night.

The results were the opposite of what coach Dave Doeren hoped as the Wolfpack fell into a two-touchdown hole and suffered a 31-28 ACC loss to the Cardinal.

The Wolfpack looked like it hadn’t adjusted its entire week or flown out two days before the game, attempting to prepare for the time zone change. It didn’t look like a team remotely refreshed from a bye week, in which health and personal improvement were the team’s priorities.

N.C. State instead recorded its worst defensive start of the season. Previously, it forced punts on the opening series of its first five games. Wake Forest, at least before Friday night, was the only team to score. No opponent had scored touchdowns on the first two drives of the game.

Stanford changed that statistic.

Wide receivers Nico Brown and Sedrick Irvin scored consecutive first-quarter touchdowns, giving the Cardinal a 14-0 lead. The two scored just their second touchdowns of the season, and Irvin’s 17-yard score was his first against an FBS opponent this season. The Cardinal racked up 234 yards of total offense in the first quarter alone.

It was too much for the Wolfpack to overcome on the road in a game that stretched into the wee hours of Saturday morning.

It was the second straight loss for Doeren and Co., while the Cardinal picked up its second win over a Power Four opponent this season.

“It starts with me,” Doeren said. “The guys didn’t play well enough, which means I didn’t have them ready. Just really disappointed in our defense.”

No players were made available to speak to the media after the loss.

The Wolfpack (3-4, 1-3 ACC) went into halftime trailing 21-14 after giving up 326 first-half yards to a Stanford team that entered the game ranked No. 106 in FBS for yards per game (343).

Stanford (4-4, 2-3 ACC) had only reached double digits against a Power Four team once this season, when it picked up a 34-27 win over Georgia Tech. The Cardinal averaged 11.4 points per game against its five major opponents, only scoring a touchdown in three games. Wake Forest held it to one field goal.

Against N.C. State, the Cardinal finished with 477 yards of total offense, the third most this season, and 68% of Stanford’s yards came on chunk plays.

N.C. State recorded eight quarterback hurries. It only recorded one sack, however; the lone tackle for loss. Freshman Elijah Satchell, not one of the seniors, picked up his fourth career stop.

It was, in Doeren’s words, a “disappointing” performance for the team that, on paper, should’ve controlled the entire game.

“They gashed us every way they wanted tonight,” Doeren said. “(Expletive), second and 12, and we told the guys it’s a screen. They ran a screen, and they still got 20 yards. There’s no excuse for that. We got a guy right there to stop it. He misses the tackle. We told him what play was coming in the helmet. We knew, still didn’t stop him.”

The Cardinal’s Caden High — who broke his collarbone during fall camp — recorded four receptions for first downs on the team’s first series. He had six in the opening quarter, gaining 76 yards for the Cardinal. He finished with 103 yards and one touchdown.

Stanford quarterback Davis Warren ran circles around the Wolfpack defense. He started the game 11 of 14 for 152 yards and two touchdowns. He finished the evening 22 of 37 for 303 yards and a career-high four touchdowns. The Michigan transfer had stretches of seven and eight consecutive completions, respectively.

“He’s a good player, but we could have done a lot better covering him,” Doeren said. “Made some good adjustments for a while there and were playing better. Second half, they just out physical-ed us on that side of the football. You’re not going to win games when you can’t win the line of scrimmage. That was very disappointing.”

CJ Bailey completed 17 of 30 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns for N.C. State. The Pack logged 381 yards of total offense, a total that should’ve been enough to win a game.

The Pack was without wide receiver Jojo Trader, safety Tristan Teasdell and running back Dylan McCoy.

Pack loses another starting center

The offensive line injuries were a clear problem. The Wolfpack was without offensive tackle Kamen Smith, in addition to Spike Sowells and Yousef Mugharbil — both of whom are out for the season. It only got worse when third-string center Daniel Cruz left the matchup in the first half with an injury.

Teague Andersen moved from right tackle to center, where he played earlier this year in Sowells’ place, and TK Whitset replaced Andersen.

The Wolfpack struggled to run the ball without a solid offensive line. Davion Gause contributed 49 yards on 15 carries, averaging 3.3 yards per attempt. Even Will Wilson, the team’s short yardage specialist, was wrapped up on his first conversion attempt.

Bailey was the team’s leading rusher with 59 yards, including a 23-yard gain.

Additionally, the piecemeal offensive front struggled to maintain a clean pocket. Bailey was sacked for a loss of 10 yards midway through the fourth quarter to end a key drive, with N.C. State down 10 points. Even though Bailey didn’t take the most contact throughout the game, he faced plenty of pressure from the Stanford defense — not exactly a recipe for success.

The offensive line looked early in the season like one that could help the Wolfpack win a lot of games. It’s obvious without those starters that victories may be very difficult to come by down the stretch.

“I knew we were going to struggle at times, having three backup offensive linemen and (that) ended up being four after Daniel Cruz went down,” Doeren said. “That’s tough. I thought CJ battled, used his legs, helped us with his legs. I was proud of the guys for getting that touchdown at the end, giving us a chance to onside it, but not good enough, not even close.”

Who runs the Farm? Not NC State

N.C. State’s rushing defense sat in the middle of the pack before it arrived on the farm at Stanford, ranking No. 56 in FBS. On the other side, Stanford’s rushing offense was one of the worst and 131st in the country. The Cardinal averaged 103.4 rushing yards per game.

Watching the game, though, no one would’ve known the Wolfpack was supposedly decent at slowing down the ground game or that the Cardinal was allegedly terrible.

Instead, Stanford tore up the defense with ease. The Cardinal rushed for 174 yards. Of those, 114 yards came on seven explosive plays.

Micah Ford contributed 150 yards on the ground to lead all players, his second straight 100-yard rushing performance. He averaged 6.8 yards per carry in the Stanford win. Ford accounted for five rushes of at least 10 yards, including a 33-yard gain at the end of the first quarter.

Untimely penalty problems

Doeren stood on the sideline, shaking his head. A typically disciplined N.C. State team committed a handful of costly penalties in its trip to Palo Alto.

Andersen, after slipping into the center position, committed two infractions on the team’s last full series of the second quarter. Officials called Andersen for holding, putting the Wolfpack at second down and 20 on the Stanford 49-yard line. N.C. State appeared poised to attempt a fourth down conversion two plays later, but Andersen’s false start penalty pushed the Wolfpack five yards and forced Jackson Waller to punt it away.

Officials called Victor Snow for offensive pass interference on N.C. State’s first second-half drive. His penalty erased a 47-yard touchdown pass from Bailey to Ethan Dowdy that would’ve tied the game at 21-21 and potentially shifted momentum early in the third quarter.

The Wolfpack wasn’t riddled with errors, committing six for a loss of 60 yards, but the ones it did commit made an already difficult game that much harder.

This story was originally published October 24, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Stanford shreds NC State’s defense. Observations from the Wolfpack road loss."