Todd Goebbel picked up his first win as a head coach with NC State on Saturday, but his thoughts were with his predecessor as he dedicated the 31-10 victory over California to former coach Dave Doeren.
Doeren was fired last week after 14 seasons, leaving as the winningest coach in school history. Goebbel, who spent the past eight seasons working under Doeren, was named interim coach. His mantra the entire week to his players was to win for the man who brought them all to Raleigh.
"He built it the right way," Goebbel said. "Whether it's the recruits, the coaching staff, he brought those people in. And I'll say it directly to him right now: This is for you, Coach Doeren. I hope you're smiling somewhere."
Davion Gause had his first 100-yard game of the season, rushing for 104 yards and a score on 19 carries, while the defense had its best performance of the year with Charlton Warren calling the plays after defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot also was fired.
NC State outscored Cal 21-0 in the second half to pull away for the win. Quarterback CJ Bailey said he reminded his teammates at halftime that they said all week they wanted to win for Doeren.
"It's been a long week for us," Bailey said. "A lot of sudden change. A win like this, I'm proud of those guys."
Though Goebbel focused his initial postgame comments on Doeren, he did receive a game ball in the locker room from the team for his first victory.
"The game ball is pretty special," Goebbel said. "For those guys to believe in me at a very adverse time and then go out and perform the way they did, and then receiving a game ball, I'd be remiss to say it wasn't special and got a little choked up."