N.C. State team ‘sad, mad, angry, confused’ by UCLA Holiday Bowl cancellation
Hours before N.C. State was scheduled to take on UCLA in the Holiday Bowl, the game was called off.
The Bruins, who had COVID-19 issues with other programs on campus, had to cancel the game as the Pack was going through its normal pregame routine.
Dave Doeren was watching football. Drake Thomas was getting into his game day prep when he saw the news on Twitter. Doeren saw it spreading on Twitter as well. He thought it was “fake news.” Turns out it wasn’t.
Earlier this month, the UCLA basketball team canceled a game with North Carolina scheduled to be played in Las Vegas because of COVID-19.
After all the Pack has overcome the last two years, it was a punch in the gut to find out there would be no game.
“Our team’s done everything right,” Doeren said. “We had 100 percent vaccination. We were prepared to play this game, our opponent wasn’t apparently, so it’s disappointing. A lot went into the finish of the season and our 10th win. We would have won the game, no doubt about it.”
N.C. State will end the 2021 season at 9-3 overall. The Pack was seeking win No. 10, which would have been just the second time in school history a team won double-digit games.
N.C. State is now the fourth ACC school to have its bowl game canceled because of COVID. East Carolina also had its game canceled. After the initial shock of the news wore off, athletic director Boo Corrigan immediately started looking ahead at realistic options.
“That’s the hard part, trying to figure out who is available, who is still around,” Corrigan said. “You’re looking at who has canceled already, those are kind of the logical things. Then you start to talk about where the Holiday Bowl fits in and playing the game out here. We’re trying to figure out anything that we can right now.”
The team arrived on Dec. 23 and missed Christmas time with their families. They are scheduled to leave California on Wednesday, regardless. Linebacker Drake Thomas, though, would love to get a chance at win No. 10.
“I’ll go wherever they call us to play a bowl game,” Thomas said. “I want to play this last game with this group of guys. Whatever opportunity presents itself I’m all in.”
STATE DID EVERYTHING RIGHT
Between COVID and the social injustice issues of last summer, Doeren has had to have a lot of tough conversations in front of his team.
Shortly after lunchtime in a ballroom transformed into a meeting area at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, Doeren had to deliver another tough message to his guys.
For two seasons now, N.C. State has done everything right, from testing to wearing masks and the players avoiding going out. It worked for them in 2020 and 2021. The Pack played every game on its schedule for two seasons, building up to a moment to do something historic. To have that taken away from them hours in advance, because of another team’s carelessness was tough.
“You talk about 125 young men from all walks of life and all the things that have been thrown at the world,” Doeren said. “To get a unified group to push through adversity, to overcome adversity and then to not get the reward, it’s tough. I’m heartbroken for these guys. I thought we would be playing a game 30 minutes ago.”
This tough blow comes six months after the N.C. State baseball team was pulled out of the College World Series in the middle of the night because of COVID.
Corrigan got a call from officials sometime before noon, saying UCLA medical officials weighed in and decided the Bruins couldn’t play. It was short and sweet, and just like that, State was once again left shocked.
NO HEADS UP
The day before, when the coaches met with the media, UCLA coach Chip Kelly told the bunch if he had 11 guys, they would play.
Kelly sounded confident at the time that his guys would be ready to go, even if shorthanded. Less than 24 hours later, Doeren stared past the throng of reporters, trying to figure out how he arrived here; in an empty ballroom, his team wandering around trying to figure out what just happened.
“Sad, mad, angry, confused,” Doeren responded when asked about the mood of the meeting room. “We felt like UCLA probably knew something was going on with their team, didn’t tell anybody on our side. We had no clue they were up against that. It would have been great to have a heads up that this could happen.”
If they had a clue this was possible, Doeren explained, they could have perhaps started thinking about a “plan B.” Now that window closes and fast.
Doeren wouldn’t want to throw his team on the field in the next couple of days without preparing properly. Then the logistics, for N.C. State and a potential opponent, kick in. It’s easier said than done and it doesn’t even sound easy. All the Pack knows is, for now, the chance for win No. 10 is gone.
“Really hurt,” Thomas said. “That was a milestone for us, that’s how we wanted to be remembered, that 10th win. Within our team we knew we were going to go out there and win. They (UCLA) knew it and that’s that. We handled our part, we were ready to play, they (UCLA) can’t say the same.”
This story was originally published December 28, 2021 at 3:41 PM with the headline "N.C. State team ‘sad, mad, angry, confused’ by UCLA Holiday Bowl cancellation."
