NC State's Todd Goebbel takes over, credits Doeren as Wolfpack prepare for Cal

Todd Goebbel's first week as NC State's interim head coach has begun with praise for the man he replaced. In his first public remarks since Dave Doeren was fired, Goebbel credited the program's culture to his former boss and said he had leaned mostly on his players, not his coaching contacts, for direction, according to an Associated Press story published by ESPN.

"Each Saturday we will field this team that Coach Doeren will be proud of," Goebbel said Monday evening, adding that the team would be hard, tough and together.

The school fired Doeren on Saturday, less than a day after a 31-28 loss at Stanford, a team picked to finish last in the ACC. ABC11 reported that Doeren, 54, went 98-74 across 14 seasons and became the program's career wins leader, with 11 bowl trips. His teams never played for an ACC title, though, and never reached 10 wins. Goebbel joined the staff in 2019 and had been coaching running backs and special teams. He will run the program for the rest of the regular season.

The defense changed too. Defensive coordinator DJ Eliot was also let go after the Stanford result, ESPN reported. Assistant Charlton Warren takes over defensive play-calling, and special teams analyst Zac Roper picks up the position duties Goebbel left behind. Quarterback CJ Bailey said a call from Doeren delivering the news came as a shock, and defensive tackle Isaiah Shirley said players had already held private talks about owning their part of the slide.

What it means for Cal

Goebbel's debut comes Saturday at home against California on ACC Network. The Wolfpack come in 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the ACC, losers of two straight. The 38-14 home loss to Wake Forest and the near miss at Stanford both came after a 31-28 win over Louisville that had briefly steadied the season.

The split is sharp. NC State is 3-1 in Raleigh, with wins over Richmond (73-0), App State and Louisville, and 0-3 away from home. Across seven games the Wolfpack have outscored opponents 226-197, but take away the Richmond blowout and they have allowed more than they scored. With Warren now calling plays, the main question is the defense, which has given up 28 or more points in five of seven games.

The board still trusts the home team. NC State is favored by 6.5 points across 11 venues. Novig has the Wolfpack at -251 on the moneyline, almost even with the best price anywhere, -250 at theScore Bet. On the spread, Novig lists NC State -6.5 at -120 and Cal +6.5 at +113, while Pinnacle has the best Cal number at +7 (-104). Novig's total is 56.5, with the over at -108 and the under at even money, and Pinnacle sits half a point higher at 57. Sportsbook hold runs from 3.7% to 7.0% depending on the market, so the venues are fairly close on this game. The half-point gap around a touchdown is the main difference.