Dave Doeren blasts NCAA with new nickname following Holiday Bowl debacle
Dave Doeren was not happy with the NCAA after it said his N.C. State football team won’t be recognized for winning the Holiday Bowl because of UCLA’s issues with COVID-19.
Doeren let his feelings be known as the Wolfpack claimed the Holiday Bowl title even though the game was canceled.
“The NCAA stands for No Clue At All in my opinion,” Doeren said. “I don’t really care what they say about it. For our guys, we took a roster of guys down there, had zero COVID issues. Practiced every day, did everything right, and didn’t get a chance to play the game. As far as I’m concerned, we did beat them. They couldn’t even get to the field. You can say whatever you want, but if you look at the College Football Playoff definition, what’s going to happen if that happens in one of their games, that team is forfeiting. So I feel like we’re following the same guidelines that those bowl games are going to follow.”
Dave Doeren (@StateCoachD) on the NCAA not ruling the Holiday Bowl as a forfeit: “The NCAA stands for No Clue At All in my opinion. I don’t really care what they say about it.” pic.twitter.com/SYjD5J3Tq4
— Pack Pride (@PackPride) December 29, 2021
The Holiday Bowl, along with the Hawaii, Military, Fenway and Arizona bowls were canceled because of virus outbreaks that left teams without enough available players. The Sun and Gator bowls have had to scramble to find replacement teams for their games. Central Michigan, for example, went from the Arizona Bowl to the Sun Bowl.
N.C. State was the fifth ACC team to have its bowl disrupted by the virus.