Pack Caps Season with Convincing Bowl Win

Friday, December 19

Tampa, Fla.

2:30 pm

NC State

8-5 , 4-4

Memphis

8-5 , 4-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Memphis

NC State

12/20/2025 9:50:00 AM | Football

Box Score

By: Jeff Gravley

Finish.

That was the mission as the Wolfpack headed to the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl - its sixth straight bowl appearance. It was the directive designed to build on the success of November when the Pack went 3-1.

"I challenged them that we've been really good in November," Coach Dave Doeren said. "We have not been winners in December in a while."

His team took the words to heart, finishing with a 31-7 win over Memphis on a warm, sunny afternoon in Tampa.

The 31 points all came in the first half with CJ Bailey running for a score and passing for two more.

Two of the touchdown drives were complimented by plays to remember. Bailey found Noah Rogers in the flats and the wide out turned into an Olympic hurdler, leaping over a defender.

Later in the drive, Bailey connected with Wesley Grimes who took a hard hit short of the goal line, but would not be denied a score.

On the Pack's next defensive series, Captain Caden Fordham grabbed a tipped pass out of the air and away he went. The Gasparilla Bowl MVP sprinted down the sideline and nearly scored; taking the gift 55 yards down to the 3-yard line.

Will Wilson capped the drive with his 10th rushing touchdown of the season.

From the outset, you could tell the Pack was plugged in, motivated to pick up a much-desired bowl win.

So much of the talk about the bowl season is which players "opt out." For the Wolfpack, it was "all in" as only one player chose not to play.

Not only did the starters play, they played from start to finish. Fordham made the last tackle of the game, a TFL, and his 13th stop of the day.

Finish.

"I never even had a thought of not playing," Fordham said. "Coach Doeren, these guys on this team have given too much to me for me not to even want to play. Plus, I love this game so much, I want to play anytime I can."

"That these guys wanna play for each other one more time," Doeren added. "Joly was crying in the locker room before the game, because he just wanted to play one more time with his brothers."

The final tally shows an eight-win season, the fifth time in the last six years the Pack has won eight or more games.

A year that began with three consecutive wins, ends with three consecutive wins. In between there was a rough patch, but once the journey was completed, there was time for reflection on the entirety of the season and the process to get there.

"To me, this year just taught me how to fight through adversity, how to battle back, what type of man are you," Bailey said. "We lose a game this week, and we get a lot of stuff on our shoulders now. How do you flip that switch to being back level-headed, just bouncing back from adversity?"

The ship sails on another season into the open waters of opportunity.

"I'm here to win a conference championship," Doeren said. "That's my dream and goal, being in this position at this school. So, I want this offseason to be all about that."