NC State pursuing extension for Dave Doeren
North Carolina State is pursuing an extension for football coach Dave Doeren.
In a statement Tuesday, athletic director
Debbie Yow says school officials “want Dave here a long time and appreciate the progress that has been made.” Doeren’s contract with the No. 20 Wolfpack runs through the 2019 season.
N.C. State (5-1) is in the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2010 and has its first 3-0 start in Atlantic Coast Conference play since 2002.
Doeren’s future was uncertain last year before Yow said he’d return for a fifth season following a win at rival North Carolina in the regular-season finale. That improved Doeren to 9-23 in ACC play and secured a third straight bowl trip.
Doeren is 30-27 with N.C. State, which visits Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Travis Homer to be Miami’s new starting running back
Travis Homer answered the call against Florida State, coming through with two huge first-down carries on the final drive that allowed Miami to finally snap a seven-game losing streak against its archrival.
He didn’t know at the time that he was Miami’s new starting running back.
Homer was in the game because he thought Mark Walton was out with a minor injury. Turns out, Walton needed seasonending surgery, and now No. 11 Miami may have its hopes in the hands of a sophomore running back who has been primarily a special-teams player and now finds himself as the starter on a team with Atlantic Coast Conference championship aspirations.
“I just know that I need to step up to the position,” Homer said.
Miami (4-0, 2-0 ACC) will give Homer plenty of opportunities starting Saturday when the Hurricanes host Georgia Tech (3-1, 2-0) in a game that will give someone the outright Coastal Division lead.
Homer got the ball on consecutive plays with about a minute left in Miami’s win at Florida State, going for 10 yards on the first and 14 on the second — moving the Hurricanes from their own 42 to the Seminoles’ 34. Malik Rosier’s arm did the rest, first with an 11-yard completion to Braxton Berrios and then the winning TD pass to Darrell Langham from 23 yards out with 6 seconds remaining.