Column: United NC State football team finishes strong

Published Oct 31, 2021

Matt Carter • TheWolfpackCentral

Editor

Welcome to the party, NC State’s offense.

It took awhile to join.

The second and third quarters were especially sluggish. After scoring a first-quarter touchdown on the second drive of the game, NC State had just one first down on its next six possessions, which included five three-and-outs.

The signs of life finally came on a drive that began with 3:03 left in the third quarter. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary started the possession with a 20-yard strike to senior receiver Emeka Emezie.

Yet even after that, twice NC State faced second and long, including a second and 13 to start the fourth quarter.

Entering the final 15 minutes, NC State had just 189 total yards of offense, a meager 11 of them coming on the ground.

Yet it found itself only down 10-7, thanks to an almost herculean effort from a severely short-handed defense down four starters, including arguably its two best linebackers.

The word arguably applies because sophomore Drake Thomas continues to make an increasingly convincing case that perhaps he should be regarded as the best linebacker on the team. He took over the middle after redshirt junior Isaiah Moore was lost for the season with a knee injury in a one-point loss at Miami last week.

Thomas had 15 tackles, including 2.5 for loss and two sacks, and broke up a pass. Go ahead and give him ACC Linebacker of the Week.

Under Thomas’ leadership, the defense was bending quite a bit against the best offense it had faced this year, led by dynamic quarterback Malik Cunningham. But aided by a missed 24-yard field goal by the Cards in the first quarter, it was keeping big-play Louisville off the scoreboard.

It just needed the offense to come through.

And in the fourth quarter, the offense arrived.

Leary found Rooks for a 23-yard gain to reach the Louisville 29 to begin the last 15 minutes. On the next play, Leary hit an uncovered redshirt sophomore H-back Trent Pennix for a touchdown to give NC State a 14-10 lead.

It would be the first of three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, leading the Pack to what would be a 28-13 margin that perhaps made the game look more comfortable than it actually was on the field.

NC State’s next two drives both resulted in touchdowns, including a nine-play, 75-yard effort that ended with Leary finding redshirt sophomore Devin Carter for a 12-yard score with 5:53 left, answering Louisville’s field goal on the previous possession.

“That was big to get up by eight points right there. It gave us a nice cushion,” head coach Dave Doeren admitted.

With the offense finally having its back, the defense stepped it up even further with back-to-back four-and-out, turnover on downs by Louisville’s offense. The Cards had just 18 total yards on those drives after having 410 up to that point.

Yet after being fueled by the Pack defense all game, the offense was able to give the defense strong motivation to rise up.

“Offensively we woke up in the second half and were able to do some good things,” Doeren added..

That included some subtle adjustments made by offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Tim Beck.

“We just started making some plays,” Doeren said. “I think we started moving the pocket, a little bit. Some sprint outs, some bootlegs, nakeds, getting off the spot. We weren’t just dropping back and handing the ball off.

"I thought we did some better things play-calling wise.”

There were certain moments of aggravation along the way, but ultimately NC State came alive enough to line up in the best formation of all in football — victory.

It got there by staying together. That aggravation was more amongst those watching in the crowd trying to stay warm or those at home trying to keep their cool.

The players were too busy rallying around each other to feel those emotions.

“I feel like some teams around the country, when the offense might be struggling a little bit, they kind of separate,” Thomas noted. “We know how important it is to support our guys and keep on motivating them.

“We know at some point it’s going to breakthrough. We have full confidence in Leary and the whole entire offense that at some point it’s going to breakthrough.”

Leary felt the same.

“We knew eventually we’d break through, we just had to keep pushing,” Leary said. “Everyone had to keep doing their job, no one had to do too much or start to think they have to do more than what’s expected. Credit to the defense, they kept us in the game early on.

“They were encouraging us at halftime … Just being able to feed off their energy, being able to watch them ball out and getting the ball back to us was huge to us.”

The end result is that everyone was invited and showed up to the party, even if perhaps the offense was fashionably late. A dominating fourth quarter keeps hopes alive for an ACC title in a conference that seems to get upended on a weekly basis.

“Loved the way we finished the game,” Doeren said.