11/18/2019 football Edit

Monday Morning Quarterbacking: Louisville 34, NC State 20

Matt Carter • TheWolfpackCentral

Editor

NC State had a rare halftime lead, but it could not hold on in a 34-20 loss to Louisville Saturday evening.

It’s time for a final look at the contest with some Monday morning quarterbacking.

Key Moment Of The Game

The game turned after the first six plays of the third quarter. On third and nine, Louisville found a mismatch with speedy sophomore receiver Tutu Atwell racing past Wolfpack redshirt junior linebacker Brock Miller for a 74-yard touchdown to give the Cardinals a 14-10 lead.

On NC State’s first play of the second half, freshman receiver Keyon Lesane fumbled and Louisville recovered at the NC State 40-yard line. Two plays later, sophomore H-back Marshon Ford broke free on the sideline for a 42-yard TD catch.

Within six plays, a 10-7 NC State lead at halftime had turned into a 20-10 deficit (Louisville missed the extra point after the second TD).

Three Things That Worked

1. Stopping the run

Coming into Saturday, the fewest rushing yards for Louisville in a game this year had been 124. In six of its first nine games it had rushed for at least 200 yards. NC State held the Cards to just 77 net yards, almost 50 yards fewer than its previous season-low. The 2.0 yards per carry was also the worst by Louisville’s offense in 2019.

2. Running the football

NC State’s trio of running backs — freshmen Zonovan Knight and Jordan Houston, and sophomore Ricky Person Jr. — combined to rush 23 times for 99 yards, marking the second straight game that the Pack had an effective rushing attack from its backfield. If NCSU could have worked from a lead in the second half, the running totals probably could have been even better.

3. Showing fight

Between the first half and not giving up in the fourth quarter through the last minute, this young Wolfpack team showed that it’s not going to roll over. As long as there are bowl hopes still alive, this team is going to fight.

Three Things That Did Not Work

1. Defending the big pass plays

Two areas led to NC State losing this football game. The first was defending the deep pass. Louisville scored on touchdown passes of 42, 43 and 74 yards. Twenty-one of its 34 points and 159 of its 326 total yards came on those three passes. NC Sate was also flagged for pass interference on multiple deep throws.

2. Turnovers

The other reason why NC State lost was turnovers. The Pack had three of them, all by freshmen, while Louisville had none. In a remarkable stat that is part of this perfect storm of negative forces working against NC State this season, the Pack have yet to gain a turnover in six ACC games.

3. Third quarter

You can make a case that NC State outplayed Louisville for the first, second and fourth quarters, but the third quarter went so decisively wrong for the Pack it made the difference.

Position-By-Position Battles

NC State’s offensive line vs. Louisville’s front

On paper, Louisville’s front has struggled at times this year. NC State ran for a respectable 134 yards and 3.8 yards per rush and allowed only two sacks. That wasn’t a bad effort for the Cardinals, who came into the game allowing 180 yards rushing per game and 4.8 yards per carry. It might have been a win for NC State, but the Cards were able to hold its ground better than in previous contests.

Louisville’s offensive line vs. NC State’s front

NC State had three sacks and held Louisville to 2.0 yards a rush. This was a strong win for NC State.

NC State’s wide receivers vs. Louisville’s secondary

Junior receiver Emeka Emezie may have had his best game of the season, catching eight passes for 90 yards and a score, and redshirt sophomore Thayer Thomas added four receptions for 45 yards. The only problem for NC State is it could not throw downfield. The longest reception was 21 yards on a catch-and-run by Emezie.

Louisville’s wide receivers vs. NC State’s secondary

Unsurprisingly, this was the biggest mismatch of the game. NC State was without its cornerback starters from the Clemson game — senior Nick McCloud and sophomore De’Von Graves — and down to just four available scholarship corners, including two true freshmen.

Quarterbacks

Louisville redshirt sophomore Micale Cunningham was bottled up fairly well in the running game, but he hurt the Pack with his arm. He had four touchdown passes and did not turn the ball over.

Pack redshirt freshman Devin Leary flashed the most Saturday in his three starts so far, and finished 24-of-44 passing for 243 yards and two touchdowns. He also had an interception and fumbled twice (NC State recovered both times).

Running backs

Aside from a 23-yard run for Louisville redshirt freshman Javian Hawkins, the Cardinals struggled to gain traction with its running backs. Meanwhile, as noted above, the Pack received some nice work from its backfield.

Tight ends/fullbacks

Ford caught three passes for 52 yards and two scores, while NC State redshirt junior Cary Angeline did not catch a pass in the game for just the second time this year

Special teams

In terms of kicking, NC State was far better. The Pack’s first half touchdown was set up by a muffed 17-yard punt by Louisville, and the Cardinals missed a 44-yard field goal and an extra point. However, NC State also allowed Louisville to score on a fake field goal to ice the game in the fourth quarter.