NC State Wolfpack football blitzed Boston College in the second half and pulled away for a 33-7 victory.
It’s time for a final look at the contest with some Monday morning quarterbacking:
Key Moment Of The Game
The game turned on a pair of turnovers in the third quarter that NC State converted into touchdowns.
The first was when Boston College redshirt senior punter Grant Carlson, a reliable four-year starter who has averaged over 40 yards per punt every year he's kicked for the Eagles, inexplicably dropped the football while setting up for a punt. Pack freshman safety Devan Boykin, who was in the right place at the right time, alertly picked up the loose ball and ran it 34 yards for a touchdown to put the Wolfpack up 17-7 with 12:03 left in the third quarter.
On the ensuing drive, Boston College redshirt senior quarterback Dennis Grosel started with a big 30-yard pass completion to redshirt junior tight end Joey Luchetti, but three plays later he was intercepted by NC State redshirt junior linebacker Isaiah Moore.
NC State's offense took the field for the first time in the second half and drove confidently 61 yards in seven plays, capped by a 4-yard touchdown pass from redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary to redshirt senior tight end Dylan Parham with 7:05 left in the quarter.
Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley acknowledged afterwards that the game was essentially over at that point.
Three Things That Worked For NC State Football
1. Second-half defense: Boston College had negative-3 rushing yards in the second half after piling up 100 yards on the ground in the first half. Overall, the Eagles had 119 total yards coming out of halftime and were held to just 3.1 yards per play in the second half.
After going 4 for 7 on third-down conversions in the first half, BC was just 1 of 9 in the second, and the Eagles turned it over twice.
2. Special teams: One of the biggest differences in this game was the performances of the each side's respective special teams. Boston College had the disastrous punt and also missed a 32-yard field goal.
Meanwhile, NC State impressively got off a 27-yard field goal with time ticking away and no timeouts at the end of the first half that broke a 7-7 tie. Junior punter Trenton Gill also pinned four of his six kicks inside the 20, including his last one at the BC 2, setting up freshman linebacker Devon Betty's safety.
3. Receivers making big plays: Leary's final stat line will earn praise, but 119 of his 251 passing yards and two of his three scoring tosses were truthfully plays made more by the receivers. One was redshirt sophomore Devin Carter making a juggling catch behind the back of BC redshirt junior defensive back Elijah Jones for what would be a 40-yard score.
The other was redshirt junior receiver Thayer Thomas' 79-yard catch-and-run in which he went up and grabbed a football between two BC defenders, who fell off balance and opened up the field to run the remaining 60 yards for the score.
Three Things That Didn’t Work For NC State Football
1. First-half third-down defense: NC State probably could have had a shutout had it gotten off the field effectively.
On Boston College's opening drive, it converted a third-and-nine and then scored on third-and-goal from the NC State 8. The Eagles also got first downs on third-and-15 and third-and-11 on its second drive, and on the possession where it missed a field goal converted a third-and-seven.
2. Stopping the run in the first half: Head coach Dave Doeren credited Boston College with showing some new motions and formations on their running plays in the first half which were pulling a defender out of the box. That helped the Eagles rush for 100 yards on 16 carries, an average of 6.3 yards per rush, in the game's opening 30 minutes.
That was against a Pack defense that entered Saturday giving up 92.0 yards per game on the ground.
3. Running the football: Against a Boston College defense that was torched on the ground by Clemson, allowing 231 yards on the ground to the Tigers' anemic offense, NC State finished with 133 yards rushing and 3.8 yards per carry. That total was skewed by some effective late-game running with the reserves in by sophomore Jordan Houston, who carried eight times for 43 yards.
The duo of junior Ricky Person Jr. and sophomore Zonovan Knight combined to rush 20 times for 79 yards.
Position-By-Position Battles: NC State vs. Boston College
NC State’s offensive line vs. Boston College's defensive front
While NC State did not have a banner running performance, none of the running backs were ever tackled for a loss, either. Boston College also only had one sack, so in the end, while not a dominant performance, NC State's O-line got the win.
Boston College’s offensive line vs. NC State’s defensive front
In the first half, this looked like a big win for BC. By the end of the game, NC State's defensive front may have secured the edge. The Wolfpack had three sacks and also ended up holding Boston College to just 3.2 yards per carry.
NC State’s wide receivers vs. Boston College’s secondary
Doeren showed NC State's receivers a tape of Clemson's wideouts not making "contact catches" against Boston College, which the coach noted prevented the Tigers from having a comfortable win and instead made the game come down to the final play.
The point: against BC's press coverage the receivers were going to have to make plays. They did, although it was an unusually off night for star senior Emeka Emezie, despite him setting a new school record for career catches. He made just two grabs for eight yards.
Thomas finished with four receptions for 122 yards and a touchdown, while Carter had two catches for 51 yards and a score.
Boston College's wide receivers vs. NC State’s secondary
If we had room for a fourth thing that worked, containing Boston College all-conference sophomore wideout Zay Flowers would have been on the list. Flowers is a dangerous playmaker for Boston College, but against NC State he was held to just two receptions for seven yards, his lowest output since 2019.
That alone makes it a victory for the Wolfpack.
Quarterbacks
Leary was effective and efficient, once again, completing 16 of 24 passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. He was not perfect. His scramble late in the first half where he slid down in bounds without a timeout forced NC State to hurry its field goal team onto the field, when Leary would have been better off throwing it away.
Nevertheless, Leary avoided the big mistakes and was the best QB on the field Saturday.
Running backs
A slight edge to the Boston College duo of redshirt sophomore Patrick Garwo III and redshirt junior Alec Sinkfield, who ran 18 times for 96 yards, while senior Travis Levy added a 27-yard catch.
Tight ends/fullbacks
Parham had a touchdown catch and redshirt sophomore Christopher Toudle added two receptions for 23 yards, but BC senior Trae Barry made a touchdown catch himself and Luchetti caught two passes for 35 yards.
Special teams
This was a big win for NC State, as noted above.
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