NC State enters its bye week with more questions than answers after falling 24-3 to No. 17-ranked Duke on Saturday in Durham, N.C.
Duke was never challenged and NC State proved to be sloppy with 11 penalties and one costly interception. Duke junior star quarterback Riley Leonard missed the game with his high ankle sprain, but the Blue Devils controlled the line of scrimmage with four sacks and 194 rushing yards. Even with a 28-play differential, the Wolfpack could only out-gain the Blue Devils by four yards (305-to-301).
NC State coach Dave Doeren and his players were frustrated with the showing following the game. NCSU fell to 4-3 and 1-2 in the ACC, while Duke improved to 5-1 and have a showdown awaiting against Florida State.
Doeren thought it was a case where all it takes is one player to make a mental mistake and the rest of the team suffers. Players have to make “their layups.”
“We played a team that doesn’t defeat itself,” Doeren said. “That was step one. We had to go out there and play a clean game, and we didn’t do that. We helped them way too much [with the penalties, dropped passes and turnover]. You have to give Duke credit — they out-played us and out-coached us. It always starts with me.”
NCSU sixth-year senior outside linebacker Payton Wilson said the team simply needs to be tougher.
“Everybody on this team has to get with the program,” Wilson said. “We have to come out and play as hard as you can possibly play every single snap.
“We don’t need to get better. We need get tougher. This whole team — offense, defense, special teams.”
After NC State senior kicker Brayden Narveson wowed with a 57-yard field goal with 13:04 left in the first quarter, it surprisingly proved to be all Duke.
Duke didn’t need a lot of offense, and in fact, only attempted one pass in the second half. What it did get was two massively big plays. The first came when redshirt freshman quarterback Henry Belin launched a 69-yard touchdown to senior wide receiver Jalon Calhoun for a touchdown. Calhoun did a double-move on NC State sophomore cornerback Terrente Hinton, who bit on the play with 6:26 left in the first quarter.
Duke’s defense and special teams came through for the next batch of points. Kicker Todd Pelino, who struggled in his last game against Notre Dame with two misses, drilled a 52-yard field goal to give Duke a 10-3 lead with 12:45 left in the second quarter.
NC State sophomore quarterback MJ Morris was intercepted by Duke linebacker Tre Freeman, and the Durham native ran it 24 yards to the NC State eight-yard line line. That helped set up Belin finding tight end Jeremiah Hasley for an eight-yard score to push the lead to 17-3 Duke with 11:36 left in the second quarter.
The cherry on top was when Duke senior running back Jordan Waters got the ball around the left tackle on a read option and had nothing but grass for the second huge play. He sprinted 83 yards for the score and NC State’s sails were deflated. Duke took a 24-3 lead with 8:47 left in the third quarter, and worked the clock from that point forward.
Waters’ big run helped him finish with 13 carries for 123 yards and one score. Belin went 4 of 12 passing for 107 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, plus he added 28 rushing yards.
NC State had a pair of games last year — losses to Syracuse and Maryland — where the offense didn’t score a touchdown. The three points was the lowest total since the Wolfpack were shutout against Clemson in 2014.
Morris said the key is for the offense to come together and have some soul searching in order to fix the errors.
“We beat ourselves,” Morris said. “I don’t think they beat us. That is my honest reaction to the game. We had some penalties. That was a dumb interception that I know I have to fix on film. There is a lot of stuff that we’ll fix tomorrow.
“We’ll put this in the past.”
NC State hosts Clemson on Oct. 28 following the bye week.
“There is a lot of film to study and look at, and we need to look at personnel,” Doeren said. “We have to look at who will play the hardest. We will let them out there and have them play as hard as they can.”
Follow on Twitter:
@NCStateRivals or @JaceyZembal
Subscribe for free on YouTube:
For Jacey Zembal or The Wolfpack Central
Like on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/TheWolfpackCentral
Follow on Instagram/Threads:
ATTENTION SUBSCRIBERS: Our NETWORK-WIDE, all-access pass allows you to read every premium message board in the Rivals.com network as part of a bundled add-on to your subscription!
Subscribers can add the All-Access Pass or a 3-Site Bundle in your account profile, under the Subscriptions tab: HERE
