For the first time in nearly two years, there was a sense of normalcy Thursday night in Carter-Finley Stadium.

A season removed from playing before empty stands, NC State ran out of the tunnel for the first time this fall — red brick ‘slobbering wolf’ helmets and all — to be greeted by an energetic home crowd of 52,633 cheering on the team.

It was almost as if the team and the crowd were challenging each other, seeing who could bring the most electricity to what was an otherwise beautiful 70-degree night in Raleigh.

After allowing a 16-yard rush on the first play of the night, the Pack eventually won that battle with the crowd … as well as one on the field against South Florida.

Head coach Dave Doeren couldn’t have written a better script for how his team was able to start its long-anticipated 2021 campaign.

The Wolfpack bullied the Bulls for 60 minutes, ultimately defeating the inferior AAC opponent 45-0. And for the most part, the crowd inside of Carter-Finley Stadium stayed for the entirety of it.

“It was great having them back,” Doeren said. “In our student section, it was awesome. Just seeing them again, hearing them. It’s Thursday night, and it’s what we were hoping for. I think the kids fed off of [the fans]. It means a lot to them to have the crowd that we did.”

NC State didn’t have to get too creative Thursday night. The Pack definitively controlled the line of scrimmage throughout the game, and the squad knew it.

That’s why there was no need to change the script.

Sure, redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary was afforded some deep-ball opportunities. But for the most part, the Wolfpack ran the ball right down South Florida’s throat whenever it wanted to. And there was nothing the Bulls could do about it.

“I love that brand of football,” Doeren said. “It's fun to see our offensive line and our tight end group play like that. The backs, they're so hard to tackle, and if you can get those guys started like that, a lot of good things are gonna happen.”

NC State collectively rushed for 293 yards. That’s 22 more than USF had in total offense.

A bulk of that production came from the Pack’s double-headed monster running back rotation of sophomore Zonovan “Bam” Knight and junior Ricky Person Jr.

Knight was a consensus first-team All-ACC selection this preseason, but it was Person that stole the show in the first half.

Person, who led State in rushing attempts but not yards last season, scored each of the Pack’s first three touchdowns.

On his first touch of the night, he reeled in a 33-yard touchdown pass from Leary off of a wheel route. It was his first of three catches, and he would finish the night with 43 receiving yards.

His next two scores came on the ground, both on gains of 11 yards.

In total, he gained 105 yards on 16 carries, good for 6.6 yards per carry.

“There's been a lot of talk in the offseason about Bam, and I know Ricky wants to prove how good he is as well,” Doeren said. “I thought he played really well.”

But the top returning rusher in the ACC wasn't too shabby himself.

Knight led the Pack with 179 yards from scrimmages.

On 16 rushes, he gained 163 yards, good for a staggering 10.2 yards per attempt. He also reeled in two receptions for 16 yards, including one key grab on a third-down situation in the first quarter, which extended the drive to allow Person to give State its first points of the night.

“Ricky and Zonovan are each other's biggest fans and also competitors,” Doeren said. “They want to out-rush each other, out-gain each other and all those different things.”

Arguably the bigger story Thursday night was that NC State’s defense was spectacular.

The unit played with a sense of urgency for the entirety of all four quarters, and in the end it was rewarded with a fitting shutout.

The Wolfpack smothered the will of South Florida’s offense. Anytime the Bulls showed some life, a hungry Pack defender would inevitably find his way into the backfield to blow up a play.

USF was able to convert on just three of its 16 third-down attempts.

While NC State wasn’t able to produce any sacks, the defensive line consistently won the battle at the line of scrimmage, and the Pack accumulated seven tackles for loss.

South Florida starting quarterback Cade Fortin was pulled in the first half after it became quickly evident that he wasn’t able to get anything going in the passing game. He completed just seven of his 20 attempts for 41 yards and one interception.

He was replaced by back-up Timmy McClain, who showed flashes with his ability to extend plays on his legs but was ultimately ineffective through the air.

When the Bulls were forced to pass to try to salvage any chance of victory, McClain was able to get his team into the red zone twice, but both times ended up throwing interceptions.

“The thing that I really liked, to be honest, was the way we played the football in the air tonight,” Doeren said. “I thought defensively, this is the first time in a while that our DBs have just broke on balls and snatched them out of the air and made some really confident catches on footballs. That's what you need to be able to do when you're playing with five defensive backs.

“Between Tanner Ingle's interception and Cyrus Fagan's interception, the way these guys broke on the football, we played all of our guys back there, everybody got game time, but that really stood out to me.”

For the first time in 11 months, Leary was able to take the field at Carter-Finley Stadium as the Pack’s starting quarterback.

The last time he played that role, he was carted off the field after breaking his leg in a win over Duke.

Following surgery, months of rehab and his first full summer with second-year offensive coordinator Tim Beck, Leary made his return and gave Wolfpack fans a glimpse of what to expect from the most important position in football for the rest of the season.

“I was extremely excited,” Leary said. “There was a feeling that I couldn't really describe, and I haven't really felt it before since last October. Just being able to run into the full stadium with Wolfpack nation, and with all my brothers and my teammates behind me, it's just an indescribable feeling. This is something I'm always going to cherish for the rest of my life.”

For the most part, he showed more good than bad.

The redshirt sophomore completed 65 percent of his 26 pass attempts for 236 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

The good: the Wolfpack quarterback was mostly accurate and showed off his big-play ability twice — on a 51-yard connection with redshirt sophomore Devin Carter and a 39-yard completion to senior Emeka Emezie.

The defense often gave Leary phenomenal field position, and the production from the run game made his life much easier. Most importantly, however, the quarterback did his job. He extended drives when needed, threatened the opposing secondary with his arm enough to make the Bulls defense play against both the pass and the run, and didn’t make many mistakes.

“The thing you like about Devin is nothing bothers him,” Doeren said. “He throws a touchdown, he's the same guy. He throws a pick, and he's the same guy. He needs to learn not to run the ball there at the end of the game, but outside of that I thought he was pretty good.”

Of course, there were the tipped balls and overthrows on the first few drives. There was also the severely underthrown deep-ball attempt to redshirt junior Thayer Thomas that resulted in his lone interception on the night.

But when the defense prevents the other team from scoring, and your running backs rush for nearly 300 yards on the ground, those mistakes can go unpunished.

Next week, the Pack will play its most enticing non-conference contest on the schedule, a road trip to Starkville to take on SEC foes Mississippi State. While the verdict is still out on how good the Bulldogs are, the mistakes in the passing game would likely hurt more against the first Power Five opponent of the season.

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