NC State dropped its first game of the 2020 season 45-24 to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg (Va.) Saturday.

The Wolfpack (1-1, 1-1 ACC) gave up 495 yards on defense to the Hokies (1-0, 1-0 ACC) and was never able to find the offensive rhythm it had in the season-opening win against Wake Forest.

Redshirt junior quarterback Bailey Hockman made his second start of the season but was replaced by redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary with 5:22 remaining in the third quarter.

Hockman struggled consistently throughout the contest and finished the night completing 7 of 16 passes for 82 yards with two interceptions. He also netted -13 rushing yards.

Entering the final drive of the first half, Hockman's numbers read 1-of-7 passing for four yards. He completed all three of his pass attempts on the Pack’s last drive of the second quarter for 46 yards, which resulted in a 53-yard field goal from junior kicker Christopher Dunn to cut the Virginia Tech lead to 31-10 at the break.

“We didn't talk about it at halftime,” NC State head coach Dave Doeren said when questioned about using Leary in the second half. “We thought we'd be able to regroup, come out and get some things going and just didn't.”

Hockman completed three of his first four passes in the opening drive of the second half for 32 yards but finished the series with a costly interception that was returned for 47 yards and allowed the Virginia Tech offense to take over at the Wolfpack 11-yard line.

“After the second interception, we said, 'Give him another series and see how he responds.'” Doeren explained. “We went three and out on the next drive and just felt like we needed a spark and to see what Devin can do.”

Leary was impressive in the final 20 minutes and led two touchdown drives in the Pack’s final three offensive possessions. He finished the game completing 12 of 16 passes for 165 yards and one touchdown.

“He did some good things and also did some things that he's got to learn from,” Doeren said. “I was happy with the way he came in the game cold and moved the offense for the most part.”

The most noticeable difference on offense compared to the season opener came at the line of scrimmage, where the Hokies' defensive line was able to penetrate the backfield without interruption and create pressure all night.

NC State's offensive line had only given up one sack and blocked well enough to pave the way for a 270-yard rushing performance in the win over Wake Forest, but it didn’t carry over to game two.

Hockman and Leary were each sacked three times, and the Pack rush attack was held to 139 yards on 42 carries.

“It looked like they packed the box, which we knew they were going to,” Doeren said. “They're going to force you to throw the football when you play them. They dialed up some pressures that we didn't pick up.”

The Wolfpack’s signal-callers were running from defenders throughout the evening, suffering six sacks for a total of 40 yards lost. Virginia Tech’s defense piled on an additional seven tackles for loss and five quarterback hurries as it had no interest in maintaining social distance from the NC State backfield.

“There were times where we got beat one on one,” Doeren continued. “It wasn't any one player, you could probably go across the board. They out-played us, bottom line.”

The Pack averaged 3.3 yards per carry compared to the 5.5 average it enjoyed in game one. NC State’s offensive line also accounted for three of the team’s eight penalties on the night, which resulted in 30 total yards lost.

NC State faced questions on defense entering game two after giving up 385 yards and 35 offensive points to Wake Forest, and it was never able to find the right answers against the Hokies.

Despite going without starting quarterback Hendon Hooker, Virginia Tech was able to average 8.53 yards per play and gashed the Wolfpack defense with 314 rushing yards.

Instead of Hooker, the Hokies started Oregon transfer Braxton Burmeister, who completed 7 of 11 passes for 106 yards. He added 67 rushing yards on nine carries but left the game due to hand cramps with 10:50 to go in the second quarter.

Third-string redshirt sophomore Quincy Patterson II replaced Burmeister, who was able to return in the second half.

Patterson, a tough-to-tackle, 6-foot-4, 240-pounder, proved to be extremely effective on the ground and through the air. He finished the night completing 4 of 6 passes for 75 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 47 yards on 10 carries, including one score.

“We didn't know what we were going to get,” Doeren said. “Hendon Hooker was listed first on the depth chart so you have to prepare for what he did. Once we saw the other guys in there, we had to figure out what it was going to be. They had some nice games. There were a lot of plus one runs, and we just didn't do a good job getting off blocks and tackling.”

Noticeably absent from the Wolfpack defense Saturday were junior safety Tanner Ingle and redshirt sophomore linebacker Payton Wilson, who were the Pack’s two leading tacklers in 2019. Junior corner Teshaun Smith, who started in game one against Wake Forest, also missed the game due to injury.

“Not having your two leading tacklers on defense hurts,” Doeren admitted. “[Sophomore safety] Rakeim Ashford came in and started for Tanner, then he got hurt. Then Khalid Martin came in and he got hurt. We have some deficiencies right now from a health standpoint on the defensive side of the ball and a lot of them are on the weak side of our defense. It was evident.

“A week ago Drake [Thomas] was playing Sam linebacker, tonight he had to play Will because Payton was out. We were not at full strength. I know Virginia Tech wasn't either, but we were missing Tanner, who is a captain, a hitter and a physical guy, and Payton, who is a hitter and a physical guy. That was their kind of game tonight. We would love to have had them, but we didn't.”

Compared to the eight-sack performance in the Pack’s opening win last Saturday, the defense was only able to create two sacks against Virginia Tech and never hurried the quarterback. It also saw its tackle for loss total drop from 12 to five in comparison to game one.

“In the second quarter we did some good things, and we slowed them down,” Doeren said. “Offensively, just couldn't get anything going, the defense was out there a lot in the first half. They went up 17-0, and then I thought we did a nice job there for a while. Then it just felt like we ran out of gas in that first half defensively.

“There's a lot of things we have to do better. Adjustment-wise, we were angling the front, we were slanting the front, we were pinching, we were bringing guys off the edge. We took our safety in the middle of the field and tightened him up into the run game,. There were a lot of different things we tried to do, but none of them were good enough.”

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