Quick hits from NC State football's 33-21 win over UNC

Quick hits and notes from NC State’s 33-21 win over archrival UNC in front of 57,600 fans at Carter-Finley Stadium on a beautiful late-fall Saturday afternoon.

Owning the recent history versus UNC

For the eighth time in the past 11 years, NC State has emerged with a win over North Carolina. The Heels have a lopsided 66-35-6 all-time edge in the series, but as we broke down in last year’s quick hits column (link) following a 28-21 win by the Pack, that is a very deceptive series record.

Since the ACC was formed in 1954 the Heels’ advantage is a much more competitive 34-30. Pre-ACC, UNC won the series 32-5-6.

Saturday’s win did snap a two-game home losing streak to the Heels.

Records watch

Senior H-back Jaylen Samuels scored on a 10-yard touchdown to cap the scoring for NC State. That was his 27th career rushing score and the 46th overall of his career. He will need a monster bowl game to catch Ted Brown for the school record with 50.

Samuels though did set a new school record with his 40th straight game with a catch, breaking the tie with former receivers Jerricho Cotchery and Bryan Peterson. Samuels finished with three receptions for 22 yards, giving him 195 catches in his career. He would need five in the bowl to tie Cotchery’s school record of 200.

NCSU had one turnover against UNC, giving it 12 for the season. If it does not commit a turnover in the bowl it will set a new school record for fewest in one year.

Nyheim Hines big day

Of course the big story from Saturday was junior running back Nyheim Hines rushing 22 times for 196 yards and two monster touchdown runs in the third and fourth quarter respectively that took what had been a 14-12 UNC lead into a 27-14 NCSU advantage.

Hines had the most rushing yards ever by a NC State running back against UNC, and he went over 1,000 on the season with 1,040. He notches the 12th 1,000-yard rushing season in school history and is 11th all-time on the single-season rushing yards list. He is just the ninth overall rusher to get 1,000 yards in school history.

If Hines gets 60 yards in the bowl, he would have the ninth 1,100-yard effort by a NCSU runner.

Not quite yet 1,000 for Kelvin Harmon

One milestone that was not reached on Saturday was sophomore receiver Kelvin Harmon becoming the first 1,000-yard receiver since Cotchery in 2003. Harmon needed just 28 yards to get there, but he was held in check by UNC’s secondary and finished with just one 21-yard reception.

He’ll need seven yards in the bowl to get the mark. His season-low for receiving yards this year in a game is 16 at Florida State.

Lineup changes

The Pack continued to tinker with its secondary, and it went with redshirt junior Dexter Wright at safety, moving senior Shawn Boone back to nickel after last week trying Boone at safety and freshman Chris Ingram at nickel. That move had sent sophomore Tim Kidd-Glass, a nine-game starter at safety this season, to the sideline.

Wright made his first start since getting injured in the season-opening loss to South Carolina in Charlotte.

There was an in-game change on the offensive line due to injuries. Senior right guard Tony Adams went down with a leg injury in the first half, and then his replacement, redshirt freshman Joe Sculthorpe, hurt his arm in the third quarter.

That meant true freshman Joshua Fedd-Jackson from St. Joseph Regional in Montvale, N.J., who at one point appeared headed to UNC during the recruiting process, got valuable snaps for the first time in his career.

Penalties galore

This was by far the most penalized game involving NC State this season. The two teams combined for 23 flags totaling 235 yards. The previous high was 18 flags for 142 yards against Syracuse.

NC State was guilty of 11 flags for 108 yards. The only time it had more flags was 12 at Notre Dame, but those went for 89 yards.

Spotted at the game

For a list of some of the recruits seen, click here.

What the win means

NC State finished the regular season 8-4 overall and 6-2 in the ACC. It matched the school record for league victories. The Pack finished the year with the third best conference mark behind only title game participants Clemson and Miami, who both finished 7-1.

UNC's year is done at 3-9 overall and 1-7 in the league. It joins Pitt as the only non bowl-eligible teams in the ACC this season provided Florida State defeats Louisiana-Monroe next week.