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Quick hits from NC State football's win over Louisville

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Senior H-back Jaylen Samuels had a 100-yard receiving game.
Senior H-back Jaylen Samuels had a 100-yard receiving game. (Ken Martin/The Wolfpacker)
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Quick hits and notes from No. 24 NC State’s 39-25 win over No. 17 Louisville in front of 56,107 fans on Thursday evening at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.

The streak is over

Coming into this game, NC State had lost the last five times it was ranked. The last time a ranked Wolfpack squad won a game was the season opener in 2003 when No. 16 NCSU routed Western Carolina, 59-20. After back-to-back road losses at Wake Forest and No. 3 Ohio State, the latter in triple overtime, that NC State squad fell out of the polls.

On three occasions in 2010 during the regular season, NC State was ranked only to quickly drop out of the polls with a loss.

The last time a ranked Wolfpack team beat a fellow ranked opponent was the 2002 Gator Bowl when No. 17 NCSU topped No. 11 Notre Dame, 28-6.

Almost history

NC State was one yard away from making a unique passing history. If redshirt junior receiver Stephen Louis would have caught one more pass for even just a single yard, he would have joined senior H-back Jaylen Samuels (seven catches for 104 yards) and sophomore receiver Kelvin Harmon (six catches for 133 yards and a touchdown) in going over the century mark. NC State has never had three receivers go over 100 yards in the same game.

It is the fourth time in Harmon’s career (and third this season) that he has gone over 100 yards. For Samuels it is his third time overall. Louis, who finished with three receptions for 99 yards, would have done it for the fourth time at NC State.

Records Watch

Senior defensive end Bradley Chubb notched another sack and two total tackles for loss in the win. He moves past Manny Lawson and Mike Jones and ties Carl Reaves for third all-time on the career sacks list with 22.5. He is second all-time in tackles for loss with 48, just 7.5 behind Mario Williams’ school record.

Redshirt junior quarterback Ryan Finley, who threw for 367 yards in the win, moved past Erik Kramer into eighth in all-time passing yards with 4,829 yards. Finley is up to 288 straight passes without a pick, moving past Drew Weatherford from Florida State into the second longest interception-free streak in league history behind former Pack quarterback Russell Wilson’s 379.

Junior running back Nyheim Hines had 225 all-purpose yards to give him 3,770 yards, sliding past Anthony Barbour into ninth all-time at NC State. Hines had 105 yards on kickoff returns and now stands second all-time in school history with 2,062 career yards, moving past Ralph Stringer.

Samuels has caught a pass in 34 straight games, tying Jimmy Grissett for the third longest streak at NC State.

Ground attack

Lost a little in the prolific passing attack for NC State on Thursday night was that it ran the ball effectively as well. Junior Nyheim Hines had his second straight 100-yard game, finishing with 18 carries for 102 yards and two scores for his first multi-touchdown game of his career.

Hines now has 513 yards rushing in the first half of the season and has established himself on pace for a 1,000-yard campaign on the ground.

Overall, NC State rushed for 153 yards as a team and finished with 520 yards of total offense. Only Clemson (297 yards rushing and 613 total yards) topped the Pack’s offensive output against Louisville thus far this year.

Newsflash: Lamar Jackson is good

For the second straight week, a junior quarterback nearly did it all for his team. Last week, Syracuse’s Eric Dungey accounted for all but 15 yards of the Orange’s offense and was its leading rusher.

This week, junior quarterback Lamar Jackson completed 26 of 47 passes for 354 yards and a touchdown with one pick and also ran 19 times for 73 yards and two scores. The rest of the team? A mere 43 yards rushing. The 116 team rushing yards matched the Clemson game for the fewest for Louisville this season.

Jackson did become just the sixth player in FBS history to have 3,000 rushing yards and 7,000 passing yards in his career and the first to reach that milestone as an underclassman.

However, his pride may have taken a hit after throwing a pick six to NC State redshirt junior linebacker Germaine Pratt and then trying to slow Pratt’s march to the end zone.

Spotted at the game

There were 43 scouts credentialed for the game, which led to overflow seating arranged in a separate suite aside from the press box.

Some notable recruits made the trip, including the top in-state talent in the class of 2019. For a list of those, click here.

What the win means

NC State is 5-1 on the season and 3-0 in the ACC. The last 5-1 start for NCSU was 2010, and the last 3-0 beginning to league play was 2002. One more conference win would ensure the first .500 league mark since 2012.

Louisville is 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the conference. It still has a 6-2 edge in the all-time series with NCSU, but it is the Pack’s first home in three tries and first victory over UL since the Cards joined the ACC in four contests.

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