Quick hits from NC State’s loss at Florida State

Quick hits and notes from NC State’s 31-13 loss at Florida State in front of 60,351 fans at Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday in Tallahassee, Fla.

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Here are the official stat lines for the three quarterbacks who played Saturday:

• Redshirt sophomore Matthew McKay was 3-of-7 passing for 20 yards and a loss of five yards on one rush (which was a dropped shotgun snap that sophomore Ricky Person Jr. picked up and ran forward). The Pack offense had one first down on three drives.

• Redshirt sophomore Bailey Hockman was 21-of-40 passing for 208 yards with a touchdown plus negative-14 yards on three carries. Hockman had his moments and led several promising Wolfpack drives. He also got away with multiple potential interceptions that Florida State defensive backs could not haul in, and the offense had just one first down in the third quarter with Hockman operating the offense and the game remaining 17-6 in FSU’s favor for much of the time.

• Redshirt freshman Devin Leary received the mop-up duty and was 4-of-5 passing for 54 yards against a soft, prevent defense.

Bottom line is NC State over the past three games has collectively completed 71 of 135 passes (52.6 percent) for 692 yards and just 9.7 yards per completion.

Person was taken off the field on a cart with an air cast over his left ankle/leg after he was tackled on a running play. He finished the game with seven rushes for 26 yards. The good news is the X-rays were reportedly negative.

On the positive side, the defense had eight sacks and largely held Florida State star running back Cam Akers in check. The bad news is it gave up too many big plays.

Florida State came into the game averaging 444.5 yards per game, including 138.2 on the ground.

NC State held them to below their season averages with 369 total yards and just 53 on the ground, aided in part by a whopping eight sacks, the most for NC State in an ACC game since it had 10 at Virginia Tech in 2004. It was also the most sacks allowed in a game by FSU.

Fifth-year senior defensive tackle Larrell Murchison’s 3.5 sacks tied for the third most in a game in Wolfpack history.

Akers’ first 16 carries went for only 42 yards. But the Pack’s lapses were costly ones, like Akers shaking loose for a 41-yard TD run to ice the game on a fourth-and-one play in the fourth quarter. FSU also had touchdown receptions of 43 and 40 yards, meaning 124 of its 369 yards — over a third of its production — came on those three scores.

• Hockman’s three-yard scoring toss to junior wide receiver Emeka Emezie was his first career touchdown pass.

• Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Max Fisher had his first multi-catch game (two for 41 yards) and nearly got into the end zone, but fumbled at the end of the game.

• Freshman Cecil Powell, a converted wide receiver, caught three passes for 22 yards in his first multi-reception game.

• For Leary, it was his first career action.

• Getting into the sack party was redshirt freshman linebacker Calvin Hart Jr., which was his first hit on the quarterback.

• If the stats are true, freshman defensive tackle C.J. Clark played for the first time in his career and had his first hit.

We’ll keep a rundown in quick hits of how many games the Wolfpack true freshmen have played. They can play up to four games before burning their redshirt. An asterisk means they participated against Florida State.

• Offensive lineman Ikem Ekwonu — 5 games* (burned redshirt)

• Running back Jordan Houston — 5 games* (burned redshirt)

• Running back Zonovan Knight — 5 games* (burned redshirt)

• Receiver Keyon Lesane — 5 games* (burned redshirt)

• Receiver Cecil Powell — 5 games* (burned redshirt)

• Long snapper Joe Shimko — 5 games* (burned redshirt)

• Linebacker Drake Thomas — 5 games* (burned redshirt)

• Defensive end Savion Jackson — 4 games*

• Safety Jakeen Harris — 3 games

• Offensive lineman Dylan McMahon — 3 games

• Safety Khalid Martin — 2 games

• Linebacker Jaylon Scott — 2 games

• Defensive tackle C.J. Clark — 1 game

• Nickel Jalen Frazier — 1 game

NC State is 3-2 and 0-1 in the ACC. The Pack is 3-4 in conference openers under head coach Dave Doeren, including 1-2 in such games that were against FSU.

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