11/2/2019 football Edit

Quick hits from NC State's loss at Wake Forest

Matt Carter • TheWolfpackCentral

Editor

Quick hits and notes from NC State’s 44-10 loss at Wake Forest in front of 31,199 fans Saturday afternoon at BB&T Field in Winston-Salem, N.C.:

Penalties and turnovers

NC State, in a game against an older, ranked team, needed to play a mistake-free contest to have a chance to pull off the upset. Instead, it was flagged for 10 penalties for 87 yards, right up to a false start on a punt with about a minute left in the game.

Wake Forest, conversely, had just one flag for 14 yards, a less-than-egregious roughing-the-passer penalty. The 10 flags on the Pack were a season high, and the difference of 73 penalty yards was by far the most against NCSU this season.

The penalties were a bit of an aberration. NC State, in three ACC games leading into Wake Forest, had committed the fourth-fewest penalties by a conference team in league-only games.

What is more alarming is the continued lack of turnovers gained. NC State is the only team in the ACC yet to gain a turnover in a conference game, and it now has a negative-7 turnover margin in four league contests, four more than the next worst team in the ACC.

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Any positives?

NC State did hold Wake Forest to just 123 rushing yards on 46 carries, a modest 2.7 yards a rush. WFU came into the game as the ACC’s fourth-best ground attack, averaging 196.1 yards per game, and tied for the fourth-best yards per carry average at 4.3.

NCSU’s defense also had two sacks against a team that had allowed just eight in seven prior games. Freshman linebacker Drake Thomas had 1.5 sacks and two overall tackles for loss, his first hits behind the line of scrimmage and part of his career-high eight tackles.

Redshirt freshman Payton Wilson also set a career high with 11 tackles.

Redshirt sophomore punter Trenton Gill continues to boom his kicks, averaging 46.9 yards on eight punts. That was slightly below his season average of 47.2 yards entering the game, which was the second highest in the ACC.

The kicking game also picked up a 40-yard field goal from sophomore Christopher Dunn, who is 15 of 18 on the season.

Not a happy homecoming for Tabari Hines

Hines spent three years at Wake Forest before he left for Oregon as a grad transfer ahead of the 2018 season. He ended up redshirting that year and coming to NC State for the 2019 campaign.

In three years for the Deacons, Hines caught 123 passes for 1,496 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Hines was sought out by several former teammates and coaches after the game, but he did not make the impact he wanted to during the matchup. He caught just two passes for three yards, and he had a lengthy punt return called back by a penalty.

Spotted at the game

Several former Pack players made the trip, including the Holt brothers (Torry and Terrence), former receiver Stephen Louis and NFL linebacker Germaine Pratt, a rookie with the Cincinnati Bengals who are on their bye week.

True freshmen vs. redshirt freshmen watch

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 Wake Forest:

• Offensive lineman Ikem Ekwonu — 8 games* (burned redshirt)

• Running back Jordan Houston — 8 games* (burned redshirt)

• Running back Zonovan Knight — 8 games* (burned redshirt)

• Receiver Keyon Lesane — 8 games* (burned redshirt)

• Long snapper Joe Shimko — 8 games* (burned redshirt)

• Linebacker Drake Thomas — 8 games* (burned redshirt)

• Safety Jakeen Harris — 7 games* (burned redshirt)

• Defensive end Savion Jackson — 6 games (burned redshirt)

• Defensive back Cecil Powell — 6 games* (burned redshirt)

• Defensive tackle Joshua Harris — 3 games*

• Offensive lineman Dylan McMahon — 3 games

• Safety Khalid Martin — 2 games

• Linebacker Jaylon Scott — 2 games

• Cornerback Shyheim Battle — 1 game

• Defensive tackle C.J. Clark — 1 game

• Defensive end Terrell Dawkins — 1 game

• Nickel Jalen Frazier — 1 game

What the loss means

NC State is 4-4 overall and 1-3 in the ACC. Wake Forest is 7-1 and 3-1, respectively. The Deacs have won three straight against NCSU for the first time since 2005-07, and head coach Dave Clawson gets his first win after a bye week in eight tries.

NCSU’s woes in Winston-Salem continue. The Pack is 2-10 in its last 12 games there. The Pack continues to lead the overall series 66-41-6.