Here are quick hits and notes from NC State football's 31-20 win over Duke in front of a limited crowd at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh Saturday afternoon:

At Pittsburgh, NC State freshman nickel Joshua Pierre-Louis was ejected for a targeting penalty when he roughed Panthers quarterback Kenny Pickett, a costly flag that negated a pick-six on the play by sophomore safety Jakeen Harris.

At Virginia a week later, junior safety Tanner Ingle received a similar first-half ejection when he made a helmet-to-helmet collision at the end of a scramble by Cavalier quarterback Brennan Armstrong, an unfortunate hit that has sidelined Armstrong in the concussion protocol.

For the third straight week, NC State had a safety/nickel ejected in the first half. This time it was Harris, who made helmet-to-helmet contact on falling Duke running back Mataeo Durant in the first quarter.

Further complicating issues in the first half, Ingle had to leave the game with what appeared to be a hamstring issue. Ingle missed the first two contests with an undisclosed injury. That left true freshman Devan Boykin and redshirt sophomore Isaac Duffy at safety.

You may be excused for not recognizing Duffy. He is a former walk-on who is on scholarship this year, and the native of Binghamton, N.Y., held up well. He made four tackles and broke up two passes.

The conventional wisdom on defense is that if your defensive backs are leading the team in tackles, that is not a good thing. It’s probably debatable if that still holds true in the era of spread-out offenses, but on this particular Saturday, the tackles were made mainly by the defensive front six in the Pack's 3-3-5 formation.

• Redshirt sophomore Payton Wilson had 19 tackles (including assisting on a sack). Wilson also intercepted two passes.

• Redshirt junior Isaiah Moore had 12 tackles, also assisting on a sack and adding another hit for a loss.

• Sophomore Drake Thomas had 10 tackles, including 1.5 for loss.

• Redshirt freshman defensive end Terrell Dawkins added nine tackles, including a sack and assisting on another loss.

All total, those four had 50 of NC State’s 97 tackles, including five of the seven for loss and two of the four sacks. For each except Thomas, it was a new career-high in tackles.

Collectively they played a big role in the Duke running back tandem of Durant and Deon Jackson rushing a combined 27 times for 43 yards a week after together they ran 53 times for 332 yards in a win at Syracuse.

Overall, Duke finished the game with its new season-low of 319 total yards, 190 through the air and 129 on the ground. It is the fewest yards allowed in a game this season for NC State's defense and in a Football Bowl Subdivision game since East Carolina had only 269 yards in last year’s season opener. The last time an ACC team had fewer total yards was Boston College in a 28-23 Wolfpack win in 2018.

The biggest problem NC State had on defense was allowing Duke quarterback Chase Brice, who rushed for a net of negative-three yards coming into Saturday, running for a career-high 86 yards on 14 carries.

The following scholarship players were not on the active list for the Duke game:

Sophomore safety Rakeim Ashford

Freshman offensive tackle Anthony Carter Jr.

Redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Derrick Eason Jr.

Redshirt freshman nickel Jalen Frazier

Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Joshua Harris

Senior cornerback Chris Ingram

Redshirt freshman safety Khalid Martin

Redshirt freshman offensive tackle Timothy McKay

Freshman safety Nehki Meredith

Junior cornerback Teshaun Smith

Fifth-year senior offensive tackle Justin Witt

Starting right tackle Witt missed his third straight game, and depth was thin without McKay and Eason available, too. McKay also missed the win at Virginia, and all three were not listed on the depth chart entering the Duke game. Goal line defensive tackle standout Harris was the newest name to the inactive list.

Ashford, Smith and Martin are likely out for the season, while Frazier and Ingram have not been available yet.

NC State is 4-1 overall and in the ACC, while Duke is 1-5 in both. The Blue Devils will have their one non-conference game on Oct. 31 at home against Charlotte after enjoying a bye. NC State travels to UNC next Saturday.

Duke leads the all-time series 41-37-5, but NC State is 21-17-4 in games played in Raleigh.

Pack head coach Dave Doeren is now 51-43 at NC State and needs one more win to tie Dick Sheridan for the second most in school history. Doeren gets his first win against Duke in his second try, leaving Clemson, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech as the lone ACC foes he has not beaten. NC State is scheduled to host Georgia Tech on Dec. 5.

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