Here are quick hits and notes from NC State football’s 45-42 shootout win over Wake Forest at Carter-Finley Stadium Saturday night on a cool, early fall evening.

It was to be expected considering Wake Forest had little advanced knowledge of what to expect from NC State’s offense, but the first returns on offensive coordinator Tim Beck were far better than what was seen in 2019.

NC State scored more points in Beck’s debut than it did in all of 2019. The only ACC game that came close to comparing to Saturday was a loss at Georgia Tech.

One thing about the first game that is always fun is tracking all the newcomers that played:

• Earning their first career starts were redshirt sophomore receiver Jasiah Provillon, redshirt freshman corner Shyheim Battle and sophomore safety Jakeen Harris. Provillon did not catch a pass, but Harris had eight tackles and a pass breakup while Battle added five hits and a couple of deflections.

• Making their Wolfpack debuts were former USC linebacker Vi Jones, a redshirt junior, and former Penn State defensive end Daniel Joseph, a fifth-year senior. Joseph got a starting nod. Another newcomer was junior college transfer Rakeim Ashford, who arrived just before camp started and ended up playing significant snaps.

All had big evenings. Ashford finished with 10 tackles and a pass breakup. Joseph had a pair of sacks among his five hits, and Jones had a sack that forced a fumble while totaling three overall tackles.

• True freshmen that made their debuts were defensive lineman Nick Booker-Brown, defensive back Devan Boykin, cornerback Aydan White, receiver Porter Rooks and linebacker Devon Betty. The defensive players did not register a stat, while Rooks' only catch went for a one-yard loss.

Usually we would keep a running track of the true/redshirt freshman watch under the NCAA rules of allowing rookies to play up to four games and still preserve their redshirt. However, this year is a freebie in terms of eligibility as far as the NCAA is concerned.

Instead, the attention turns each week to who is available in the COVID-19 era. The following scholarship players were not on the active participation list:

Senior cornerback Chris Ingram

Redshirt freshman nickel Jalen Frazier

Fifth-year senior receiver C.J. Riley

Freshman receiver Christopher Scott Jr.

Fifth-year defensive lineman Val Martin

Freshman offensive tackle Anthony Carter Jr.

Freshman receiver Joshua Crabtree

Freshman receiver Anthony Smith

Redshirt junior defensive lineman Dante Johnson.

Ingram is known to be dealing with an injury from last season.

A bunch of cutouts, a few parents of players who did a good job socially distancing and not much else.

After the game was over, Wake Forest players waited in the stadium’s end zone seats on the north side, spreading out, before everyone was ready to leave.

NC State is 1-0 for the seventh time in eight seasons under Doeren, who improves to 48-42 overall as the head coach at NC State. He needs one more victory to tie Chuck Amato for the third-most wins as a head coach in school history.

The Pack snaps a three-game losing skid to the Demon Deacons and leads the overall series 67-41-6, including 45-22-5 in Raleigh. Doeren is 4-4 vs. Wake Forest.

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