11/10/2020 football Edit

Top Five plays from NC State vs Miami

Justin H. Williams • TheWolfpackCentral

Staff Writer

NC State Wolfpack football suffered a heartbreaking 44-41 loss to No. 11 Miami Friday night.

The Pack produced 410 yards of total offense and had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, but Hurricanes quarterback D'Eriq King proved to be too much to overcome. King had 430 passing yards and five touchdowns and also rushed for 105 yards on 15 carries.

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Here are the Top Five plays from the Wolfpack loss:

5. Ricky Person Jr.'s 40-yard run to flip the field

Junior running back Ricky Person Jr.'s 40-yard run was the longest offensive play by the Wolfpack on Friday night.

From its own 30-yard line, NC State was able to flip the field down four points midway through the second quarter. Person's run gave the Wolfpack great field position and paved the way for a touchdown catch by fifth-year senior tight end Cary Angeline six plays later.

4. Christopher Dunn's 53-yard field goal

Junior placekicker Christopher Dunn's 53-yard field goal was his longest of the season and came at just the right time for the Wolfpack. NC State took a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter with the conversion.

Dunn also gets bonus points for his celebration. The Wolfpack kicker went viral on Twitter for the groin thrust toward the Miami sideline and even caught the eye of Sportscenter's account.

3. Emeka Emezie's 34-yard catch from Bailey Hockman

Credit to both redshirt junior quarterback Bailey Hockman for making the throw and senior wide receiver Emeka Emezie for making a spectacular catch. The 34-yard gain marked NC State's longest pass play of the night.

Emezie's catch put NC State inside the Miami 25-yard line and the Wolfpack scored a touchdown four plays later to take a 31-24 lead midway through the third quarter.

2. Bailey Hockman's first career receiving touchdown on a trick-play pass from Thayer Thomas

Under normal circumstances, this would have been the top play from the game. Credit to offensive coordinator Tim Beck for pulling out the trick play call on the Wolfpack's first drive to give the Pack an early 7-0 lead and give Hockman confidence that carried over through the rest of the game.

Redshirt junior receiver Thayer Thomas was able to get his first touchdown pass of the 2020 season and the third of his college career.

1. Bam Knight's 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown

There is no debate on what the most electric play on Friday night was. Sophomore running back Zonovan "Bam" Knight was the third-string kickoff return man entering the contest, but it's safe to say he'll be the guy moving forward.

Knight admitted after the game he probably should have downed the ball considering it was a kick to the end zone, but it was a good thing he didn't. He became the fourth player in NC State history to return a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, joining Nyheim Hines, Tobias Palmer and T.J. Graham.