Here are the various headlines and tweets for Sunday, Sept. 15.
What they're saying
• Matt Carter, TheWolfpacker.com — Column: A missed opportunity for young NC State squad
NC State football coach Dave Doeren knew that his squad was going to get West Virginia’s best. The Mountaineers were embarrassed 38-7 last week at Missouri in a game that observers have said was not that close.
To perhaps drive home a point, WVU first-year coach Neal Brown declined to give any players postgame awards in various categories that are released in West Virginia’s weekly game notes.
West Virginia was not going to have a repeat of that in their home stadium, if they could help it.
“They got embarrassed last week in the game,” Doeren said. “You’re going to get their best. They are going to be disappointed with what they put on tape, and they are going to come home and not want to show that to their fan base.
"I knew that was coming. I told them that was coming.”
The road to respectability was never going to be paved with lollipops and Catamounts.
Yet, Boston College’s lopsided home loss to what has been a woeful Kansas program on Friday begged N.C. State fans to wake up on Saturday and look at the first half of their schedule and ask:
“Why can’t we start 6-0?”
West Virginia, Florida State, Syracuse and BC had all looked vulnerable (or worse) through the first two weeks of this season.
N.C. State, with a pair of directional in-state scalps, looked promising or at least sufficient enough to beat the shaky Mountaineers. Las Vegas agreed. N.C. State was a touchdown favorite.
But reality, like sunrise after a late night in a Morgantown bar, always comes earlier than anybody wants or in the Wolfpack’s case, can handle.
• Joe Giglio, Raleigh News & Observer — Game review: Key plays in NC State’s loss to West Virginia
Down 31-24, the Wolfpack defense came up with a big play, arguably the only one it made all day. Freshman linebacker Drake Thomas intercepted a Kendall pass at the 32-yard line and returned to the WVU 21.
West Virginia had just made a big play and turned it into a touchdown. N.C. State made a big play ... and then went backwards.
On first down, McKay got caught on the wrong side of an RPO-read again (he should have kept the ball) and running back Ricky Person was stopped for a 1-yard loss.
On second down, McKay made a good throw to receiver Emeka Emezie at the first-down marker. The pass hit Emezie, who had a career-high 12 catches fo 103 yards, in the numbers but he dropped it.
On third down, WVU safety Jovanni Stewart snuffed out a poorly-executed screen pass to Person, which netted 2 yards. This wasn’t a bad idea for a playcall but it would have made more sense on first down.
NC State was favored to beat West Virginia, with the team hoping for its first nonconference victory against a Power Five team since 2003. After dominating lesser competition in the first two weeks of the season, the team looked to be reloading rather than rebuilding. Then the Wolfpack traveled to Morgantown and left with a 44-27 loss in its hands.
“They did some good things, you’ve got to give them credit,” said head coach Dave Doeren. “Offensively, they did a lot of different things than we’ve seen. We adjusted as we went, and we didn’t do a good job of getting players to understand the adjustments. We have to own that first and foremost as coaches.”
The Wolfpack was outplayed and outcoached in almost every facet of the game, with questionable calls and poor QB play limiting NC State’s offense and injuries and a lack of execution gashing the defense. Top cornerback Nick McCloud was announced out with an injury at the beginning of the week, and starting defensive ends James Smith-Williams and Joseph Boletepeli were pregame scratches.
NC State missed the latter two in spades as the Wolfpack regularly failed to generate pressure, ending the game with only one sack and three tackles for loss. NC State relies on its defense to be the strength of the team, but it was outperformed by the defenses that came before it. Through the first two games of the year against James Madison and Missouri, the Mountaineers gave up four sacks and 21 tackles for loss.
Headlines
• The Wolfpacker — Column: A missed opportunity for young NC State squad
• The Wolfpacker — Notebook: Matthew McKay, passing game struggles
• The Wolfpacker — Quick hits from NC State’s loss to West Virginia
• Associated Press — WVU snaps out of offensive funk with 44-27 win over NC State
• Raleigh News & Observer — Game review: Key plays in NC State’s loss to West Virginia
• Raleigh News & Observer — Failed ‘Power 5’ test sends NC State back to the drawing board
• Technician — Wolfpack fails to rise to the occasion against West Virginia
• Technician — McKay struggles as Pack drops first road test at West Virginia
• Technician — Pack blanks Boston College for first ACC win of the season
• GoPack.com — Pack drops road contest at West Virginia
• GoPack.com — Wolfpack defeats Eagles to open ACC action
• GoPack.com — Women’s soccer returns home Sunday to face Furman
• GoPack.com — Pack wins five-set thriller against Appalachian State
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