Here are some the thoughts from those who covered NC State Wolfpack football's 31-20 home win over Duke Saturday afternoon.
• Matt Carter, TheWolfpacker.com — Column: NC State wil take the ugly win over Duke
Winning ugly is a skill. Good teams do that. How good NC State is remains to be seen, as it will receive a couple of stern tests in its next two games — at UNC and hosting Miami — presumably without Leary, whom Doeren said will likely be out for a while.
But in his eighth season and on the verge of passing former Pack legend Dick Sheridan as the second-winningest coach of all-time in school history, the Wolfpack had never before rallied from a double-digit deficit in an ACC game and come back to win the game. They were 0-30 in such scenarios, until this squad on this Saturday.
It was not a thrilling comeback, but a methodical turning the tide when NC State stopped shooting itself in the foot so much, and it started making a few more key plays.
In four wins it’s been four different routes to victory: an offensive shootout behind the running game over Wake Forest, a dramatic rally led by Leary and the passing game at Pittsburgh, the defense turning Virginia over repeatedly and then an ugly comeback win vs. Duke.
The bottom line is they were all victories, and they all count the same.
• Justin H. Williams, TheWolfpacker.com — Payton Wilson's big day leads Pack to 31-20 win over Duke
Hockman played the final 17 minutes of the contest to lead the Pack to victory. He finished the game completing four of seven passes for 43 yards and one touchdown with no turnovers.
"Probably won't have Devin for a while," Doeren said. "I don't know the exact injury, a lower leg injury, but it doesn't look like we'll have him for a while. Once I know, probably Monday, I'll be able to give you the specifics.
"He's a tough kid and I hate it for him just to get injured like that because I know how much this game means to him, this team means to him. So next man up, Bailey, Ben Finley and Ty Evans will have to get ready to roll for us at quarterback."
• Justin H. Williams, TheWolfpacker.com — David Cutcliffe: 'NC State will win a lot of games'
Duke lost to NC State 31-20 Saturday in Carter-Finley Stadium despite having a 17-7 lead lead in the second quarter and 20-14 at halftime.
The Wolfpack (4-1, 4-1 ACC) committed eight first-half penalties for 106 yards compared to just one 10-yard penalty in the opening 30 minutes for the Blue Devils (1-5, 1-5 ACC).
Duke head coach David Cutcliffe admitted he was pleased with his team's performance and thought the final result was more about what the Pack did right as opposed to what the Blue Devils did wrong.
"We played a really good team in NC State," Cutcliffe said. "They are a good-looking football team. They're going win a lot of games."
Don’t tell this N.C. State team what it can’t do.
Chances are the Wolfpack will find a way to prove naysayers wrong. Never under coach Dave Doeren had a team come back from a double-digit deficit. Doeren was 0-30 in ACC games when he trailed by 10.
Against the Blue Devils, the Wolfpack trailed by 10 early in the second quarter and, thanks to some self-inflicted wounds, six at halftime. But N.C. State showed a resilience that has been missing from Doeren-led teams in the past.
“The difference was us beating us,” Doeren said.
Doeren looked his team in the eyes at halftime and told them if they just played football and “stopped being idiots” they would win.
The Wolfpack took that message to heart and pitched a second-half shutout, defeating Duke, 31-20, Saturday night at Carter-Finley Stadium. With the win, N.C. State improves to 4-1 overall, the four wins matching the number of wins from a year ago. The Wolfpack has won three in a row after getting blown out by Virginia Tech in Week 2, and each victory has looked different.
Against Wake Forest and Pittsburgh, the team jumped out to big leads and had to hold off its opponents late. At Virginia last weekend, the Wolfpack traded blows with the Cavaliers early, but never felt seriously threatened.
Against the Blue Devils (1-5, 1-5), it felt like the old N.C. State was back just in time for a two-game slate versus in-state rivals. Duke scored its first touchdown on a blocked punt that was scooped up by Dorian Mausi and returned for a score.
Duke has to be an anomaly in college football in 2020.
The Blue Devils have played six straight games and not had a positive test of coronavirus. In a season that has been constantly disrupted by COVID-19, a season that has had players and coaches sidelined and games rescheduled nationally and in the ACC, Duke has played week after week.
Now, finally the Blue Devils can rest. And, senior defensive end Chris Rumph II said Saturday, reset.
A 31-20 loss at N.C. State, in a game that Duke led 10-0 and 17-7, has the Blue Devils headed into a bye week with a 1-5 record, with a host of questions remaining to be answered.
“We have a lot of time to dissect what we’ve got to do better as a team to improve,” Rumph said in a media call after the game. “This week is a time to take a deep breath, reset, figure out what we’ve got to do better.”
Maybe Duke and N.C. State should only play once a decade. This game was a mess, full of penalties, miscues, mistakes, dirty plays and one very ugly injury.
But their first meeting since 2013 and N.C. State’s first win against Duke since 2008, 31-20 on Saturday, also represented, almost exactly, the directions these two programs are headed this season: The Wolfpack resilient and feisty — too feisty at times — the Blue Devils willing to fight but unable to surmount consistent issues at the most important position, the one position that shouldn’t be an issue on a team coached by quarterback guru David Cutcliffe.
N.C. State had to rally twice, once after a slow start and then again after losing quarterback Devin Leary in the third quarter to a nasty-looking ankle injury, the first comeback in 31 tries in Dave Doeren’s tenure from a double-digit deficit in an ACC game, according to ESPN. It was entirely in keeping with the way the Wolfpack has done things this season, rarely easy but often effective, as it was against Wake Forest, against Virginia, against Pittsburgh.
(The no-show in Blacksburg against a Virginia Tech team missing a full defensive unit to COVID and quarantine remains, and will likely remain, the most inexplicable loss of the entire ACC season.)
• Joe Giglio, WRALSportsFan — NC State beats Duke but loses quarterback Devin Leary
It was the defense that was able to save NC State, which had won road games at Pittsburgh and Virginia. Duke led 10-0 and 17-7 with a blocked punt for a touchdown in the first quarter, first-half penalties and turnovers helping the Devils out.
State’s defense made Chase Brice (24 of 40, 190 yards) look ordinary. It picked off the Clemson transfer three times, the first two by Wilson.
A blocked punt by linebacker Vi Jones before the end of the first half was a key play for the Wolfpack. Down 17-7, Jones was able to break through and block a punt by Porter Wilson. Max Fisher scooped it up and returned it 8 yards for a touchdown.
Leary engineered the go-ahead touchdown before he left the game with the injury. He connected with Bam Knight for a 20-yard pickup and then hit Emeka Emezie for a 36-yard gain.
• Sammy Batten, Fayetteville Observer — NC State shakes off rocky start to turn back rival Duke
The Wolfpack endured a rash of mistakes -- both mental and physical -- that allowed the Blue Devils to hold the advantage through most of the first three quarters. But big plays on special teams and defense eventually allowed N.C. State to stage a rally that resulted in a 31-20 Atlantic Coast Conference victory.
A blocked punt for a touchdown at the end of the first half, a goal-line stand that denied Duke a touchdown on a fourth-down play at the 1-yard line, and an interception -- the latter two plays occurring in the third quarter -- gave the Wolfpack a fourth win in five games.
The triumph should lift N.C. State (4-1) in the national Top 25 rankings where it finished just two places out a week ago.
Before celebrating, however, the Wolfpack had to recover from giving up a touchdown after a blocked punt, committing two fumbles and an interception and racking up 106 yards in penalties in the first half.
“It wasn’t a rah-rah talk in there (at halftime),’’ N.C. State coach Dave Doeren said. “It was very matter of fact. We’ve had eight penalties for 106 yards and a blocked punt for a touchdown. The difference is we are beating us. If you guys play football and quit being idiots, we’ll win. They needed to step up and they did.’’
• Aaron Beard, Associated Press — NC State defeats Duke 31-20, visits North Carolina next
N.C. State shut down Duke in the second half and pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 31-20 victory at Carter-Finley Stadium.
The Wolfpack, winning its third straight going into a game Saturday at North Carolina, improved to 4-1 in the ACC and overall. State's only loss came at Virginia Tech on Sept. 26.
“I think our confidence is really high,” Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said. “We handle adversity well. There isn’t any flinch."
The Wolfpack lost starting quarterback Devin Leary to an injury in the second half. Leary completed 14 of 24 passes for 194 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
Leary took a hard hit on a keeper from Duke’s Lummie Young, who was ejected for targeting, and Leary’s leg bent awkwardly beneath him.
Leary had to be carted off with an aircast around his lower left leg with 55 seconds left in the third. He offered a thumbs-up, then later returned to the sideline on crutches and wearing a protective boot.
Doeren didn't offer specifics on Leary's injury, saying: “It doesn’t look like we’ll have him for a while.”
• Jaylan Harrington, Technician —NC State linebacking corps leads Pack to huge win
Concerningly though, its defense had been on the field for many more snaps than the offense. Given the lack of depth in the secondary and the key players missing, no one would’ve been surprised if the unit fell apart in the second half, as it was prone to do last year, but it came out of the locker room even stronger, shutting the Blue Devils out in the second half, led by Doeren’s pick to don the No. 1 jersey.
“Isaiah Moore was great at being a vocal leader telling us to keep our head on,” Wilson said. “The score’s 0-0, that’s how we look at every drive, every series it’s a 0-0 mentality.”
That leadership from Moore paid off. NC State’s defense rallied and held Duke to just 54 yards in the third quarter, and while it gave up 103 in the fourth, that was at just 4.7 yards per play. That leadership also rubbed off on the younger players in his unit. With Leary injured and the offense sputtering with Hockman under center, Isaiah Moore injured his leg in the fourth quarter. Sophomore linebacker Jaylon Scott entered the game, picked Brice off and returned it 17 yards to give the Wolfpack solid field position.
Almost every meaningful play made on Saturday involved a linebacker, and that should come as no surprise. This unit has come up big time and time again for NC State, and for the Wolfpack, it’s essential that its fastball always delivers. The defense had some tough games to start the year, but it’s now rounding into form, led by its best players.
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