Here are some the thoughts from those who covered NC State Wolfpack football's 45-0 win over South Florida on Thursday evening.
• Matt Carter, TheWolfpacker.com — Column: It was a great night for some NC State Wolfpack football
The true measuring stick though is much more likely to come next Saturday when NC State will find out if that strength and athleticism can match up against an SEC opponent like Mississippi State on the road.
That’ll be the topic of discussion over the next week-plus, but Thursday night was about being back at The Carter, as it is affectionately known. NC State fans showed up, maybe not to capacity, but in strong numbers in their return after a year watching on the couches due to COVID-19.
The players notably fed off the energy.
“It means a lot to them to have the crowd that we did,” head coach Dave Doeren noted.
It was a reminder of what makes college football special. There is pageantry and tradition, like seeing the “Myrtle Beach Backs the Pack” sign on the east stands wall that was back in its familiar spot on Thursday.
The students section was strong, and it had to please Doeren to see them in full force at the start of the second half. The stands were a little slow to fill up to start the game, but that seemed far more likely due to long lines visible even in the press box than a late-arriving crowd.
It proved to be a rewarding night all around.
• Justin H. Williams, TheWolfpacker.com — Notebook: NC State bullies Bulls in season opener
NC State didn’t have to get too creative Thursday night. The Pack definitively controlled the line of scrimmage throughout the game, and it knew it.
That’s why there was no need to change the script.
Sure, redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary was afforded some deep-ball opportunities. But for the most part, the Wolfpack ran the ball right down South Florida’s throat whenever it wanted to. And there was nothing the Bulls could do about it.
“I love that brand of football,” Doeren said. “It's fun to see our offensive line and our tight end group play like that. The backs, they're so hard to tackle, and if you can get those guys started like that, a lot of good things are gonna happen.”
NC State collectively rushed for 293 yards. That’s 22 more than USF had in total.
A bulk of that production came from the Pack’s double-headed monster running back rotation of sophomore Zonovan “Bam” Knight and junior Ricky Person Jr.
Knight was a consensus first-team All-ACC selection this preseason, but it was Person that stole the show in the first half.
Person, who led State in rush attempts but not rushing yards last season, scored each of the Pack’s first three touchdowns.
On his first touch of the night, he reeled in a 33-yard touchdown pass from Leary off of a wheel route. It was his first of three catches, and he would finish the night with 43 receiving yards.
His next two scores came on the ground, both on gains of 11 yards.
In total, he gained 105 yards on 16 carries, good for 6.6 yards per carry.
“There's been a lot of talk in the offseason about Bam, and I know Ricky wants to prove how good he is as well,” Doeren said. “I thought he played really well.”
As the saying goes, talk is cheap.
The talk of the town all offseason was how good this N.C. State defense is supposed to be.
Ten starters back. The best linebackers in the ACC. The depth at secondary.
On paper, it all sounded good, but how would it look on game day?
As it turns out, maybe they are as good as advertised.
The N.C. State defense played lights out, helping the Wolfpack defeat South Florida, 45-0, in the season opener for both teams. Sure, the Bulls aren’t Clemson or North Carolina, but it was a respectable opponent to keep out the end zone.
Shutouts have been hard to come by, especially under Dave Doeren. It’s the fourth time a Doeren-led N.C. State team has pitched a shutout, the first since a 41-0 win over Western Carolina in 2019. The 45-point win was the sixth time a Doeren N.C. State team has beaten an opponent by 40 points or more.
The offense racked up 525 yards of total offense and had two backs — Zonovan Knight, Ricky Person, Jr. — rush for more than 100 yards. But the rare times the offense stalled, the defense stood tall.
“When you can play a game like we just did and shut a team out,” Doeren said. “Those are hard to get. Coach (Tony) Gibson (defensive coordinator) and the defensive staff, proud of those guys.”
Dave Doeren isn’t going to be happy about the number of N.C. State fans who decided not to return for the second half after making a plea for a “four-quarter crowd” the thrust of his weekly press conference on Monday.
Then again, not really giving the fans any compelling reason to come back for the rest of a never-in-doubt shutout win is a better problem to have.
It was clear at halftime that everything there was to see Thursday night had already been seen, including three touchdowns from Ricky Person and a smothering defensive performance that allowed South Florida only two decent plays of note.Dave Doeren isn’t going to be happy about the number of N.C. State fans who decided not to return for the second half after making a plea for a “four-quarter crowd” the thrust of his weekly press conference on Monday.
Then again, not really giving the fans any compelling reason to come back for the rest of a never-in-doubt shutout win is a better problem to have.
It was clear at halftime that everything there was to see Thursday night had already been seen, including three touchdowns from Ricky Person and a smothering defensive performance that allowed South Florida only two decent plays of note.
• David Thompson, Fayetteville Observer — NC State dominates in opener against South Florida
Head coach Dave Doeren said before the season began that Person and Zonovan 'Bam' Knight would share the load at running back this season.
Doeren stuck to his word in Week 1.
Person finished with 106 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns while Knight also carried the ball 16 times for 163 yards and a 46-yard score in the third quarter.
It was the first time since 2015 against South Alabama that N.C. State had two 100-yard rushers in a game.
"Knight and Person keep each other fresh," Doeren said. "You need to have two guys, if not three, to make it through the kind of contact they face."
The Wolfpack finished with 293 total rushing yards on 40 carries. Jordan Houston added a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.
The duo's production took the pressure off Leary, who showed some rust in the first half but finished with 232 passing yards with touchdown passes to Person and tight end Chris Toudle.
Senior Emeka Emezie led all receivers with five catches for 71 yards.
"Nothing bothers him (Leary)," Doeren said after the win. "He throws a touchdown, he's the same guy. He throws a pick, he's the same guy."
Brett Jones circled the parking lot outside Carter-Finley Stadium, searching for his tailgating spot that had remained vacant for the last 635 days.
Jones drives a unique vehicle, a renovated moving truck painted with N.C. State colors, Jimmy Valvano quotes, and equipped with dual big screens installed on the outer frame.
It's the flagship vehicle for a group of nearly 50 people — old college friends that have met at the same spot for the last two decades. There is, however, one important person missing from the crew.
Inside the truck hangs a picture of the vehicle's previous owner, Dustin Cantrell, who met Jones in the early 2000s when they both attended N.C. State. Cantrell died unexpectedly in June of 2019, suffering a pulmonary embolism that took his life before his 39th birthday.
His memory loomed large for Jones as Wolfpack football fans congregated outside Carter-Finley Thursday before the season-opener against South Florida.
"He was N.C. State all the way," Jones said. "It's really tough not to have him around today and we all miss him so much. But you know, If he was here, we'd be having the same good time that we're having now, and in that way, it feels like we're celebrating him, too."
Thursday was indeed a celebration.
• Joe Giglio, WRALSportsFan — Wolfpack impresses in opening romp
Let’s get this part out of the way: South Florida is not good.
The poor Bulls lost every American Athletic Conference game they played last season. Their record will not be much better this season.
That being said, NC State looked good on Thursday night in a 45-0 season-opening rout of USF.
Real good.
If the Wolfpack wants to go where only the 2002 team has gone — and reach the elusive double-digit win mark — it has to pound teams like USF.
As far as first tests go, the Wolfpack passes this one. With flying colors, or at least an all-charcoal uniform with illegible numbers.
That was the only complaint, the sartorial variety, from a night nearly two years in the making. With limited fans allowed in the stands last season, NC State’s 7-win ACC schedule went mostly admired from afar.
Actually, check that. Dave Doeren might complain that he didn’t get the “four-quarter” crowd that he had requested on Monday.
The sparse second-half attendance was more of a function of the quality of USF, and the lopsided score at the half.
But everything else came up aces for State.
• Jaylan Harrington, Technician — Ricky Person leads the Pack in rout of USF Bulls
What happened last year was a great opening day, with Person rushing for 99 yards and accounting for three touchdowns, but that ended up being his best performance of the year as he never came close to 100 yards rushing for the rest of the season. Later we learned Person had a shoulder injury which required surgery after the 2020 season, and which forced him out of spring ball.
That meant another forced hiatus from taking damage, and this one precipitated an explosion: his best college performance in a complete performance versus USF. Nineteen touches, 148 total yards and three touchdowns — all of those scores coming in the first half — as Person willed NC State to dominance in the Wolfpack’s running of the Bulls.
Whether it was catching wheel routes, taking snaps in the wildcat or boring, standard, rush attempts, success followed behind the Heritage product even as the run game struggled to begin the contest.
“He ran really hard, did some good things inside the tackles and outside of tackles and has a nose for the goal line for sure,” said head coach Dave Doeren postgame. “Him and Zonovan are each other's biggest fans and also competitive. I think they want to out-rush each other and out-gain each other and all these different things. I think there's been a lot of talk, in the offseason, about Bam and I know Ricky wants to prove how good he is as well.”
Message received loud and clear. Person and Knight looked less like a 1-2 combo and more like different flavors of death, running roughshod over USF’s defense. The high aspirations NC State has for its season began with an emphatic day from Person, who apparently loves the opening-day lights a bit more than the rest.
The true test, now, is for this performance to become the standard and not a flash of potential. Person said he’s approaching this year like it’s his last at NC State, and he might make that true. Though he was emotional after the game, he didn’t sound like someone amazed at the product he put on the field. If there’s more where that came from, the veteran’s in the right headspace to keep it coming.
• Kelly Quinlan, BullsInsider.com — NC State shuts out USF 45-0 in season opener
Year two of the Jeff Scott-era at South Florida did not get off to a great start as the Bulls got shutout by NC State 45-0 on Thursday night in Carter-Finley Stadium on regional TV. The game was closer then the score might indicate, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades and for coach Scott, the performance on the field was well below his expectations.
“I’m just really disappointed obviously we did not play our best or anywhere close to how we are capable of,” Scott said after the game. “All the things we talked about all preseason and all Fall Camp, unfortunately, showed up tonight. We had some key penalties several times when we had some stops and we had them in third and long and just gave them first downs for undisciplined crucial penalties. Then we had turnovers in the red zone and just never really felt like we could get in a rhythm. You can’t make those types of mistakes against a good team and my message to the team is that is 100-percent unacceptable.”
The Bulls had six penalties for 70 yards compared to just 3 for 25 for the Wolfpack. Several came at key moments. The defense also gave up 293 yards rushing on 40 carries and four rushing touchdowns. Zonovan Knight led all rushers with 163 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown while his running mate Ricky Person Jr. had 105 yards on 16 carries with two rushing touchdowns and another reception for a touchdown out of the backfield.
Scott said his defense was overworked and got overwhelmed by a good Wolfpack offense over the course of the game.
“I think they got off the field a few times early and that was part of the reason we had to make a change (at quarterback) because it wasn’t fair to the defense when we were going three and out and three and out. Unfortunately we have some guys that are out and that started to show a little bit later and we couldn’t put together any drives on offense and just kept putting the defense out there. When you do that against a team like NC State eventually they will breakthrough,” Scott said.
• Scott Purks, Tampa Bay Times — USF gets overwhelmed in opener at North Carolina State
It was a season opener that hurt even more considering what USF went through during the past year: first-year coach, followed by the pandemic, no spring practice, players opting out because of the coronavirus, outbreaks that wreaked havoc on the remaining roster, games canceled and a couple of players dismissed for disciplinary reasons.
In January, the Bulls began making a concerted push to improve on last season, something not lost on senior tight end Mitchell Brinkman.
“I don’t think (Thursday) represents what this team is about,” he said. “It’s frustrating, because I’ve seen all the work this team had put in. I hurt for my teammates and my coaching staff. We spent the last nine months trying to become better and doing all the right things we needed to do to get better. But I do believe we will get better from this.”
The Bulls barely get a chance to catch their breath, because on Sept. 11 No. 13 Florida comes to town.
“Most teams make their biggest improvement from Week 1 to Week 2,” Brinkman said. “That’s what we’re going to do. I really believe that.”
——
• Talk about it inside The Wolves' Den
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolfpacker
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolfpacker
• Like us on Facebook
