All things considered, NC State football played very well through its three-game (a matchup with West Virginia was postponed due to Hurricane Florence) non-conference schedule. Graduate quarterback Ryan Finley and his plethora of weapons performed as advertised, and the defense played sneaky good despite the losses from last year’s team.
The one complaint? The run game, missing last year’s leading rusher in Nyheim Hines, struggled mightily through three games. That changed in a 35-21 win over Virginia to open ACC play at Carter-Finley Stadium Saturday.
After averaging just 107.6 rushing yards per game (3.7 per carry) in its first three games, the Wolfpack rushed 39 times for 176 yards and a touchdown (4.5 yards per carry) Saturday.
“Now that we’re running the ball more effectively, it makes it even more challenging, I would say, for a defense,” head coach Dave Doeren said. “… We had to prove that we could do that and we did today. That obviously helps, when you can rush the football like that, 176 yards and they had less than 100 yards rushing. That’s a pretty good day.”
The biggest difference in the run game was the return of freshman running back Ricky Person. After playing sparingly in the season opener, Person missed the last two games as he continues to rehab a hamstring injury he suffered in fall camp. While he was still not at full strength Saturday, he decided to give it a go and finished with 14 carries for 117 yards (7.7 YPC).
“I wish I could tell you he’s full go,” Doeren said. “He’s not; he’s still not 100 percent. That’s as good as he’s felt in a while, he really wanted to play. Thursday, when we were trying to make a decision, are you going to play today, he said ‘Coach, I’m playing. There’s nothing you can do about it. …That kid’s a warrior. I gave him the game ball after the game. I thought he battled. I’m proud of him.”
Person showed off his elusiveness and speed Saturday, along with his ability to elude defenders for big gains. The Wake Forest native seems to have some of Hines’ homerun potential, and offers a good compliment to senior Reggie Gallaspy’s plodding, between-the-tackles running style.
“He’s a change of pace back and makes people miss; we’ve been missing that,” Doeren said. “You want that guy that can put his foot in the ground and change direction and he can do that.”
Person picked up big games throughout the game on Saturday, helping the Pack move the chains. Late in the second quarter, Person started a drive that culminated in a touchdown with three straight carries for a total of 55 yards. That drive put the Wolfpack up by 10, and Virginia would never get closer.
“It was a matter of getting into a rhythm,” Person said. “I started reading the defense real quickly, so it was a matter of sooner or later, it was going to pop.”
Person saved his best run for the fourth quarter, finding a hole and making a defender miss on the the way to a 38-yard run to set up the Pack at the Virginia 6-yard line. Two plays later, Finley’s pass to junior receiver Kelvin Harmon and a subsequent two-point conversion put the Pack up 35-14 and effectively sealed the win.
“That meant a lot,” Person said. “We [the running backs] have been taking a whole lot of criticism. From the internet, from everybody else just trying to say that we can’t run the ball. From the press conference from the other day, I believe it was from one of the virginia staff coaches or someone like that, we just played with a little chip on our shoulder. We were like, ‘Let’s show people that we can run the ball.’”
The run game helps the Pack run a balanced offense, and take some of the pressure off Finley and the Wolfpack’s vaunted passing attack.
“It’s awesome,” Finley said. “When you’re balanced like that, we’re deadly.”
Coming into ACC play, it looked like the one thing holding NC State back from potentially being a dominant team was that balance on offense and production from the run game. If the early indications of Person’s abilities are anything to judge by, that may no longer be the case.
