With Hurricane Matthew in town and making his presence felt, the NC State football team braved out the storm en route to a 10-3 win against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Saturday in celebrating the 50th anniversary of Carter-Finley Stadium.
Uncharacteristically, it was a highly defensive matchup, thanks in part to the treacherous weather, as the Wolfpack (4-1, 1-0 ACC) gained 198 total yards, while the Fighting Irish (2-4) tallied just 113. Senior running back Matt Dayes accounted for over half of the Pack’s yardage and gained more than Notre Dame’s entire offense, tallying 126 yards on 23 carries. The only touchdown of the game came on a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown.
“Tough conditions to play in, but it was fun,” head coach Dave Doeren said. “Like I told the guys before the game, when we were little kids and it rained, we couldn’t wait to go play in the mud; that’s what boys do. That’s what we did today, and we were really thankful for that opportunity and proud of how they handled it.”
Weather played a huge factor for both teams, as Notre Dame sputtered on offense throughout the first quarter. While NC State got deep into enemy territory on both drives, sophomore Kyle Bambard had trouble kicking through the standing water that flooded the field, as he shanked a 31-yard field goal but squeezed in a 38-yarder just over the crossbar as the Pack led 3-0 after the first quarter.
“It’s probably one of the worst conditions I’ve ever played in,” Bambard said. “Toward the Murphy end of the field it was a lot worse. [It had] standing water, so to find a spot to put the ball down was a little difficult, and we struggled with that throughout warm ups.”
Surprisingly given the conditions, the first turnover didn’t occur until there were 10 minutes left in the half, as the ball simply slipped out of Notre Dame center Sam Mustipher’s hands on the snap, allowing junior B.J. Hill to recover. However, the Pack gave the ball right back to the Irish, as sophomore Nyheim Hines fumbled on a jet sweep.
“I don’t know if there’s sympathy [for Mustipher],” NC State graduate center Joe Scelfo said. “It’s a hard spot. It’s tough. I know how it is. I empathize with him.”
The game got even sloppier from there, as Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer threw an ugly interception to redshirt freshman Jarius Morehead, making it the third turnover in a 2:41 span. These were the most eventful three minutes of the quarter, as both teams failed to put points on the board for the remainder of the half.
“When I picked it off, it felt great,” Morehead said. “If I didn’t trip, that would’ve been to the crib.”
After lightning delayed that start of the second half, both teams once against struggled to get anything going offensively. Thanks to a pair of miscues by the Wolfpack offense and special teams, Notre Dame got the ball in great field position, capitalizing on one of the drives with a field goal to tie the game 3-3.
Searching for answers, NC State started swapping out redshirt sophomore quarterback Ryan Finley in favor for fellow classmate Jalan McClendon. It sparked some momentum for the Pack, as McClendon piled up 49 rushing yards on the drive to put the team in great scoring position. However, miscues were the story once again, as Finley fumbled the exchange on third down, and sophomore A.J. Cole muffed the snap on fourth down to blow the changes of a potential field goal, ending a promising drive with nothing to show for it.
As Notre Dame lined up to punt on the next drive, redshirt junior Pharoah McKever blocked the punt which was returned by redshirt sophomore Dexter Wright for the first touchdown of the day by either team, giving the Pack a 10-3 lead with 12:43 left in the game.
“A couple weeks ago, I got him on our punt return unit and rush up the A-gaps with his long arms for the reason that you saw today,” Doeren said. “We’re facing all those teams that rugby punt, so those balls are low. I asked him to reach around those shields if he could, and he did everything that was asked of him as best as he could.”
Late in the game, the Irish made a push, getting all the way down to the NC State 16-yard line. The Wolfpack defense held up as Notre Dame turned the ball over on downs, allowing the Pack to run out the clock from there.
The conditions were far from optimal, but NC State finished the game with possibly its biggest victory in the Doeren era. The Pack faces one of the most challenging two-game slates in the FBS, as it faces Clemson and Louisville on the road over the next two weeks.
Redshirt junior linebacker Jerod Fernandez and his teammates tackle a Notre Dame ballcarrier on Oct. 8, 2017 at Carter-Finley Stadium. In a hard fought game in the midst of Hurricane Matthew, the Wolfpack beat the Fighting Irish 10-3.
