DURHAM, N.C. – One of the most frustrating realities in sports is when officials shape a game’s outcome.
In the second quarter of NC State’s loss to Duke on Saturday, redshirt sophomore running back Hollywood Smothers caught a swing pass and bulldozed through a safety into the endzone — or at least that was the call. The score was overturned — which was the correct and obvious call — even if the Wolfpack faithful showered the field with boos.
But when Vincent Anthony Jr. is fully across the line of scrimmage and CJ Bailey thinks — or better yet knows — he has a free play and no flag is called, all bets are off.
“From our sideline, I thought he was offside,” said head coach Dave Doeren. “From the ref’s standpoint, he wasn’t, and it’s not reviewable. It’s a tough play in the game. It’s fourth and three, we’re trying to get him to jump, and if they don’t, I was going to bang a timeout and kick a field goal. We weren’t even going to run a play right there.”
Playing from the Duke 24-yard line in the waning minutes of the first half, the Wolfpack was simply running a hard count. No playcall. Wide receivers Noah Rogers and Keenan Jackson weren’t even looking. When Anthony Jr. jumped, graduate center Jalen Grant had the green light to snap it and give his offense a new set of downs.
But no flag was thrown. Bailey didn’t notice and pitched it forward with his mind set on the rest of the drive. As a result, he had to watch — at minimum — a 10-point swing of the scoreboard and the Blue Devils inexplicably take a lead going into the half.
The Wolfpack had 157 more yards in the first half. It averaged 13.3 yards per play. It held the ball for nearly 18 minutes. Yet, it was down at the half.
Instead of commanding the momentum in its own rival’s stadium, the Wolfpack simply handed control of the game to the Blue Devils, and they never looked back. After a mere 149 yards, Duke had 150 in its opening two possessions, surmounting a two-possession lead that it never lost.
While Doeren acknowledged the play’s significance, he kept the emphasis on the internal factors.
“Definitely a momentum killer, but that’s a long game,” Doeren said. “There’s so many points throughout a game where you can swing it back, and we had our opportunities to do that. We scored, got within one possession, got a chance to stop them and give up a touchdown run, you know, and right there, if you stop them, you get the ball back, plenty of time to go win the football game. And we didn’t get it done.”
He’s completely right. A minus-four turnover margin will never win football games. Allowing 45 points is a backbreaker to an offense that scored five touchdowns. And to be frank, the field goal unit would’ve been out there to begin with if it hadn’t been so inconsistent — including missing an extra point just minutes before.
But there is no mistaking that the hard count fiasco was the pivot point of an absurd evening in Durham.
Without it, NC State was poised to add points before halftime and extend a lead that felt commanding — even larger than the score would’ve suggested. Instead, the Wolfpack handed Duke life. The interception return swung both the scoreboard and the Blue Devils’ belief, and they buried State with it in the second half.
“We knew we gave them that game,” Smothers said. “We had the lead. We just gotta finish, honestly, you know, not turn the ball over. It’s negative four in the turnover margin — it’s hard to win like that.”
Smothers’ words captured the reality: The Wolfpack did plenty to beat itself. But the play that flipped the night wasn’t a busted coverage like it was against ECU. It wasn’t a missed tackle like it was against Virginia. It was the moment when a sure-thing penalty went uncalled — and an entire game shifted because of it.
