Special teams. Special plays. Special players.
All three contributed to NC State football’s 21-11 win over Florida State on Friday, clinching bowl eligibility for the 11th time in 13 years. The Wolfpack has now won the last four meetings between the two teams, and FSU has not won in Raleigh since 2016.
And the Wolfpack didn’t just win because it played cleaner — it won because it took advantage of the night’s strangest and most timely moments.
Special teams
The Wolfpack’s special teams unit turned chaotic breaks into decisive momentum — starting with one of the most bizarre punts Carter-Finley has ever seen.
With under four minutes left, redshirt senior punter Caden Noonkester’s kick ricocheted off the helmet of a Seminole special teamer and bounced 20 yards the opposite way towards the line of scrimmage, straight back to him. He frantically fell on it, giving NC State a fresh set of downs and an opportunity to close the game.
Caden Noonkester punt. Caden Noonkester fumble recovery!#1Pack1Goal pic.twitter.com/HYrTLyb7MT
— NC State Football (@PackFootball) November 22, 2025
“I watched the ball hit their player’s helmet and bounce towards me, and I guess instinct took over,” Noonkester said. “I thought I could get there before their guy and, apparently, I did.”
The Pack didn’t capitalize on the drive, going three-and-out, but the chaos wasn’t over. On the ensuing punt, the Seminoles muffed the catch inside their own 20-yard line, which the Wolfpack once again recovered. Four plays later, senior tight end Justin Joly found the end zone for the game-winning score.
The Seminoles also left six crucial points on the field with two missed field goals of 35 and 51 yards, which loomed large.
Special plays
While the two punt blunders held the most weight, Joly’s 12-yard touchdown with just 1:47 remaining sealed the night. The semifinalist for the Mackey Award — given to the best tight end in the nation — finished with five catches for 66 yards and the touchdown to ice the game for the Wolfpack.
Who else ♂️#1Pack1Goal pic.twitter.com/XZ9XKoFN21
— NC State Football (@PackFootball) November 22, 2025
NC State also dialed up a key fake punt on fourth-and-1, with Noonkester motioning out wide and freshman quarterback Will Wilson powering ahead to move the chains.
“Scared money can’t make money,” said head coach Dave Doeren. “You get in a game like that and you’ve got to be aggressive.”
Redshirt junior corner Jackson Vick also had a massive hit in the first quarter, setting the defensive tone — and nearly getting him ejected.
“Thank God they didn’t give him a targeting [penalty] because we didn’t have anyone else to put in the game,” Doeren said. “I don’t know what we would have done there.”
Special players
While sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey and Joly could fit this section seamlessly, the night belonged to senior cornerback Devon Marshall.
Marshall intercepted two passes, broke up five more and effectively shut down Florida State’s top target, Duce Robinson, whom he shadowed throughout the game, becoming the first Wolfpack defender with that stat line since David Amerson in 2011. A third-down breakup in the end zone in the first quarter forced a field goal — a sequence that changed the course of events.
Doeren called it a “hell of a performance,” a praise his teammates echoed.
“‘Six played his tail off tonight,” said graduate linebacker Caden Fordham. “Definitely helped us a ton. He’s a vet. He stepped up and helped us out a lot.”
Wilson also provided one of the game’s quietest but most important shifts on his short-yardage packages, converting two third downs and the fake punt before punching in a touchdown on the same drive.
Will Wilson punches it in!#1Pack1Goal pic.twitter.com/YJHnnPIZiQ
— NC State Football (@PackFootball) November 22, 2025
In a game featuring bonks, muffs, fakes and about every shade of college-football weirdness, the Wolfpack didn’t win a blooper reel game, but a real one with real consequences. In the end, NC State got the kind of breaks this sport loves to deal out of nowhere.
“There are all kinds of bounces in games, and sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don’t,” Doeren said. “It’s good to finally get a couple bounces.”
