Good teams can win ugly, and No. 14 NC State football proved it was a good team in a 19-17 victory over the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday, Oct. 8.
The Wolfpack (5-1, 1-1 ACC) leaned on a resilient second-half defense to adjust to quarterback Jordan Travis and the Seminoles (4-2, 2-2 ACC). Led by 14 tackles from junior linebacker Drake Thomas, the Pack defense limited the Noles to 93 total yards in the second half after surrendering 294 in the opening 30 minutes.
“[The defense] fixed the things that were physical, which was tackling and getting out of our gaps; that happened multiple times in the game,” said head coach Dave Doeren. “We adjusted a few things design wise, disguise wise, and the guys executed, and then we made plays. Guys broke up passes, guys got to the quarterback.”
The offense faced a myriad of adversities, most notably a major injury to redshirt junior quarterback Devin Leary. In the latter half of the third quarter, Leary got hit hard as he let the ball fly and stayed down well after the pass fell incomplete, eventually getting escorted to the tunnel. He did not re-enter the game, but returned to the sideline with a sling on his throwing arm.
“There was nothing on the X-ray; that was clean,” Doeren said. “The MRI will tell us if it’s anything else. Hopefully it’s just a muscle strain and we’ll have him back soon … He’s a competitive dude; he wanted to be out there.”
The Wolfpack came out flat in the first half, only putting up three points and 133 total yards. However, NC State came out swinging after halftime.
On the opening drive of the third quarter, Leary connected with junior receiver Keyon Lesane for 25 yards, which was followed by a 16-yard run from sophomore running back Demie Sumo-Karngbaye. Finally, a 10-yard touchdown strike from Leary to graduate receiver Darryl Jones cut FSU’s lead to 17-10.
When Leary was sidelined, graduate quarterback Jack Chambers suddenly found himself under center in one of the most crucial drives of the season thus far. Chambers got the job done on the ground, rushing for 39 yards on seven carries as graduate kicker Chris Dunn knocked in three more field goals in the second half to put the Pack in front.
“[My teammates] came up and were like ‘Hey, we got you. Do what you’ve been doing for 12 years since you’ve been playing football,’” Chambers said. “[They were] joking around, keeping it cool and light. They knew I’ve played a lot of football, I just gotta go in there and play my game.”
The secondary stepped up in the big moments down the stretch, picking off Travis in each of Florida State’s final two drives. After Dunn hit a go-ahead 27-yard field goal with 6:33 to play, redshirt sophomore cornerback Shyheim Battle wasted no time in nabbing the Pack’s first interception of the night. When the Seminoles drove down to the Pack’s 24-yard line with less than a minute left, sophomore nickelback Devan Boykin iced the game with a crucial pick on a lob to the end zone.
“We knew that they weren’t going to leave it up to the kicker, that they were going to try and take a shot in the endzone,” Boykin said. “They had scored earlier on that same route, so I kind of knew they were gonna go back to it.”
NC State came out on top thanks to special teams play as well. While Dunn went 4-for-4 with a long of 53 yards, Florida State committed a costly gaffe early in the fourth quarter.
On a designed punt play, FSU punter Alex Mastromanno tucked the ball and ran, but quickly changed his mind and punted anyway. However, since Mastromanno was past the line of scrimmage by the time he punted, the play resulted in an illegal forward pass and a loss of down, allowing the Pack to take over from the Seminoles’ 13-yard line. Dunn finished off the drive with a field goal to cut the deficit to 17-16.
The Pack will look to build on this win when it takes on the Syracuse Orange on Saturday, Oct. 15. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m.
