The Miami Hurricanes raged into Raleigh determined to wreak havoc on NC State football.
Instead, the Wolfpack was ready for the incoming storm, shutting down the Hurricanes in a dominant 20-6 win under the lights at Carter-Finley Stadium.
Miami (6-3, 2-3 ACC) had previously been averaging 35.4 points per game, but NC State (6-3, 3-2 ACC) held the Canes to zero touchdowns and a mere six points, making it especially tough on Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke all night long. The Pack wasn’t flashy on offense, but made plays when it needed to, including a late 97-yard fourth quarter touchdown drive finish off Miami.
“It was a great team win,” said head coach Dave Doeren. “Defensively — four takeaways, a goal line stand. [We] battled, battled, battled and just made plays when we needed to. Offensively, we were opportunistic, beat ourselves a little bit with some penalties. And then when we needed to step up, we did.”
Doeren’s victory — the first of his career against Miami — earned him the title of winningest coach in NC State football’s history. With 78 wins and counting, Doeren has now beaten every single active ACC team.
“It’s great to own that record,” Doeren said. “Very proud of all of the coaches that have been here with me throughout this and the players that have been here with me throughout this.”
The Hurricanes and the Wolfpack entered a hotly contested fourth quarter with neither side producing on offense, and NC State only held a slim 10-6 lead. Miami barreled its way down to the NC State 3-yard line and got in position to take the lead. However, redshirt junior cornerback Shyheim Battle made a crucial play when he tackled Miami running back Mark Fletcher Jr. in the backfield on fourth down and short.
Battle’s fourth-down grit was reflective of the Pack’s entire night on defense. Besides terrorizing Van Dyke with three interceptions and a strip sack, the Wolfpack defense forced stop after stop against a dangerous Miami offense. The unit’s bend-but-don’t-break mentality resulted in multiple redzone stops, and it was led by none other than star graduate linebacker Payton Wilson.
“All 11 guys out there on that defense think they’re the best player on the field, if not in the nation — every single snap,” Wilson said. “And the confidence that we play with and the love that we play with is unmatched.”
The fourth-down stop put the Pack on its own 3-yard line. Based on its recent drives that half, there was no expectation of a productive result. However, sophomore quarterback MJ Morris and company picked the perfect time to put together the Pack’s best drive of the game. The offense engineered a backbreaking 97-yard drive to drive the final stake into the visiting Hurricanes.
Backed up into his endzone, Morris got to work. A clutch third-down catch by freshman receiver Kevin Concepcion and a 15-yard run by graduate quarterback Brennan Armstrong kept the drive alive, eventually setting up freshman running back Kendrick Raphael’s first career touchdown. Raphael found an open lane and bounced off a Miami defender on his way to a 31-yard touchdown run to put the Pack up two scores.
With mere minutes left on the clock, Miami had a chance to get back in it. However, Wilson and the defense had a few more stops in them. Van Dyke rifled a pick right into the waiting hands of junior nickel back Devan Boykin and soon after, NC State capitalized with a field goal to seal the win.
The Hurricanes earned one final possession, but freshman cornerback Brandon Cisse rubbed salt in Van Dyke’s wound, picking off the Miami signal-caller on the final play of the game. By the end of the night, defensive coordinator Tony Gibson’s defense forced a whopping four turnovers, one of which was a key first half redzone interception by junior cornerback Aydan White.
“Coach Gibson let us ball out, let us do our thing so we can play free, play fast,” White said. “And when you keep getting three outs, keep getting stops, when they get to the red zone, they can’t score — like, that’s fun. What can they do?”
Miami had no answers for Gibson and Doeren’s stingy defense. Despite all the turnovers, though, Wilson stole the show. He was by far the best player on the field, tallying a season-high sixteen tackles that included a tackle for loss.
Not only was the captain of the defense flying around making tackles, he hounded Van Dyke in coverage. Wilson recorded two pass breakups and nearly grabbed another interception for the second straight week.
“[Wilson’s] a monster,” White said. “I got nothing else to say. He knows what he’s doing. He works; he’s a hard worker. That boy’s a dog, for real.”
To start the game, NC State jumped out to a 7-3 lead with its only other productive drive of the night. After a 36-yard pop pass to Concepcion, Morris found a wide-open redshirt sophomore running back Jordan Poole for a 13-yard score. Poole, who recently made the switch from linebacker to running back just weeks ago, emotionally rumbled into the endzone in his first offensive touch of the season and his first collegiate touchdown.
“It’s really a surreal experience,” Poole said. “I’ve been playing offense for two weeks. I’m truly happy I can help the team, happy the coaches trust me enough to really give me an opportunity.”
Miami scored its final points of the night on a late second quarter field goal. From there on, NC State put on a defensive masterclass, shutting out Van Dyke and the Canes thanks to a fearless and tough mentality.
“The energy that they play with, the toughness that we’ve been playing with these last two weeks, I mean, it’s unmatched,” Wilson said. “I don’t think anyone in the country can match it, and if we just stay on that page, if everybody has that mentality of, ‘I want to make every single play,’ you can’t go wrong.”
After back-to-back home wins, NC State will hit the road for its next two games against Wake Forest and Virginia Tech. The Pack will travel to Winston-Salem to face Wake Forest on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. on the CW network.
