The NC State football team knows a thing or two about heartbreaking losses. Add Saturday’s matchup with the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Belk College Kickoff Game at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte to the list. The team fell 35-28, with a thrilling fourth-quarter rally falling just short.
This was, simply put, a game the Pack (0-1) gave away. Redshirt junior quarterback Ryan Finley had his best game in a Wolfpack uniform, setting a school record with 45 completions on 64 attempts, adding a whopping 415 passing yards and two touchdowns. Senior all-purpose back Jaylen Samuels tied a school record with 15 catches, along with 85 yards and a score. The team outgained South Carolina (1-0) on total offense 504 yards to 246.
And yet, thanks to two turnovers, allowing the opening kick to be returned for a touchdown, a missed 29-yard field goal and multiple big plays surrendered on defense, the Pack walked away from this one with a loss.
“Turnovers, there’s no excuse,” head coach Dave Doeren said. “There isn’t. It’s a skillset we work on every single day. And as a staff, when you look at how we’re coaching it, first thing we do in practice everyday is a turnover circuit on both sides of the football. So, it is something that is focused on.”
The mistakes started early for the Pack, as South Carolina wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who finished with 83 yards receiving three total touchdowns took the opening kick back 97 yards for an early 7-0 Gamecocks lead.
NC State responded, marching the ball 75 yards down the field on 14 plays, culminating in a six-yard rushing touchdown for Finley.
“I think we were just executing [in the first half],” Finley said. “Doing our job. I think we had a great gameplan, tempo definitely hurt them early. Hats off to them for bouncing back and defending us down the stretch. We had two opportunities to get touchdowns and we couldn’t come up with any points.”
The Gamecocks struck right back, taking a 14-7 lead on a 34-yard strike from quarterback Jake Bentley, who completed 17 of 29 passes for 215 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, to running back Rico Dowdle, who the Wolfpack’s secondary completely lost in coverage, leaving him a wide-open path to the end zone.
The Pack had the answer once again, going 75 yards in 3:07, with junior running back Nyheim Hines capping it off with a two-yard carry over the goal line to knot the game at 14.
The Pack could not capitalize on its defense’s first stop of the day, as redshirt junior wide receiver Stephen Louis fumbled, setting the Gamecocks up at the Wolfpack 40. South Carolina’s offense capitalized, with Samuel picking up his second score of the game on a six-yard pass from Bentley for a 21-14 lead.
“I just asked everyone in the room is that our best, and they said no,” Doeren said. “I said that’s what we’ve got to figure out. How to make that one, two, three, four more plays when we’re in position to make them and as coaches we think of everything we do and we own it together. There isn’t a player that’s at fault, there isn’t a coach. It’s everybody in the room all the time. We win, we lose together as a program.”
Senior safety Shawn Boone came up with a huge play for the Pack on South Carolina’s final drive of the half, sacking Bentley for a 9-yard loss on third and five to force the Gamecocks to punt. The Pack took advantage, going 79 yards down the field in 1:38, finished off by a 4-yard pass from Finley to redshirt sophomore wideout Jakobi Meyers to tie the game at 21 going into the half.
The Gamecocks struck first in the second half, as redshirt senior cornerback Johnathan Alston completely lost Samuel down the field, as he made an incredible one-handed catch on a 39-yard dart from Bentley for a 28-21 South Carolina lead.
“There were several plays during the game, when I go back and watch it and the guys go back and watch it, that you know, you make it,” Doeren said. “Like a one-handed catch was a great play that the receiver made, a phenomenal play, right? Well, there were some plays we could’ve made but didn’t.”
South Carolina defensive end Dante Sawyer then strip sacked Finley to set up the Gamecocks at the Wolfpack 13; they cashed in with a 7-yard touchdown run from Dowdle to make it a two-touchdown game.
The Pack’s defense came through late in the third quarter, forcing back-to-back three and outs. The Pack’s offense took advantage of excellent field position late in the third, and opened the fourth quarter with a 1-yard pass from Finley to Samuels on fourth and goal to make it 35-28. Hines featured prominently on the drive, rushing five times for 38 yards.
Alston redeemed himself for the earlier Samuel touchdown with two monumental plays in the fourth quarter, an interception on State’s 31-yard line and a sack of Bentley on third down to give the Pack excellent field position.
Despite three opportunities to tie the game in the final frame, the Pack could not cash in. Hines appeared to fumble on the final drive, but a lengthy review determined he was down by contact. The Pack drove to the goal line, and faced fourth and 10 with 15 seconds remaining, but Finley’s pass was broken up, and the Pack’s comeback attempt fell short.
“I thought we moved the ball really well,” Finley said. “At the end of the day though, you’ve just got to finish with touchdowns. You’ve got to finish in the redzone, we have to be 100 percent touchdowns in the redzone. We drive all the way down there, we’ve got to get in and get points.”
The Pack will return to Carter Finley Stadium next Saturday for a game against the Marshall Thundering Herd.
