Aggies’ run game too much for Wolfpack in Gator Bowl loss

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA — NC State football’s season ended with a whimper on New Year’s Eve, as the Pack surrendered 401 rushing yards and fell 52-13 to Texas A&M in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl at TIAA Bank Field.

The Aggies (9-4) outgained the Wolfpack (9-4) 548 yards to 303. Graduate quarterback Ryan Finley finished the final game of his college career completing 19 of 32 pass attempts for 139 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, and gave way to backup Matt McKay in the fourth quarter.

“I will tell you they were more physical than us and all these different things, and you can say we were missing players and all those different things,” head coach Dave Doeren said. “But the bottom line is they played better than we did, they coached better than we did, and I think that’s the biggest thing. Our program will have accountability for it. We’ll get back to work, and I look forward to getting back to work with these guys.”

The Pack came into the second half with the ball down by just eight points, but a 78-yard pick six by Finley with the Pack driving in Aggies territory delivered a gut punch to NC State and put the Wolfpack down 28-13.

“We got into a rhythm early, which was nice,” Finley said. “We were moving the ball and we were running the ball. We ran the ball really well at times. We just kind of had that costly pick, that pick six that really flipped the momentum, I thought. We can’t really have that.”

The Aggies then put it out of reach with a five-play, 82-yard scoring drive capped off by a 17-yard touchdown run from running back Trayveon Williams, who gashed NC State’s normally stout run defense for 236 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries.

He’s a really good player, he’s very shifty, he’s very fast,” senior defensive end Darian Roseboro said. “I also think it was mental errors on our part. You can’t make mental mistakes against a really good team like that.”

After a rough start that saw Aggies quarterback Kellen Mond score a 62-yard touchdown on the second play of the game, NC State grabbed momentum thanks to a couple key plays by the defense.

After a field goal from freshman kicker Chris Dunn, one of two on the day for him, put the Wolfpack on the board, the defense set up NC State’s only touchdown.

After Roseboro tipped a pass from Mond, senior defensive tackle Eurndraus Bryant picked it off at Texas A&M’s 27. Five plays later, the Pack took a 10-7 lead on a spectacular one-handed touchdown grab from redshirt sophomore wideout C.J. Riley.

After Dunn’s career-long 49 yarder extended the Wolfpack’s lead to 13-7, Texas A&M was driving in NC State’s territory with a chance to take the lead. The Aggies stalled out, however, and faced fourth and 1 from the NC State 27.

They opted to go for it, but Roseboro stuffed Williams and gave the Pack the ball back with the chance to extend its lead. The offense, however, went three and out, shifting momentum to the Aggies.

Texas A&M scored two touchdowns before halftime to take a 21-13 lead, and never looked back.

“It hurts,” Doeren said. “They jumped out on us. Our guys rallied us back into the game. Chris Dunn made a couple of kicks. C.J. made a nice touchdown catch and the defense had a stop. We just weren’t able to make that a score on that drive. Like I said, we went into halftime 21-13, coming out with the ball, felt good about it, and then we had a pick six, I think, in that drive, and things just kind of got away from us at that point in time, and we didn’t stop them defensively in the run game and offensively we couldn’t get anything going. You’ve got to give them credit in the second half. They outplayed us.”

Williams added insult to injury early in the fourth quarter with a 93-yard touchdown run to put the Aggies up 42-13, and Texas A&M capped the scoring with a late 35-yard field goal and another touchdown with 22 seconds left.

The loss concludes NC State’s 2018 season, as the Pack missed its chance at its first season with double-digit wins since 2002. The preparation begins for next season as the Pack will look to replace several key players, including Finley, Roseboro, Bryant, center Garrett Bradbury and running back Reggie Gallaspy Jr., as well as receiver Kelvin Harmon and linebacker Germaine Pratt, both of whom sat out the bowl game to prepare for the 2018 NFL Draft.

“The hardest part today to be honest, losing the game is hard, but losing these players is harder,” Doeren said. “You just build such relationships with them and you care so much about them, you hate to see them go out that way. I’m going to miss coaching those guys. They mean a lot to me. They’ve been here with me for a while.”

While this season did not end the way NC State wanted, a senior class that accomplished a lot goes out with back-to-back nine-win seasons and having elevated the program from where it was when they started.

“We would have been ecstatic five years ago to finish with nine wins,” Bradbury said. “We would have been celebrating in the locker room. It would have been amazing. And we’re all disappointed because we feel like we underachieved, to be honest. Just in terms of where it’s at, we talk a lot about leaving the jersey better than when you found it; that goes with position group, as well. Hoping the offensive line and guys can learn from this senior class and just be better next year, learn from the mistakes we made today and just keep moving this program forward, raising the standard, raising the bar.”