NC State doubled its total ACC wins from last year with Saturday’s thrilling 30-29 victory at Pittsburgh. Between some key performers on both the offensive and defensive sides, here are some key takeaways from the win:
What’s Devin Leary’s ceiling?
The Devin Leary we saw against Pitt was the best quarterback NC State put on the field since Ryan Finley, with his ability to avoid turnovers and his accuracy and timing on medium and long throws. Outside of struggles in the third quarter, the redshirt sophomore quarterback turned in a complete game. Over 60% completion rate, 300-plus yards, four touchdowns, a game-winning drive — Leary did it all, and against one of the best defenses in the ACC.
The question now is, how much can he improve from this? Can he keep doing it? Leary has long been thought of as the next great NC State quarterback, but now it looks like that may be a reality. More realistically, can he consistently play well enough to make NC State’s offense truly balanced?
Cary Angeline, Emeka Emezie emerge as preferred targets
Going up against one of the best defenses in the ACC, it’s helpful for your quarterback to have receivers step up, and redshirt senior tight end Cary Angeline and senior receiver Emeka Emezie did just that. Both caught two touchdown passes from Leary, with Emezie becoming the first receiver to go past 100 yards in a single game this year. Having physical pass-catchers that provide large targets was huge, and Angeline, Emezie and even redshirt sophomore receiver Devin Carter will factor in heavily for NC State’s passing attack for the remainder of the season.
“Our receivers are strong, fast, big dudes,” Leary said after the game. “Coach Beck preaches to us all the time, ‘Just give our guys a chance.’ As long as they get a chance, we’re fortunate enough that they can make a play for us.”
Take a bow, Tanner Ingle
Lost in the glitz and glam of some of the offensive performers for NC State was junior safety Tanner Ingle. Ingle was already playing injured on Saturday, evidenced by the wrap on his hand, and went down at least three times during the game. Still, he couldn’t come out of the game. Take a look back at some of Pitt’s explosive plays during the second half and you’ll notice freshman safety Devan Boykin subbed in for Ingle during a number of them.
With sophomore safety Rakeim Ashford and redshirt freshman Khalid Martin inactive due to injuries, Boykin had to play and was an easy target. So Ingle stayed in the game as much as possible, led the team in tackles and had a huge pass break-up to save a touchdown as Pitt mounted its comeback in the third quarter. That type of leadership goes unnoticed, but it’s the backbone of NC State’s identity and it’s what wins games.
Defense needs to create turnovers
NC State entered Saturday with a minus-two turnover margin, three interceptions thrown against one recovered fumble. Doeren mentioned one of the keys coming into the game was winning the turnover margin, and the team almost did that with a pick-six by freshman safety Jakeen Harris. Harris jumped an out route and took the interception over 70 yards to the end zone, but targeting on the quarterback negated the play. While it was huge for NC State to record its first game without committing a turnover, the defense needs to create more turnovers if only to take pressure off itself.
Looking Forward
NC State currently heads the middle of the pack in the ACC, sixth in the standings. The question now is how far will this momentum take it? This week’s matchup will give us a pretty good idea. NC State ends its three-game road trip at Virginia, which is 1-1 coming off a loss to Clemson. The Cavaliers appear not to have missed a step after replacing Bryce Perkins with Brennan Armstrong, but this is a winnable game for the Wolfpack.
