The NC State football team lost 27-23 to Wake Forest on a last-minute touchdown Thursday night, which was also senior night for the Wolfpack. This was the first home loss by the Pack to Wake Forest since 2006, and ended the impressive undefeated home record the Pack had this season.
The Wolfpack (6-3, 3-3 ACC) scored just one touchdown on five trips to the red zone. Junior receiver Kelvin Harmon was the lone bright spot against the Demon Deacons (5-5, 2-4 ACC), with a career-high 15 catches for 134 yards.
“Very disappointing,” head coach Dave Doeren said. “I thought we prepared well, but you get in the red zone as many times as we did in the first half and only get 13 points and you can’t put the game away when you had the chance there at the end.”
With a chance to put the game away, graduate Ryan Finley led the offense down the field, all the way down to the Deacs 20 yard line. This was partially due to Harmon’s 12th and 13th catches, breaking his previous reception record, and a crucial hands to the face penalty on lineman Zeek Rodney. However, the Pack was unable to convert yet again, and had a turnover on downs after the team went for it on fourth down.
With a minute and a half left in the game, Wake Forest received the ball down 23-20. Quarterback Jamie Newman completed a slew of passes to receivers Greg Dortch and Sage Surratt before quickly finding tight end Jack Freudenthal for a 32-yard touchdown to give the Deacons their first lead of the game, 27-23.
With the game on the line with 21 seconds left, Finley had a chance to throw a hail mary at the very end, but ended the game with an interception on the deep pass instead.
However, drops were not the only cause of the loss. The run game was only able to muster 47 rushing yards, and had many situations where they were stopped up and tackled for loss.
“We rushed 27 times for 47 yards and in a game where you had a lead,” Doeren said. “But it was a variety of things we weren’t doing well and not executing and picking up things they were doing.”
Whenever the Pack would get anything going on the ground, the drops would kick in and vice versa.
On a drive in the third quarter, the Pack started with great position at the Wake 42-yard line. Finley hit redshirt junior receiver Jakobi Meyers for a great catch and senior running back Reggie Gallaspy had a solid 15 -yard run that helped bring the Pack to the end zone, only for sophomore Cary Angeline to drop the ball in the end zone on a wide-open pass from Finley.
The secondary also struggled in one-on-one coverage tonight, allowing for big gains for a first-time starter at quarterback in Newman. Newman finished the game with 297 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Newman is a third-string quarterback that the Pack corners should have had the advantage on, but instead they allowed 109 yards to Surratt, 75 yards and a touchdown Dortch and 59 yards and a touchdown to Alex Bachman.
“There were a couple explosive plays. That’s the difference between winning and losing in close games like this,” redshirt senior safety Dexter Wright said. “We couldn’t keep them from making those plays. We’ve got to come back and regroup next week.”
Despite not being able to convert in the red zone, the Pack was able to get points on the board thanks to freshman kicker Christopher Dunn, who accounted for nine of NC State’s 23 points. However, the team simply should have been able to convert at least one of their red zone attempts, as that would have presumably led to a win.
The Wolfpack recorded six drops against Wake Forest. Two were from sophomore receiver Emeka Emezie, two from redshirt sophomore receiver C.J. Riley, one from redshirt sophomore tight end Angeline in the red zone and one from redshirt junior receiver Jakobi Meyers.
Despite having a drop, Meyers was one of the silver linings from an otherwise ugly loss. He finished with 117 yards and a highlight reel one-handed catch in double coverage that set up a Pack first down, that eventually led to an Emezie touchdown.
Emezie’s redemption for his infamous goal line fumble came on a 35-yard catch that led him into the end zone and gave the Wolfpack a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter.
Otherwise, this was a dismal loss for the Pack. Squandering a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter against an inferior opponent at home is inexcusable. NC State now has no shot at a New Year’s Six Bowl or going undefeated at home for the first time since 1986.
NC State will be back in action at Louisville next week, looking for a bounce-back performance.
“I’m disappointed,” Doeren said. “I wanted to be undefeated at home. It’s going to sting. We’re going to feel it for a few days. This team’s not going to quit; these coaches aren’t going to quit. We’re going to work. We’ll try to finish 3-0, finish the season, get back to work, get back to executing. The next game’s going to be a big deal. We’ll make a big deal out of getting better. All the people that were praising us are going to say what they say and we’ve got to focus on getting better. This team won’t quit.”
NC State Football heads back to their locker room disappointed on Thursday, Nov. 8 in Carter-Finley Stadium. The Wolfpack missed many chances to score resulting in a 27-23 loss to Wake Forest.
