LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY — The NC State football team bounced back from last year’s disappointing loss in a massive way, with a 52-10 victory over Louisville at Cardinal Stadium Saturday.
After a slow start, the Wolfpack (7-3, 4-3 ACC) built a 17-3 lead by halftime before pouring it on in the second half against the Cardinals (2-9, 0-8 ACC).
“I’m really proud of our guys,” head coach Dave Doeren said. “It’s a good win anytime you can win on the road in the ACC.”
After falling behind early, the Wolfpack responded with a well-executed 10-play, 76-yard drive, capped off by a 25-yard touchdown throw from graduate quarterback Ryan Finley to junior wide receiver Kelvin Harmon. That throw moved Finley into second all-time at NC State in career passing yards behind Philip Rivers.
“That’s pretty awesome,” Doeren said. “When you talk about the four quarterbacks that have played here, for him to be able to do that.”
Harmon finished the game with the game with seven catches for 100 yards and became the third wide receiver in school history with back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons, along with Jerricho Cotchery and Torry Holt.
“It’s a blessing,” Harmon said. “Just being around the guys that made it happen two years in a row. My coaches trust in me from last year to this year to put me in position to make it, everybody. [Graduate receiver Stephen Louis] for one, [Wide receivers coach George McDonald], everybody. It’s just a blessing.”
In the second quarter, freshman kicker Chris Dunn made a 23-yard field goal before senior running back Reggie Gallaspy ran for a 1-yard touchdown with less than a minute left in the half. That score gave the Wolfpack a 17-3 lead at half.
“We got fired up at halftime,” Gallaspy said. “We knew we could put the game away if we got the run game going. We took the challenge and we executed.”
Junior defensive end James Smith-Williams forced a fumble on the first Louisville drive of the second half. It was recovered by redshirt freshman linebacker Isaiah Moore and two plays later, Gallaspy scored his second touchdown of the day, this one an 18-yarder.
Later in the third quarter, the Pack had a two-play drive that ended with sophomore Emeka Emezie shaking two defenders and getting into the end zone to finish a 12-yard play. The Pack went up 31-3 at that point and it was all routine from there.
Less than four minutes later, Finley found Gallaspy out of the backfield for a 6-yard touchdown pass. Gallaspy had 11 carries for 73 yards and two touchdowns, plus another one through the air. It was 38-3 at that point and the Wolfpack took that lead into the fourth quarter.
Finley threw his fourth touchdown of the day to redshirt junior Jakobi Meyers early in the fourth quarter to give NC State a 45-3 lead. Finley finished the day 26 of 36 for 316 yards and four touchdowns.
The Wolfpack scored 45 straight points before the Cardinals finally responded on a 20-yard run from quarterback Malik Cunningham.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Matt McKay took over for Finley and led a nice drive down the field. Graduate running back Brady Bodine capped the drive with a one yard run on fourth down to get in the end zone.
“It was fun watching him play,” Finley said. “He ran for a first down, he checked into the QB sneak. He had some great throws, he had a nice scramble and throw to Kelvin. It was fun to watch him play, he marched us right down.”
NC State returns to action next Saturday as it travels to Chapel Hill to take on the Tar Heels with a 12:20 kickoff.
Graduate quarterback Ryan Finley goes back to throw. Finley was 26-36 for 316 yards, giving him 9,753 career passing yards moving him into second place in school history. The Wolfpack dominated Louisville 52-10 on Saturday, Nov. 17 in Cardinal Stadium.
