CLEMSON, SOUTH CAROLINA — NC State football’s undefeated season and hopes for an ACC title came to a screeching halt Saturday afternoon, as Clemson ran the Wolfpack out of Memorial Stadium in Clemson with a 41-7 victory.
The No. 16 Wolfpack (5-1, 2-0 ACC) got wholly out-played by the No. 3 Tigers (7-0, 4-0 ACC), who took control of the game early and never let go. Tigers’ freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence played the best game of his young career, going 26 for 39 with 308 yards and one touchdown.
“I thought we were going to play a heck of a game and we didn’t,” head coach Dave Doeren said. “It just kind of got away from us. We couldn’t get in a rhythm. Third down was really hard for us today. Offensively, it’s been a strength for us and it wasn’t today.”
Tigers’ running back Travis Etienne continued to score in bunches, punching in three touchdowns to go along with 39 yards rushing. Receiver Tee Higgins had a career game as well for Clemson, snagging eight catches for 119 yards and a touchdown. NC State had little success putting pressure on Clemson and getting to Lawrence in the pocket.
“They played a good game,” senior defensive end Darian Roseboro said. “They was getting the ball out pretty fast. We’ve just got to make plays. We’ve just got to do our job. We’ve just got to be better.”
For the Wolfpack, nothing went right. Graduate quarterback Ryan Finley had his worst game of the season, completing 21 of 34 pass attempts for just 156 yards while throwing two interceptions and fumbling the ball once.
The Pack offense never found its rhythm, and was out-gained by nearly 200 yards in the game. NC State’s lone touchdown was a 9-yard rush by senior Reggie Gallaspy Jr. in the fourth quarter.
“For us, rhythm’s important on offense and we didn’t have any,” Doeren said.
This loss marked the seventh straight for the Wolfpack against the Tigers, which ties the longest winning streak for either team in Textile Bowl history. The previous two installments of the series resulted in heartbreaking losses down the stretch for NC State. This one was different, as the Pack was never in it.
“If you look at the past two years, we were executing,” graduate center Garrett Bradbury said. “We beat ourselves way too many times tonight. If we want to win coming here, we can’t beat ourselves. We did that from the first snap of the ball.”
The Tigers got started early Saturday, marching the ball down the field with relative ease to take a 7-0 lead after their first drive. Clemson returned the opening kickoff up to the 43-yard line, and scored just nine plays later on Etienne’s first score of the day.
Clemson doubled its lead two drives later, as Lawrence connected with Higgins for a 46-yard touchdown. Higgins burned Pack junior cornerback Nick McLoud for the touchdown, a matchup he would take advantage of all game.
The Tigers took advantage of some Wolfpack mistakes in the second quarter, scoring a touchdown and a field goal on drives started with NC State turnovers. Finley fumbled a snap in Clemson territory to lose the ball, and the Tigers drove down the field and scored on Etienne’s second touchdown.
“It was pretty self-inflicted,” Bradbury said. “From my perspective, we just weren’t executing. We couldn’t get in a rhythm. We didn’t come out and start comfortable like we talked about the last few weeks. All we were talking about was if we execute we would win the game. We didn’t execute. It’s on us completely.”
Towards the end of the opening half, Finley threw an interception to K’Von Wallace that was returned 50 yards up to the Pack 4-yard line. The Tigers got a field goal to enter halftime with a 24-0 lead.
Etienne picked up his third touchdown of the game to make it 31-0 in the third quarter, after Clemson took over with great field position after a failed fake-punt attempt by the Wolfpack.
NC State got its lone touchdown of the game from Gallaspy early in the fourth quarter, on a 9-yard run to the outside. The Pack showed some offensive ability for the first time in the game on the drive, marching 75 yards down the field for the score.
Clemson answered with a field goal, and added a touchdown later in the quarter with its backups in the game. Running back Lyn-J Dixon punched it in from 2 yards out to make it 41-7.
The Wolfpack won’t have much time to mend its wounds, as another tough ACC road trip awaits it next weekend. NC State will travel to Syracuse next Saturday, looking to get back on track.
“At the end of the day, we’re 5-1,” Bradbury said. “We just lost to a good football team. We’ve got half of our season ahead of us. No pouting. Heads up.”
Redshirt junior wide receiver Jakobi Meyers looks for and gets a facemask penalty called against Clemson on Saturday, Oct. 20 in Clemson Memorial Stadium. Meyers had a team-high 8 receptions for 61 yards during the 41-7 loss.
