Huntington, West Virginia — NC State football handled Marshall 37-20 on Saturday night in a complete team effort against a solid Herd squad.
The Pack (3-0) played an effective defensive game with three turnovers and contained many of Marshall’s (2-1) offensive weapons. On the other side, graduate quarterback Ryan Finley threw for 377 yards on 23 for 40 passing. Six passes found the hands of junior wide receiver Kelvin Harmon for 150 yards.
“I think there were a lot of distractions in their world last week,” head coach Dave Doeren said. “And it would’ve been easy to be off our game a little bit and I told them that was a concern and the guys rose to the occasion. I thought it was a really good team win.”
NC State opened the scoring in the first quarter with a 30-yard field goal from freshman kicker Christopher Dunn.
Redshirt freshman receiver Thayer Thomas was injured in the first half when he came down hard on his back after making a leaping catch. He walked off the field under his own power but did not return to the game.
After NC State’s third straight defensive stop, the Wolfpack put together another scoring drive. Finley started to find Harmon, who had three catches on the drive, including a 46-yard bomb that he ran down inside the five-yard line.
The drive was capped off by a one-yard touchdown run at the hands of senior running back Reggie Gallaspy Jr. for his third score of the season.
Marshall bounced back on offense immediately when its second play of the drive went for 80 yards and a touchdown to wide receiver Marcel Williams to bring the game within three points, 10-7.
Finley continued to sling the ball around the field, throwing for 64 yards and leading the offense to another field goal drive to extend the lead to 13-7. Sophomore receiver Emeka Emezie was on the receiving end of 41 of those yards.
After another defensive stop, Finley found Harmon for a gain of 38 yards to jump-start the drive. NC State reached the end zone on another one-yard touchdown by Gallaspy. He finished with 81 yards and two touchdowns.
“I thought we had more movement,” Doeren said. “We didn’t pick up a couple blitzes and it hit us, but it looked like we were winning the line of scrimmage a lot more and there’s a lot more four-yard, five-yard, six-yard type runs as opposed to the one, two and threes that we were having before.”
Nearing the end of the first half, NC State was fighting to slow down a Marshall drive when the Herd quarterback Isaiah Green fumbled into the hands of the Pack defense.
With 30 seconds left, Finley hit Harmon twice for 46 total yards to set up another field goal as time expired. It marks the third time in the first half NC State settled for just three points in the redzone.
“It felt great,” Harmon said. “Just going out there, bringing the plays that we run in practice and executing them. Being on the same page with Ryan, the O-line just blocking everything, just clicking.”
The Pack received the second half kickoff but was unable to get anything going. After punting the ball away, Marshall capped off an eight-play drive with a field goal to inch closer, 23-10.
Another scary moment occurred on the kickoff when Riley was rocked as he ran through the middle of the field. The ball was coughed up and returned by the Herd for a touchdown to make it a one-score game in the third quarter, 23-17.
Even with some receivers banged up, Finley continued to spread the rock around. In the next drive, he found graduate receiver Stephen Louis for 32 yards before connecting with Emezie for a 30-yard touchdown to extend the lead 30-17.
After punting the ball back to Marshall on the next Pack possession, NC State forced a long third down for Isaiah Green and the Herd offense. After scrambling outside the pocket, Green forced a long throw down the sideline, but was picked off by redshirt junior safety Jarius Morehead who returned the turnover for a touchdown. The score was 37-20 after three quarters.
“I think he was throwing a vert,” Morehead said. “And I saw the receivers retreat back because the quarterback started scrambling. I just thought I would read his eyes and follow where the ball was going.”
Halfway through the fourth quarter, Green was intercepted for the second time of the night. This time it was sophomore cornerback Chris Ingram who came up with the ball.
Finley found Louis for 21 yards but then took some time off the clock using the ground game before settling for a field goal attempt. However, Dunn’s try was no good, off the left upright. Dunn was 3 for 4 on field goal attempts and perfect on extra points.
NC State was able to slow down the athletic Herd offense for most of the game to win 37-20 over Marshall for the second consecutive year. Outside the 82-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter and the special teams touchdown, the Pack only allowed two field goals.
“I think we’ve handled our business and I think that’s all you can do,” Doeren said. “We put ourselves in a good position going into conference play and proud of our guys. I mean this is a tough game here at this place.”
NC State will be back in Raleigh to start conference play against Virginia on Saturday at 12:20 p.m.
