The NC State football team earned its first ACC victory of the season Saturday, beating Wake Forest 33-16. This makes this the first time in the Dave Doeren era that the Wolfpack has started the season 1-0 in ACC play. Here are the top performers from the victory.
Ryan Finley
The redshirt sophomore quarterback’s consistent season continued into ACC play, as he completed 23 of 36 passes for a career-high 300 yards and three touchdowns. He hasn’t tested the deep ball very much, but he’s been successful when he has, as evidenced by a 41-yard pass to redshirt sophomore Stephen Louis and a 36-yard touchdown pass to freshman Kelvin Harmon.
Of the ACC’s qualifying quarterbacks, Finley is ranked third with a 171.4 rating, second with a 72.4 completion percentage and is only one of two ACC quarterbacks without an interception, the other being UNC-Chapel Hill quarterback Mitch Trubisky. If there were still questions of whether Finley would remain the starter, those should be completely silenced after a stellar performance against Wake’s respectable defense.
“He’s just continuing to do what ‘Coach Drink’ is asking him to do,” head coach Doeren said. “His players are making plays. I’m really proud of, first of all, his preparation is incredible. That’s the one part nobody gets to see. He’s over here every night after he’s done with his academics, talking to coach, going through the film. He’s all in on it and it shows.”
Matt Dayes
Dayes was once again a workhorse for the Pack, carrying the ball 24 times for 125 yards and a touchdown. After a solid first half, the senior running back only carried the ball once in the third quarter, partially due to a handful of costly penalties that negated two of them. However, the team’s best offensive player should probably be getting the ball more than that, as he has proved that he is vital to the team’s success time and time again.
As the Demon Deacons had trimmed the lead back to 10 in the third quarter, NC State began to give Dayes the rock again in the fourth quarter, and it paid off. He carried the ball nine times for 70 yards in the final quarter alone, effectively eating up the clock and setting up Harmon’s 7-yard touchdown catch that sealed the game with 5:53 left in the game.
Josh Jones
The third-year starter at safety endured his struggles in pass coverage over the last couple of years, but has played significantly better this season, particularly against Wake Forest. He led the team with 12 tackles and two pass breakups, both on deep balls, in which he was the last line of defense, and added a sack on a well-designed blitz.
Jones has always played well in run support, so the improvement in pass coverage is certainly a promising sign for the Wolfpack. His strong play, along with senior cornerback Jack Tocho’s, has been vital for the team after Hakim Jones and Juston Burris both graduated last year.
“Everybody’s stepping up,” junior defensive end Bradley Chubb said. “We got guys like Josh Jones, who just had one of the best games I’ve ever seen. Everybody’s playing for each other.”
Play of the Game
Finley throws it deep down the left sideline to Louis’ back shoulder, who makes an incredible, acrobatic adjustment to not only reel it in, but fake out the defender in coverage to gain extra yardage and complete the 41-yard play.
The throw could’ve been better, but Louis showed great awareness to adjust to the ball and make the Pack’s longest — and arguably most impressive — play of the day. Louis finished with four catches for 102 yards and is clearly one of Finley’s favorite targets.
Player to Watch: Bradley Chubb
Chubb, a team captain donning Wolfpack legend Mario Williams’ No. 9 jersey, had been somewhat quiet up to this point after high expectations, but burst out onto the scene against the Deacons. He recorded his first two sacks of the season, along with three tackles and a forced fumble.
Don’t get me wrong, Chubb had been great against the run coming into conference play, but he and the rest of the NC State defense struggled to get a disruptive pass rush going, logging just two sacks in the first two games. The team’s five sacks against Old Dominion were promising, and it capitalized with a four-sack performance against the Deacons. It was a similar feat last season, as the pass rush didn’t truly blossom into fruition until ACC play, and it looks like the same is happening this year with Chubb leading the charge.
The Wolfpack celebrate after senior running back Matthew Dayes scores a touchdown. Dayes had 125 Rushing Yards on Oct. 1 at Carter-Finley Stadium. The Wolfpack defeated Wake Forest University 33-16.
