In a sloppy game by both teams, the NC State football team lost to the No. 3 Clemson Tigers 24-17 Saturday at Clemson Memorial Stadium.
It seemed as if both teams were trying to lose this game, as the Wolfpack (4-2, 1-1 ACC) missed three field goals and the Tigers (7-0, 4-0 ACC) turned the ball over four times. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Ryan Finley struggled mightily against a stout Clemson defense, completing just 50 percent of his passes for 231 yards and two interceptions. Meanwhile, junior Deshaun Watson had 378 yards, two touchdowns and one interception to go with 35 rushing yards and a touchdown for Clemson.
The deafening crowd noise at Death Valley affected the Pack from the beginning, as it committed three false start penalties on its first drive. This proved to be costly, as the penalties backed the team up and sophomore Kyle Bambard missed the 43-yard field goal.
Clemson responded by putting together a solid drive that was halted by a fumble that was forced by senior Dravious Wright and recovered by junior Airius Moore. NC State then put up another promising drive that ultimately failed due to penalties — this time being holding and chop-block penalties that backed the team up and forced it to punt. Despite surrendering 76 yards on eight penalties in the first quarter, the Wolfpack only trailed 3-0 at the break.
On the second play of the second quarter, Finley threw his first interception of the season off a tipped pass. Two drives later, Clemson marched all the way down to the 1-yard line, but junior B.J. Hill did a great job stuffing Watson at the goal-line. NC State then went on a 14-play, 88-yard drive to get on the scoreboard and tie the game at 3 apiece with Bambard making a 28-yard field goal.
However, Watson was surgical for Clemson on the ensuing drive, completing 8 of 9 passes for 84 yards capped off by a 13-yard touchdown to redshirt junior Mike Williams. After the Pack defense had kept Watson somewhat quiet in the first half, he came out hot on this drive that put Clemson up 10-3 going into halftime.
As the first half ended with the momentum going in Clemson’s favor, the second half started the opposite, as the Tigers turned the ball over on each of their first three drives.
On the first play of the half, junior Mike Stevens slipped underneath in coverage and picked off Watson and took it to the house to tie the game at 10. Then, after the Tigers once again drove inside the 5-yard line, Wright forced and recovered a fumble to give the Pack the ball back. In the third drive of this sequence, Williams fumbled the ball deep in NC State territory and junior Shawn Boone returned it to Clemson’s 28-yard line. The Wolfpack finished the following drive fairly characteristically, with Bambard’s field goal attempt getting blocked.
This created another shift in momentum, as Clemson seemingly snapped out of it on the next drive. The Tigers went on a 10-play, 77-yard drive as Watson scored just the second offensive touchdown of the game on a 4-yard run to give Clemson a 17-10 lead with 1:03 left in the third quarter.
Sputtering in the second half up to this point, the Wolfpack offense finally got something going when it needed it the most. It went on a 14-play, 75-yard drive with Finley and senior Matt Dayes getting in a good rhythm and finished with a 2-yard touchdown by Dayes to tie the game at 17 for NC State’s first offensive touchdown of the game.
After crucially stopping Clemson, State got the ball back and Dayes went back to doing work. He singlehandedly put the Pack in field goal range as he eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the fifth time this season. However, Bambard once again missed a field goal, this one from just 33 yards, sending the game into overtime.
The Wolfpack deferred to start overtime, but allowed the Tigers to get into the end zone off a 10-yard touchdown pass from Watson to junior Artavis Scott. As the Pack tried to match it to stay in the game, Finley threw a pick on the first play to effectively end the game.
Dayes finished with 22 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown in yet another stellar game. Junior Jaylen Samuels also played well, registering eight catches for 100 yards.
While the three missed field goals certainly cost NC State the game, it is worth noting that there was more to it than just that. The Tigers turned the ball over four times, but the Pack turned those into just seven points, with Stevens accounting for all of those on the pick-six, not the offense. It scores a touchdown on any of the other three turnovers and the game doesn’t have to come down to Bambard’s kicking.
The Wolfpack faces the second half of a miserable two-game slate against No. 7 Louisville next Saturday as it looks to build off a close contest against Clemson.
Senior nickelback Dravious Wright and Junior linebacker Airius Moore dive for, and recover, a Clemson fumble deep in Clemson territory. Both Wright and Moore recovered for no yards and the defense had a stellar day with Clemson seeing five fumbles and throwing one interception. The Wolfpack fell in overtime to No. 3 Clemson 24-17 on Oct. 15 at Death Valley in Clemson, SC.
