The NC State football team took care of business on opening night, easily dispatching the William & Mary Tribe in a game in which the Wolfpack was heavily favored. The team had several doubts entering the season, and Thursday’s game relieved some, but not all, of those doubts. Here’s what we learned after a Week 1 blowout win against William & Mary.

 1. Ryan Finley is running the show

The Wolfpack didn’t announce its starting quarterback until shortly before the game, declaring redshirt sophomore transfer Ryan Finley the main man. Finley, who transferred from Boise State this offseason, looked cool and comfortable in the pocket, firing accurate passes and relying on his playmakers to make plays. He finished 17-of-21 with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Finley didn’t push the ball downfield at all, which is worrying, but he also didn’t have to. We’ll undoubtedly learn more about his arm strength and deep ball accuracy as the Wolfpack encounters better teams.

 2. Jalan McClendon had a bad night, but he’s not done yet

The redshirt sophomore lost the quarterback battle, but still saw reps against the Tribe. He responded by throwing a terrible interception in the second quarter. He was pulled until garbage time, where he started to settle in, firing a gorgeous pass down the sideline to freshman wide receiver Kelvin Harmon.

McClendon has the superior arm strength but still looks very raw. A lot can change over the course of the season and I’d bet that we haven’t seen the last of McClendon.

 3. We got answers at quarterback, but not kicker

Senior transfer kicker Connor Haskins started the game for the Wolfpack, booting through an extra point after the Wolfpack’s first touchdown. From there on out, sophomore Kyle Bambard handled the kicking duties.

It wasn’t a true platoon, as Bambard handled six PAT tries while Haskins only had one, which makes it difficult to understand. Unless Haskins got hurt on the first PAT, why flip your kickers?

Neither kicker had a field goal opportunity, but fans were treated to a blocked PAT when a rusher came virtually unblocked to get his hands on one of Bambard’s PATs.

 4. Matt Dayes and Jaylen Samuels showed why they deserved all the hype

Dayes was on pace to be the first Wolfpack rusher in years to reach the 1,000-yard mark on the ground last season before injuries derailed him. Offensive coordinator Eli Drinkwitz employed a vanilla scheme against the Tribe that featured a heavy reliance on Dayes and Samuels to make plays. The duo did not disappoint.

Dayes gained 138 yards on 23 carries, finding pay dirt on two occasions. Samuels scored two touchdowns on the ground, but did most of his damage in the passing game. Samuels caught five passes for 66 yards and another touchdown. The Wolfpack employed Samuels’ patented speed sweep around the left side to score twice.

As mentioned before, Drinkwitz’s game plan relied heavily on both Dayes and Samuels to make plays without much trickery involved. The two playmakers earned their yards and reminded us why they came into the season with so much hype.

 5. The Wolfpack took care of business in a trap game

The Wolfpack entered the game as a heavy favorite against the Tribe, but it had struggled in years past with teams like Old Dominion and Richmond. On Thursday, there were no such struggles.

The Wolfpack took care of business in a game it was supposed to win and now can move on to a tough road game against East Carolina.