No. 16 NC State football fell in heartbreaking fashion to Boston College 21-20 in the final home game of the year, ending the team’s 16-game win streak at Carter-Finley Stadium.
The Wolfpack (7-3, 3-3 ACC) held a lead for nearly the entire game up until the final minute, scoring on its first two drives, but struggled to push the ball down the field after that. The Eagles (3-7, 2-5 ACC) were able to outpace NC State and eventually outscore the red-and-white, outplaying freshman quarterback MJ Morris on the defensive side of the ball.
“Obviously, we didn’t play well enough to win,” said head coach Dave Doeren. “Turning the ball over three times in the second half changed the game in [Boston College’s] favor.”
The Wolfpack came out swinging to start the game. On the Pack’s opening drive, Morris and company marched down the field in five plays. Morris found redshirt junior tight end Trent Pennix down the middle for the game’s first score, where he bounced off a would-be tackler to find the endzone.
This momentum carried over into the second drive — Morris was able to once again lead the offense down the field, this time taking the ball in himself for a 10-yard rushing touchdown. Both of these drives made the offense look electric with Morris under center, gaining chunk play after chunk play.
Boston College responded to the second NC State touchdown with a score of its own. It took some time for quarterback Emmett Morehead to settle in, but he was able to cap off a long drive with a touchdown pass to his speedy receiver Zay Flowers to put the game within one score.
The second quarter saw a change of pace, with injuries and penalties disturbing the gameflow. There was no scoring from either side until NC State got within range for graduate kicker Christopher Dunn. It was a chip-shot field goal for Dunn, who extended the lead back to two scores with a minute and a half to play in the first half.
The Wolfpack defense was all over Morehead the entire game. Junior linebacker Drake Thomas attacked the field, racking up six total tackles, a pass breakup, five quarterback hits and three tackles for a loss. On one of the final plays of the game, Thomas was flagged for pass interference on a play that would’ve sealed the game for the Wolfpack but instead led to a Boston College touchdown.
“Personally, it’s a bad call,” said redshirt junior linebacker Payton Wilson. “[Thomas] made a hell of a play.”
Neither team carried much momentum going into the third quarter. Both offenses were stagnant for a large portion of the quarter and made mistakes to set up the opposing team.
Morris made a handful of rookie mistakes in his second start. One of the biggest issues in this game was his willingness to pull the ball down and run. Graduate center Grant Gibson was injured in the first half, which proved to be detrimental to the offense. Without Gibson, Morris couldn’t capture the electricity he found earlier in the game, as every time he took off to run he had little-to-no gain in yardage.
Morris was sacked twice and had carries that went for a negative gain three times in the second half. It takes time for young quarterbacks to go through their progressions — something that he’ll see in film and will likely work on as he gains experience.
The Eagles had their fair share of mistakes as well. One of the most crucial mistakes was a fumble on a punt return. The Wolfpack would end up kicking a 45-yard field goal to go up 20-7, but that would be the last time NC State got on the scoreboard.
After the second Dunn field goal, Morehead and the Eagles offense went a full 75 yards down the field to score their second touchdown. This touchdown was also to Flowers, a 35-yard catch and run down the sideline.
With it being a one-possession game going into the final 15 minutes, either team could’ve pulled ahead to take the game.
The offensive line for NC State seemed to get worse as the game wore on. This affected Morris as he threw an interception while being pressured with 8:34 to play in the fourth quarter — it was a bad ball that was forced into double coverage. Morris had throws like that all night, with most of them being flagged for pass interference, but not this one.
Boston College put together a touchdown drive to ice the game late in the fourth quarter. Morehead was able to find receiver Joe Griffin from two yards out to tie the game, and the extra point put the Eagles over the hump to get the win.
Senior night was spoiled by inconsistent play on both offense and defense, and the salt in the wound is that this was a very winnable game for NC State.
“I love every one of them,” Doeren said of the seniors. “I hate that we didn’t get that win for them tonight. They’ve done a ton for NC State, for this program.”
NC State will be on the road for the rest of the season and will face off against Louisville on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 3:30 p.m.
