The NC State football team is looking for revenge.
Ever since the red-and-white’s heartbreaking 45-42 loss in Winston-Salem, this rematch game against Wake Forest has been circled on everyone’s calendar since the schedule release day. The Pack isn’t only looking for revenge, it’ll try to keep its impressive home win streak alive as NC State can tie its longest winning streak at Carter-Finley Stadium with a win over the Demon Deacons.
These two teams are coming off completely different games, with the Pack pulling off a miraculous 22-21 comeback win in the fourth quarter against Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest getting upset and crushed by Louisville in a 48-21 loss. Before last week, the Demon Deacons seemed like the team trending up and the Wolfpack looked like the team trending down, but that’s the uncertain nature of college football.
One thing that is certain in college football is that NC State has seemingly found its QB1 for the rest of the year. Freshman quarterback MJ Morris is set to make his first career start this week against Wake Forest after leading the red-and-white to a victory in relief of graduate quarterback Jack Chambers. Morris threw for 265 yards, with all three of his touchdowns coming in the fourth quarter against the Hokies. Morris and the rest of the offense will look to keep the momentum going as it faces a defense that ranks 70th in the country, coming off a game where it gave up 48 points.
Morris will also aim to continue building chemistry with his pass-catchers as he faces a team that ranks 71st in pass defense. Morris seems to have already found his go-to guy in graduate receiver Thayer Thomas as they connected several times throughout the game which included two touchdowns. Redshirt junior tight end Trent Pennix also made a big impact in his first game back since week one with three catches and a touchdown. Pennix looks to be a key weapon for the new signal-caller moving forward.
The Pack will need to find a way to run the ball to help its freshman quarterback in his first career start. Junior running back Jordan Houston only saw nine carries for 33 yards last week and will need more to beat the top-tier teams in the ACC like Wake Forest. Houston and the rest of the running backs will need to bounce back this week as they face a Wake Forest team that gave up 211 yards on the ground last game.
Wake Forest is coming off an uncharacteristic offensive performance, especially for their quarterback Sam Hartman. Hartman threw three interceptions and completed only 57.1% of his passes against Louisville. This was by far his worst performance of the season and NC State’s defense smells blood in the water.
To go along with three interceptions, Hartman was sacked seven times. This is a great sign for the Wolfpack defense as it had four sacks of its own last week and will look to get to the quarterback again against a struggling Deacon offensive line.
Even though Hartman is coming off a bad game, NC State’s secondary will need to clean some things up in order to have the same success as Louisville. In the third quarter against Virginia Tech, the back end of the defense gave up too many big plays down the field, most notably, an 85-yard passing touchdown. The defense can’t afford breakdowns like this against the Demon Deacons as Hartman and the experienced offense will take advantage of it.
With that being said, the Demon Deacons are embarrassed after the performance they put on last week, and there’s no better way for them to avenge it than by beating NC State in the primetime slot at Carter-Finley on homecoming weekend.
Both teams want to win this game in the worst way, but only one can come out on top when they battle under the lights on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 8 p.m.
