CLEMSON, S.C. — No. 10 NC State’s capacity to make game-changing plays was at a season low against the No. 5 Clemson Tigers, dropping its first matchup of the season with a 30-20 loss in Death Valley.
The Wolfpack coasted its way to a 4-0 record and top-10 distinction, steamrolling through a pair of lower-tier football programs, taking down an incredibly inconsistent Texas Tech team and barely escaping Greenville, North Carolina with a win in week one. But in a midseason matchup to effectively determine the front-runner for an ACC Championship appearance, the Pack fell flat on its face.
With so much returning talent, so many promising up-and-comers and a seasoned coaching staff, why can’t NC State cross the greatness threshold? Yes, it’s one loss, but the talk of the offseason was how this team was built to compete against the best. For all intents and purposes, Clemson is the best in the conference. Despite the deceptively close final score, the Pack did not prove to be a worthy challenger at all.
“We walked off that field knowing that we didn’t play to our best ability,” said redshirt junior quarterback Devin Leary. “We had very high aspirations. We had very high expectations going into this game, and we thought we prepared well, but we didn’t execute well. We didn’t play to our best ability. Guys in the locker room are hurt.”
Obviously, Clemson has to be given its due credit. A lot of people thought this team had to prove it was worthy of a top-five ranking, but with a gritty 2OT win against then-No. 21 Wake Forest last week and completely dismantling both sides of NC State’s team, the Tigers are back. It was always going to take a special performance to do what no team has done since 2016, beat Clemson in Memorial Stadium.
Even against a Tiger unit in full form, NC State had a few key opportunities to turn the tides of this game. These shortcomings can be broken down into two categories: things the Pack could control and things it couldn’t.
In the department of what was out of the Pack’s hands, a pair of near-fumbles by Clemson that could’ve taken two Tiger touchdowns off the board, had they been reviewed and ruled in NC State’s favor, would’ve changed the course of the game. As is the way it goes in college football, however, officiating took plenty of flak from both sides but it’s always interesting to wonder “what if?”
What NC State could control, however, was its seemingly never-ending issue of dropping the football. It’s an issue not specific to the offensive side of the ball either, with defensive backs coming up just short of reeling in tide-shifting turnovers. For the Pack’s lack of game-changing prowess, Clemson was gifted perhaps the biggest defensive play of the evening: an interception set into motion by a drop from a wide-open redshirt sophomore wide receiver Christopher Toudle.
It’s easy for critical issues to find their way into the light against elite competition, but if NC State hopes to regain and make a run at a successful season they have to be addressed sooner rather than later. With a tough test at home next week against now No. 23 Florida State, the Wolfpack has to find a way to live up to expectations if it plans to remain in the national spotlight.
