Extending a home win streak to 15 games requires a miracle here and there, and No. 24 NC State football’s 22-21 comeback victory over Virginia Tech is just another entry into Carter-Finley Stadium’s book of nail biters.
Fueled by 19 unanswered points in the second half and the potential emergence of freshman quarterback MJ Morris as the Pack’s next superstar signal caller, NC State managed to avoid what would have been its worst loss in years.
MJ Morris, freshman phenom?
In the team’s second full game without redshirt junior quarterback Devin Leary under center, NC State may have finally found an answer at the position for the rest of the season. Completely taking over for graduate quarterback Jack Chambers later in the game, Morris reignited what’s been a stale and conservative offense for the majority of the year.
It’s no slight to Chambers, who stepped into a bad situation immediately after Leary was ruled out for the season, but the total lack of offensive production with him at the helm seemed incurable. Offensive Coordinator Tim Beck’s game plan has been criticized throughout the year — no matter who’s taken the field — and the inability of Chambers to put points on the board felt like a culmination of all Beck’s failures in planning and playcalling.
Down 21-3 with 4:02 remaining in the third quarter, Morris and his offense were faced with a do-or-die situation. His answer — 265 yards on 69% completion, three touchdowns and a 179.9 passer rating. The marks make up one of NC State’s best quarterback performances of the season, topped only by Leary’s huge showings against Charleston Southern and UConn.
Morris obviously has much more to prove — and Virginia Tech isn’t exactly a formidable opponent. Beck will have to find a way to open Morris up before going down big, a problem all NC State quarterbacks have faced this year. With Wake Forest’s 70th-ranked defense headed to Raleigh in the coming week, Morris and the offense have a great opportunity to keep the current momentum alive.
Bringing the heat
Getting pressure on the quarterback has been a real struggle for the Wolfpack defense this year, but NC State got to Virginia Tech quarterback Grant Wells early and often on Thursday. With four sacks and nine QB hits, the defense played as large a part in keeping the Pack in the game as Morris did.
Redshirt junior linebacker Payton Wilson led the way in backfield presence, logging a team-high two sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. Wilson has returned right back to his regularly scheduled program since returning from injury, posting a team second-best in total tackles with 49. Paired alongside junior linebacker Drake Thomas, who recorded a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss versus the Hokies, and senior linebacker Isaiah Moore, who had a much quieter game against Virginia tech, Wilson has been unstoppable.
While unlikely to top his historic 2020 season, Wilson has a better supporting cast around him than ever before. Scheming him into opposing backfields while dropping Moore back into coverage and letting Thomas run free has to be the name of the game moving forward, because when the three of them are doing their jobs, there’s nobody better.
Into the unknown
The rest of the year for NC State football is going to look weird. As odd as one-point wins over East Carolina and Virginia Tech are, along with a miracle comeback over Florida State at home, there’s plenty of potential for things to get even stranger. Look at Wake Forest — a top-10 team in the country absolutely melting against a struggling Louisville Cardinals team that the Pack still has left on the schedule.
This season could easily end with 10 wins or six for NC State — but what’s going to make that difference? It all starts with offensive playcalling, the largest criticism of Pack football in 2022. Whether he wants to believe it or not, Beck’s on the hot seat, and if he wants to stick around under head coach Dave Doeren, he’s going to need to show more adaptability in the play book.
Consistent quarterback play will also be a major factor, and if the Pack can find it, it’ll be better off than it has been at any point this season. If the offense finds a firm footing and the defense continues to be excellent, NC State can salvage what remains of its strange year.
