In its second conference matchup of the season and its first in Carter-Finley, NC State football fell to Tobacco Road rival Wake Forest in a 34-30 loss.
Freshman quarterback CJ Bailey completed 28 of his 42 pass attempts for 275 yards and two touchdowns, marking career-highs in every category. The true freshman looked like a seasoned quarterback with years of experience, making impressive throws that you typically wouldn’t see from such an inexperienced player.
“As far as CJ goes, I was proud of him,” said head coach Dave Doeren. “He made a lot of nice plays with his arm and with his legs. He was a good leader on the sideline.”
However, Bailey wasn’t supposed to be the man under center for the Wolfpack.
After Doeren remained silent about who would be the signal-caller for week six, Wolfpack fans found out just hours before kickoff that graduate quarterback Grayson McCall was making his return. McCall suffered an undisclosed injury in the first half against Louisiana Tech, forcing him to miss the following two games.
McCall began the first drive of his return completing three of his five attempts for 42 yards, including a 30-yard flea flicker pass to junior tight end Justin Joly, putting the Wolfpack in the redzone. After punting eight times in its last matchup against Northern Illinois, fans at Carter-Finley Stadium were ecstatic at the Wolfpack’s offensive efficiency in its first drive.
But the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. On third-and-11, McCall dropped back to pass but couldn’t find an open target. Taking matters into his own hands, McCall escaped the pocket and scrambled down the middle of the field towards the first down marker. The captain was met by three Wake Forest defenders and took a vicious hit to the head, fumbling the ball and collapsing to the ground.
McCall remained motionless on the turf as the medical team quickly surrounded him. The once-deafening cheering in Carter-Finley had turned to an eerie silence as the crowd waited with bated breath. McCall was put into a neck brace, placed onto a backboard and carted out of the stadium as his parents and teammates surrounded him, signaling to the crowd as he was driven off.
McCall’s fumble was scooped up by a Wake Forest defender, who made it all the way to the NC State two-yard line before being hawked down by redshirt freshman wide receiver Noah Rogers, eventually leading to a Demon Deacon touchdown and a 10-0 deficit for the Wolfpack.
For the second time this season, Bailey was called upon in the wake of McCall’s injury and once again, he delivered. The six-foot-six signal-caller led the Wolfpack on four consecutive scoring drives in the first half.
Freshman wide receiver Keenan Jackson scored his first collegiate touchdown while redshirt junior punter Caden Noonkester was relegated to being a holder for redshirt sophomore kicker Kanoah Vinesett’s three field goals — a stark contrast from NC State’s last matchup as Noonkester was called upon to punt a season-high eight times.
Even with the plethora of scoring, NC State still found itself down 17-16 heading into halftime as Wake Forest quarterback Hank Bachmeier scored his second touchdown of the game on a 23-yard completion to wide receiver Horatio Fields in addition to an earlier field goal.
The beginning of the third quarter can only be described as a collection of unacceptable miscues. The Wolfpack began the half with the ball, only to go three-and-out, leading to a Noonkester punt. However, the punt traveled just 30 yards down the field before going out of bounds, an eye-opening low compared to Noonkester’s usual 45.3-yard average.
Wake Forest found itself in a great position as it started its drive at midfield, but before it could make anything happen, redshirt junior linebacker Sean Brown ripped the ball out of Bachmeier’s hands, putting the Wolfpack offense in prime scoring position at the Wake Forest 35-yard line. Even still, the Wolfpack offense couldn’t muster a first down, moving the ball just three yards in three plays. Nonetheless, it called upon Vinesett to kick a 49-yard field goal. But even that didn’t go to plan, as the kick was wide left.
Once again, Wake Forest found itself with the ball, but on just the second play of the drive, an off-target Bachmeier pass found itself in the hands of senior safety Bishop Fitzgerald, marking back-to-back turnovers for the Demon Deacons and returning the ball to the Wolfpack offense. However, akin to the drives before, the Wolfpack again failed to get a first down, once more calling upon Noonkester, who knocked just a 33-yard punt.
“We were just really pissed off at that point,” said graduate offensive guard Tim McKay. “After the first turnover, we should’ve been more pissed off. But after the second one, I read that score again. We felt we had momentum going into that after those two turnovers but we just didn’t capitalize on the ending.”
The scoring finally resumed as Wake Forest and NC State returned to trading blows, beginning with a field goal that extended the Demon Deacon’s lead to 20-16. Sophomore running back Kendrick Raphael responded on the very next drive, touching the ball four consecutive times before finding a hole in the defense for a 20-yard rushing touchdown as the Wolfpack regained the lead.
After forcing another Wake Forest three-and-out, Bailey led the team on a seven-play, 62-yard drive, resulting in a Randy Moss-style touchdown from Joly, catching it over two Wake Forest defenders. The Wolfpack held a 10-point lead with just over 13 minutes remaining.
“I was proud of how they came back after Grayson and got us back in the game,” Doeren said. “They regained momentum, had the time of possession, flipped the turnover margin in our favor. We were running the football effectively.”
However, the touchdown was the last points scored by the Wolfpack.
Wake Forest knew it had to play aggressively to have any chance to win, resulting in a four-down playstyle from the Demon Deacon offense. On fourth-and-nine with the game on the line, the Wolfpack allowed Bachmeier to scramble 16 yards for a first down in NC State territory. On the very next play, the Wolfpack gave up a 32-yard touchdown to running back Demond Claiborne, his second of the day.
With an opportunity to waste time off the clock and keep the ball out of Wake Forest’s hands, NC State managed to blow it, marking another three-and-out. Luckily for the Wolfpack, Noonkester responded with a 50+ yard punt, pinning Wake Forest at its own 35-yard line.
After its staunch showing earlier in the half, the NC State defense fell apart. Wake Forest put together a 13-play, 65-yard drive while also chewing over six minutes off of the clock. Claiborne found the endzone for the third time, giving Wake Forest a four-point lead. To make matters worse, the Wolfpack had allowed two fourth-down conversions, dropped an interception and failed to recover a forced fumble during the drive, all of which would’ve ended any chances of a Wake Forest win.
“We’ve just got to finish,” said graduate cornerback Aydan White. “That’s what we didn’t do. We were up by 10 points in the fourth quarter and didn’t finish the game. That’s what it came down to.”
Bailey got the ball with 61 seconds left and no timeouts. Many were hoping for some sort of miracle that would go along with Bailey’s career day. Instead, on the first play of the drive, Wake Forest managed to pressure Bailey while rushing just three defenders, culminating in a game-sealing interception.
“We’re just letting CJ know that he’s young and we’ve got to instill that confidence in him,” White said. “That we’ve got his back if he makes a play or doesn’t make a play. We’re going to go out there and play the same whether Grayson is out there or not. We’ve got his back no matter what happens.”
The loss essentially squashes any remaining hopes of an ACC Championship appearance for the Pack, but it can still muster a 10-win season if it wins out, including the bowl game. NC State continues ACC play, hosting Syracuse on Oct. 12. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m.
