Concepcion shines as NC State football outlasts Clemson 24-17

The Clemson Tigers had designs on walking into Raleigh and preying on a wounded NC State football team after the Pack’s dismal loss to Duke two weeks ago.

Kevin Concepcion and the rest of the Wolfpack had other plans. 

The freshman wide receiver cemented his stardom in the Wolfpack’s (5-3, 2-2 ACC) spirited 24-17 win over the Tigers (4-4, 2-4 ACC), leading his team with 134 yards of total offense and two show-stopping touchdowns. After an important 14-point third quarter, the Pack held on to its lead for dear life and shut down the Clemson offense to earn its fifth win of the season.

After shutting out two weeks worth of noise, negativity and doubt, head coach Dave Doeren and the Pack put on a passionate performance against a storied program.

“Super proud of our players and coaches and the faith that they showed in each other and what we just did against a good football team,” Doeren said. “Coming off of, in my opinion, the worst we played in my tenure as a head coach, to rebound like that says a lot about our perseverance and our toughness and our willingness to change and get better.” 

The victory marked Doeren’s 100th career win as a head coach and tied the program record of 77 wins set by former coach Earle Edwards. 

“There’s been a lot of great players and good coaches and all of them deserve a piece of that,” Doeren said. “And so I’m proud of it. I’d like to own it singular and not tie, so I look forward to the next opportunity. But it is nice to get to 100.”

Doeren’s 100th career victory was willed into existence by Concepcion. Using his twitchy speed, elite route running and high football IQ, the freshman put NC State on his back, scoring both of the squad’s offensive touchdowns and making big plays left and right. 

“Guy’s amazing,” Doeren said. “He’s playing inside receiver, outside receiver, running back. [We’re] motioning him all over the place. He’s running in stretch zones, counters, every route you can run on the book. His football IQ, for a guy his age, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Concepcion played a major role in the Pack’s halftime lead. After breaking off a 50-yard run, he caught sophomore quarterback MJ Morris’ first touchdown throw of the day on a wide-open 9-yard reception. While Clemson punched back with a touchdown of its own, NC State entered halftime with a 10-7 lead. 

After the break, the Pack needed its stars to keep stepping up — and they certainly did. Early in the third quarter, a pass from Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik was deflected into the waiting hands of graduate linebacker Payton Wilson, who turned the turnover into a 15-yard pick-six as he dove into the endzone.

The red-and-white wasn’t done there. With the bulk of NC State’s yardage already under his name, the Concepcion show continued after the half in spite of an injury the freshman suffered at the end of the second quarter.

“He’s dinged up, and we walked off the field at halftime together, and I said, ‘Hey man, I’ll give you extra time off next week, I just need you to suck it up,’” Doeren said. “And he goes, ‘Coach, you know me, I’m gonna play my butt off.’”

Concepcion did exactly that. Minutes after Wilson’s show-stopping touchdown, the wideout one-upped his defensive counterpart on a 72-yard house call. After lining up one-on-one with a Tiger defender, Concepcion cut inside on a slant, broke a tackle and hit the jets. 

“[The defender] started off in press coverage, and then he had backed off, and then I looked inside and didn’t see anybody inside of me,” Concepcion said. “So I just felt like I just had to make one miss and then get to racing.”

Carter-Finley Stadium was roaring before he hit the 20-yard line, and the Tigers found themselves reeling.

Down 17 points, it appeared Clemson was waving the white flag to NC State. However, the visitors punched into the endzone on the first play of the fourth quarter. Two drives later, Clemson drove into Wolfpack territory and nailed a field goal, making the score 24-17 with more than enough time to complete the comeback.

Clemson received its chance to tie the game with 4:23 left in the fourth, but it needed 92 yards to reach the end zone. Klubnik methodically worked his way to midfield, but the drive began to stall. The Wolfpack defense tightened up and on 4th and 19 forced an incompletion to clinch the Textile Bowl victory on Homecoming. 

“We want these types of games in our hands,” said junior nickel back Devan Boykin. “When we’re on the field on third down, fourth down — that’s the type of situations we want to be in and the type of situations we thrive in.”

Boykin, who recorded an interception early in the first quarter, played a big part in the Pack’s turnover battle victory. In fact, the Wolfpack played a mistake-free game, tallying just two penalties and no turnovers to flip the script from its disaster in Durham two weeks ago.

Perseverance and guts were required for Doeren and his squad to bounce back, and the coach spoke the victory into existence from the get-go.

“I told [the team] after practice on Tuesday, I said, ‘Right now, I can tell you what I’m going to say in the postgame,’” Doeren said. “I talked about it: ‘We’re going to win this game.’ And so my belief is strong, and that’s what you have to have if you’re going to overcome the adversities that we’re facing right now.”

The Wolfpack will return to Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 4 to take on the Miami Hurricanes with a chance to qualify for bowl eligibility on the line. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. and the game can be found on ACC Network.