With the NC State football team rolling in and pillaging Old Dominion’s house in a 38-14 fashion Saturday night, here is a look at some of the top performances from that game.
Mike Rose
The graduate defensive end led a defense that held Monarch running back Ray Lawry, who was the leading rusher in the Football Bowl Subdivision coming into the game, to just 15 yards on 11 rushing attempts. As a team, Old Dominion netted -3 yards rushing and merely 151 yards passing, 70 of those coming on a breakaway pass to Lawry. Rose believes that the offense chewing up the time of possession helps the defense remain dominant.
“We’re fresh, we feel good,” Rose said. “We haven’t played much this season. Our offense does a good job of keeping us off the field, so the longer we’re off, the better.”
Rose showed why he is one of the marquee leaders on this team with a stellar performance Saturday night, totaling five tackles, 1.5 tackles for a loss, one sack and one quarterback hit. With Art Norman graduating last year, Rose has stepped up big in his place, and his presence will be huge for the Wolfpack once conference play begins.
Jacoby Brissett
The redshirt senior quarterback’s play in the first three games has been nothing short of spectacular for State. Against Old Dominion, Brissett completed 18-of-27 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown and rushed for a season-high 43 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.
While the 66.7 completion percentage was actually his worst in the season, it certainly isn’t anything to frown at, and Brissett ran the ball better than he did in either of the first two games. He isn’t the fastest guy in the world, but he is very shifty and elusive, and combining that with his 6-foot-4, 235-pound frame makes it very difficult for defenders to wrap him up.
Additionally, Brissett is very efficient with the ball while still taking care of it, as he has gone 26 quarters and thrown 156 passes without an interception, dating all the way back to last season’s game against Georgia Tech.
Matt Dayes
Dayes has opened the season by celebrating his third straight game with at least 100 yards rushing, the first time a Wolfpack running back has done this since 1981. He continued to show off his versatility Saturday night, tallying 20 rushes for 108 yards and a touchdown and catching three passes for 29 yards while splitting time with senior running back Shadrach Thornton.
On the season, Dayes now leads the team with 68 carries for 350 yards and six touchdowns. His stellar play has helped him maintain the starting job over Thornton, although they will likely see similar amounts of playing time because they complement each other very well.
Play of the Game
There weren’t a ton of plays that stuck out other than Brissett’s 21-yard touchdown rush. Brissett carried the ball to the left, opted to keep it rather than pitching it out to Dayes, evaded multiple defenders and carried one on his back on his way to the end zone.
Not only was this an impressive showing of strength and athleticism by Brissett, but it came at a time when State needed a big play. Freshman kicker Kyle Bambard missed a 49-yard field goal off the right upright and Lawry had just outrun the entire defense on a swing pass for a 70-yard touchdown on the next play. Brissett’s touchdown gave the Pack some momentum, as it outscored Old Dominion 31-7 after being tied at 7-7.
Player to Watch: Kentavius Street
The sophomore defensive tackle led the team with six tackles, including one for a 3-yard loss. He was an integral part of the defense that was able to contain the FBS leading rusher Lawry to his lowest rushing total since Nov. 1 of last season. Stopping the run game was what the defense set out to do from the beginning, according to head coach Dave Doeren.
“That was the plan,” Doeren said. “We wanted to see if the quarterback could beat us… pack the box, and we asked our DBs to play a lot of man-to-man early.”
Street was the highest-ranked player in the NC State 2014 recruiting class as a defensive end out of Greenville, North Carolina. He switched to defensive tackle over the offseason and has started alongside sophomore nose tackle B.J. Hill. His impeccable strength and athleticism makes him a tough player to guard, and he will be a big part of the defensive line rotation going forward.
