The No. 14 NC State football team couldn’t contain the rushing attack of No. 9 Notre Dame, dropping the matchup 35-14 on a cool, damp evening in South Bend, Indiana.
The Wolfpack (6-2, 4-0 ACC) saw its six-game win streak snapped by the Fighting Irish (7-1). Notre Dame running back Josh Adams amassed 202 rushing yards and a touchdown against a well-rounded Wolfpack defensive front.
The Wolfpack defensive pressure started early as the Pack recorded two sacks on Notre Dame’s first drive.
After stuffing the run and pressuring the quarterback in the second drive of the game, the Wolfpack special teamers made a statement with a blocked punt by sophomore defensive end James Smith-Williams and recovered by junior linebacker Germaine Pratt in Notre Dame’s endzone for a touchdown that opened the scoring.
The Irish were quick to respond with a two-play drive after a 57-yard return. A 35-yard run by Adams, and 25-yard touchdown pass evened the score at 7-7 less than 30 seconds after NC State’s punt-block touchdown.
After junior running back Nyheim Hines went to locker room halfway through the first quarter with a lower-body injury after a crunching tackle on his first carry of the game, the offense got things going with a seven-play, 71-yard drive that resulted in a one-handed, 15-yard touchdown grab by sophomore wide receiver Kelvin Harmon.
Redshirt junior quarterback Ryan Finley took control of the drive with a conversion on a long third down with an 18-yard throw to senior all-purpose back Jaylen Samuels. Finley then connected deep with junior wide receiver Stephen Louis for 42 yards before his touchdown pass on third down.
Notre Dame answered the NC State momentum yet again with a drive of over 70 yards itself. The Irish converted on third down twice on their way to a 3-yard touchdown run by quarterback Brandon Wimbush to tie the game at 14 in the second quarter.
The Wolfpack took a big blow early in the game on its defensive line, as senior tackle Justin Jones sustained an arm injury and would not return to the game.
After a three-and-out for State, the Fighting Irish had two toe-drag catches on their way to their first lead of the game. After an 11-yard touchdown catch that was initially called incomplete, the receiver got his foot in for the score following a review, to put Notre Dame up 21-14.
The matchup between the sixth-best State run defense and the sixth-best running game of Notre Dame proved in favor of the home team, as Adams became the first running back to reach triple digit rushing yards against the Wolfpack this year with 102 at halftime. The Irish led by a score of 21-14 and outperformed NC State with 136-20 rushing yards entering the break. The Pack was sloppy with 11 penalties, compared to Notre Dame’s three.
The Wolfpack gave up another negative first-time occurrence to start the second half when Finley threw his first interception in his last 340 pass attempts which was returned 69 yards for a score after a miscommunication by the offensive line.
Going down by two touchdowns, State had a decent drive set up by a 58-yard kickoff return by Samuels after the pick-six. The Pack got the ball down to the Notre Dame 6-yard line but turned the ball over on downs after failing on a short fourth-down play.
Later in the third quarter, Notre Dame put the game away with a 77-yard touchdown, where Adams ran untouched into the endzone to put the Irish up 35-14.
The fourth quarter saw Notre Dame run down the clock and NC State unable to gain any momentum on offense with four consecutive three-and-outs.
Jones and Hines did not return to the game from their injuries. Their absences made big impacts on both teams running games. NC State picked up a mere 50 yards on 2.1 yards per carry compared to the Irish’s 318 yards with a 5.9 average.
The Wolfpack will try to maintain its first place standing and undefeated record in the ACC next week as it plays host to the Clemson Tigers for NC State’s homecoming game.
