Nick Faulkner
Sophomore wide receiver Kelvin Harmon makes a catch. Harmon had big day, leading the team with 133 yards through the air. The Wolfpack took down No. 17 Louisville 39-25 on Thursday, Oct. 5 in Carter-Finley Stadium.
With its second loss of the season coming Saturday against Notre Dame, the NC State football team took a step back after starting the season firing on all cylinders. The Wolfpack does still control its own destiny to the ACC Championship game, and an ACC Atlantic division crown would be a major accomplishment.
The Wolfpack (6-2, 4-0 ACC) lost 35-14 to the Fighting Irish (7-1), who are a top-10 team for a reason. Winning on Notre Dame’s home turf is no easy task, and the Pack was not up to the challenge. Here is how NC State fared:
Quarterback: C-
Redshirt junior Ryan Finley threw his first interception of the year on a throw-away pass that didn’t make it to the sideline and landed in the hands of Notre Dame cornerback Julian Love. Love returned the pick for a 69-yard touchdown to put the Irish up by 14 in the third quarter.
Finley finished the day 17 of 37 and threw one touchdown pass. The Irish pass defense was all over NC State’s short-pass game and forced Finley to try to beat it down field. He struggled throughout the game, but did make a few nice throws including a beautiful pass through a tight window to senior all-purpose back, Jaylen Samuels, and a touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver, Kelvin Harmon.
Running backs: D
The Wolfpack lost its speed back, junior Nyheim Hines, early in the game to an ankle injury and was clearly affected, losing its tandem of speed and power.
Junior Reggie Gallaspy played decently going forward, with 47 yards on 11 carries. He never broke a big run that the Pack desperately needed and got stuffed on a fourth-down play near the goal line in the third quarter. Samuels also had eight carries for 26 yards.
Wide receivers/tight ends: C-
Harmon, who had the only offensive touchdown of the day for the Wolfpack, made a spectacular catch in the endzone for a 15-yard touchdown that gave State a 14-7 lead. The receivers made some big catches, but for the most part, were dominated by Notre Dame’s defensive backs who were not getting beat downfield.
Offensive line: D
The O-line couldn’t open up many holes for the running backs to run through and gave up one sack on Finley, the first the Pack has given up since Sept. 16 against Furman.
On Finley’s interception, redshirt junior center Garrett Bradbury snapped the ball after presumably thinking a Notre Dame lineman had jumped off-sides. The O-line preceded to stand still, as coached to do, but no off-sides were called and Notre Dame took advantage.
Defensive line: C
The defensive line played well early, including back-to-back sacks by seniors Kentavius Street and Bradley Chubb on Notre Dame’s first drive. As the game went on, however, the powerful running attack of Irish running back Josh Adams tired out the line and made it weary to rush, which allowed quarterback Brandon Wimbush to make some big throws that killed the team.
State also took two big losses to the D-line during the game, as senior Justin Jones and junior Darian Roseboro both exited with injuries.
Linebackers: D
NC State’s linebackers got beaten a lot by Adams. Redshirt senior Jerod Fernandez had 13 total tackles which led the team, as well as 1.5 tackles for loss, but Adams was still able to run through the linebackers consistently and get big gains.
Defensive secondary: D
Several big pass-interference calls cost NC State in this game and allowed Notre Dame to get first downs that kept the Wolfpack offense off the field. Notre Dame scored two touchdowns through the air, and the Pack had no interceptions.
Special teams: B+
A blocked punt recovered for a touchdown by redshirt junior Germaine Pratt gave NC State an early 6-0 lead in the game. After Hines went down with injury, the kick-return game was not as dynamic, but made no costly mistakes. Graduate transfer kicker Carson Wise was perfect on two extra points and did not attempt a field goal.