The NC State football team (4-6, 1-5 ACC) took on the Louisville Cardinals (6-4, 4-3 ACC) in its second consecutive Saturday night game inside Carter-Finley Stadium in a 34-20 losing effort. The Pack held its own in the first half, owning a 10-7 lead at the break. However, the high-flying Cardinals offense proved to be too much for the hurt Wolfpack defense.
“I love the competitive spirit of my football team,” said head coach Dave Doeren. “I think they are battling, I do. They have spirit. We’ve got to make more plays that are there to be made. We had two third and 12s where defensively, they scored touchdowns on us. That should be off the field.”
This is the fourth straight game the Pack has given up a significant amount of points to an ACC opponent, doing the same at Boston College, at Wake Forest and against Clemson. Louisville quarterback Micale Cunningham finished the game with 251 all-purpose yards, four touchdowns in the air and no interceptions.
Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Devin Leary finished the game with 266 all-purpose yards, two touchdowns and one interception, as well as two fumbles, one of which was another inexplicable drop. As a whole, the Pack had four fumbles in the game and three turnovers overall, all coming from freshmen, including freshman running back Zonovan Knight.
“Bam [Knight] can’t fumble,” Doeren said. “And obviously, Devin’s got to take care of the football, but he continues to not get rattled and do some good things as the game goes on.”
This game marked the first time the Wolfpack has forced a punt on the opponent’s first drive this season since the Boston College game. In fact, this was the first game in which NC State did not trail after the first quarter since the same Boston College game.
However, this scoreless effort did not last long, as Leary’s first play of the second quarter was a shovel pass with no clear intended receiver that was immediately picked off, giving Louisville a huge opportunity at midfield.
This allowed the Cardinals to strike first in the second quarter on a deep 43-yard pass from Cunningham to receiver Dez Fitzpatrick, bringing the Cardinals up a score. Senior Kishawn Miller earned the start at corner in the game, as senior Nick McCloud and sophomore De’Von Graves were both ruled out due to injury. Miller was in coverage on Fitzpatrick, but missed help from sophomore Tanner Ingle, who allowed Louisville’s Tutu Atwell’s athletic 19-yard catch earlier in the game, which led to the touchdown.
The misfortunes in relation to injury keep piling on for the Pack, with Leary sustaining a facemask late in the game that looked rough on his neck and head. Along with graduate Larrell Murchison having to be helped to the tent in the first quarter, graduate James Smith-Williams sustained a scary injury after colliding with Cunningham, also late in the game.
“James Smith-Williams is okay,” Doeren said. “He’s alert and downstairs and okay. I don’t know if he will be back by next week, but just so everyone is aware, he’s okay.”
On NC State’s first drive after the interception, freshmen running backs Jordan Houston and Knight gave a jolt of energy to the offense, with Houston reeling in a 15-yard reception and 16-yard rush and Knight blowing past defenders for a huge 23-yard rush. These plays set up a 28-yard field-goal attempt for sophomore kicker Christopher Dunn, who rang it in to bring the score to 7-3.
For the first time in nearly a month, NC State took the lead in a game, after a 15-yard pass to junior Emeka Emezie. This catch was good for Emezie’s second touchdown of the season. The last time NC State held a lead in a game was against the Syracuse Orange, when the team won 16-10.
“There was some good pressure on them early,” Doeren said. “I thought we battled our butts off in the first half.”
On a baffling case of blown coverage on a third and 14 for the Cardinals, Cunningham lobbed it deep to Atwell for a 74-yard touchdown in just over a minute on the drive to open the second half. Redshirt senior Jarius Morehead was supposed to be in coverage for the play, but ran to the sideline on a cover two, giving Atwell a wide-open look.
Immediately following the Cardinal touchdown, freshman returner Keyon Lesane fumbled on a jet sweep. Louisville capitalized on this opportunity, scoring on a 42-yard touchdown on a wheel route that redshirt junior Brock Miller covered. However, Louisville kicker Ryan Chalifoux’s rough day continued after missing a field goal earlier in the game, as he missed an extra point, though the score still stood at 20-10 in favor of Louisville.
Cunningham had another touchdown in the third quarter, and it was yet another case of blown coverage by the depleted secondary, with Cunningham finding a wide-open Ean Pfeifer. This marked Cunningham’s fourth touchdown to four different receivers, the only four receivers he had thrown to at that point.
Leary’s second touchdown pass came in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, dropping off a pass to sophomore Ricky Person Jr. in the end zone, who returned to action from injury for the first time since the Florida State loss.
“It felt good to be back on the field with my brothers,” Person said. “I’ve been out since the Florida State game, and I’ve worked my ass off to get back out here.”
Early in the fourth quarter, Louisville seemed to have been stopped by the NC State defense at the goal line, but on fourth and goal, Chalifoux faked a field goal and caught a wide-open Marshon Ford in the end zone due to redshirt sophomore Isaiah Moore leaving coverage.
“We just had some missed assignments,” said freshman Drake Thomas, who finished the game with a sack and a pass deflection. “We just have to go back and look at the film and see what happened and fix it for this upcoming week. We have a short week, so we have to get back to the film room and fix what we messed up on.”
Next, the Wolfpack will travel to the Bobby Dodd Stadium to take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on a short week, playing on Thursday night. Following this, the Pack returns to Carter-Finley for its final game of the season against its archnemesis, UNC-Chapel Hill.
Freshman wide receiver Keyon Lesane runs versus Louisville on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019 at Carter-Finley stadium. Lesane had 18 receiving yards in two receptions in the 34-20 loss.
