In NC State’s last game before conference play, the team managed to pass through the Ball State Cardinals 34-23 despite ugly performance during some stretches of the game.
“It wasn’t pretty, but it was a good win,” said head coach Dave Doeren. “I’m really, really proud of the way the guys hung in there. We did some really good things with our punt return unit, which I thought sparked our football team in the second half.”
After a slow start, trailing the Cardinals for some of the first quarter, the Wolfpack switched things up by replacing quarterback redshirt sophomore Matthew McKay with redshirt sophomore Bailey Hockman.
“I’m glad we were able to get Bailey in the game,” Doeren said. “It was just an opportunity to see him when it wasn’t mop-up duty, and to give him that opportunity. I think it sparked Matt a little bit.”
After McKay returned to the game later in the second quarter, the offense seemed to find its footing. The Pack was able to rush for two touchdowns in the second quarter, one belonging to Mckay and the other belonging to sophomore running back Ricky Person Jr., to end the half at 20-7.
In the second half, special teams led the way. Redshirt sophomore Thayer Thomas was able to run a 76-yard punt return for a touchdown, the first punt return touchdown for the Pack since the 2017 season. In addition, redshirt sophomore wide receiver Max Fisher had a punt block, leading the Pack to another touchdown.
One issue for NC State was penalties, as the Wolfpack got caught many times on false starts.
“We did enough to win, but still had too many penalties,” said Doeren. “Nine penalties. The pre-snap stuff.”
One call in particular that bothered Doeren was an unnecessary roughness penalty for freshman defensive end Savion Jackson.
“I don’t understand college football anymore on some of these things,” Doeren said. “How can you not tackle a guy hard? That really bothers me, just in general. You’re seeing it in the NFL and you’re seeing it in college, but some of these plays, they’re taking away the integrity of the game a little bit.”
The game was closer than it should have been, but NC State managed to pull out a victory. The win will give the team a lot more confidence going into ACC play starting next week, where the Pack will face Florida State in Tallahassee, Florida at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28.
