ATLANTA — NC State football fell short to Georgia Tech 28-26 after coming back from a third-quarter, 18-point deficit at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia Thursday night.
This was one of the winnable games on NC State’s (4-7, 1-6 ACC) schedule and based on the second half, it shouldn’t have been close. However, Georgia Tech (3-8, 2-6 ACC) capitalized on a number of errors in the first half and held on just enough to get its second ACC win.
“[The first half] was horrible,” said head coach Dave Doeren. “To be honest, they were calling each other out [at the half]. I didn’t have to say a whole lot. And not in a negative way, just guys saying, ‘This ain’t us, what are we doing?’ Everything has been about executing and doing your job, and we didn’t.”
The first play from scrimmage is telling of the whole season: a 54-yard deep ball given up by the NC State defense. The Yellow Jackets practically walked into the end zone from there as two plays later was a 17-yard touchdown pass from quarterback James Graham.
However, the Pack’s following offensive drive provided a reason for hope as redshirt freshman quarterback Devin Leary got down inside the red zone, using a fourth-and-1 QB sneak conversion to get there. Doeren made a second attempt at moving the chains on a fourth-and-2 from the 10, but freshman running back Zonovan Knight couldn’t convert from the wildcat formation.
After a pair of punts, one from each side, Georgia Tech got moving again with a 48-yard run from running back Jordan Mason. Fortunately for NC State, redshirt sophomore defensive end Ibrahim Kante forced a fumble two plays later and graduate defensive tackle Larrell Murchison recovered it.
It was for nothing though, as NC State went three-and-out and the Yellow Jackets took over at midfield. After five consecutive rushing plays for GT, Graham throws another touchdown pass and the Pack was quickly down 14-0 early in the second quarter.
Another trade of punts set up the only scoring drive for NC State for most of the game, an 18-play, 93-yard drive ending in a field goal from the Yellow Jackets’ 3-yard line. The 8-minute drive consisted of 14 rushes. For the first time in the game, and recent memory it feels like, the Pack put together a long, consistent possession, but instead of going for it again, it took the conservative points.
With just over a minute left in the first half, NC State was about to get the ball back with a chance to make it a close game before half, but instead, redshirt sophomore Thayer Thomas muffed in NC State’s territory. Of course, Georgia Tech recovered and after a roughing the passer penalty on redshirt sophomore linebacker Isaiah Moore, Graham threw his third touchdown of the game making it 21-3 at the half.
“I thought the last two minutes of the first half really hurt us,” Doeren said. “We had a scoring drive, a three-and-out and getting the ball back with a chance to go score, and we fumble the punt. I know no one feels worse about that than Thayer [Thomas]. To give them that field position before the half, and then they score, was tough.”
The Pack defense was simply unable to stop GT’s offense, which had been horrendous so far this season. At the half, the Yellow Jackets averaged 8.2 yards per play on 6.3 yards a carry and 20 yards a completion.
After receiving the second-half kickoff, NC State put together a 12-play, 71-yard drive and this time it ended in a touchdown: a 4-yard run by Knight. Again it was a heavy dose of ground game that got NC State on the board to make it 21-10. Knight finished with 18 carries for 100 yards. Fellow back freshman Jordan Houston also had a big day with 89 yards on 16 touches.
Georgia Tech struck right back with an 11-play touchdown drive to seemingly put the game out of reach, but shockingly, NC State made it a game again. An almost identical 11-play drive from the Pack ended in another Dunn field goal to make it 28-13. Then, after a couple of plays, GT’s Graham fumbled again, recovered by Murchison at the NC State 36-yard line. The most explosive drive of the night for Leary followed as back-to-back throws to graduate receiver Tabari Hines totaled 60 yards to get inside the 5-yard line.
Redshirt junior tight end Cary Angeline was on the receiving end of the 4-yard touchdown that made it 28-20 with 12 minutes remaining. The momentum switched dramatically as the Pack, all of a sudden, looked like it was prepared to win. The Yellow Jackets were forced to punt on the next drive after a wacky third-down play where redshirt freshman corner Malik Dunlap nearly picked off Graham but instead was ruled a GT catch after it popped into the air. After review, it was ruled incomplete.
With one final chance to tie the game, NC State drove down the field in five minutes and found the end zone via sophomore running back Ricky Person Jr., who leaped across the line. The drive started with six straight rushes, ended with four straight and had three passing plays in the middle.
Down by two, Doeren obviously elected to go for the tie. Leary rolled out right but all of his options were covered, so he turned to throw it to Angeline, who was leaking out left, but overthrew the target with pressure in his face. Leary finished passing 19-for-31 for 227 yards and one touchdown.
“It’s just something that we have designed up that we work on a lot during the week,” Leary said. “We have a whole bunch of different two-point plays for that certain scenario. They covered it pretty well, the way that we ran it, and it just didn’t work out for us.”
The Jackets ran the rest of the clock out after receiving the kick and NC State’s hopes of going bowling were shattered as the clock hit zeros. After making five straight bowl games, it’s a tough pill to swallow
“I feel bad for our seniors,” Doeren said. “I love those kids and for them not to have a bowl game …. We are going to make this a special week for them, with the last week, senior day at Carter-Finley against our rival.
NC State returns home next Saturday to face UNC-Chapel Hill, which will likely be playing for a bowl game, on senior day to put the final stamp on an emotional season.
