NOTEBOOK: Finley sharp, defense contains Brady in Pack win
For the second-straight year—this time on the road—NC State defeated Marshall by a score of 37-20 as it swept the schools’ home-and-home series and improved to a 3-0 record.
"I thought it was a really good team win," NC State head coach Dave Doeren said. "On offense, when the defense needed them to step up, they did it every time. On defense, when the offense needed them to step up, they did it every time."
Though Saturday’s game resulted in the exact same score as last season’s, the Wolfpack used a different strategy against the Herd. Namely, NC State made adjustments and contained the offensive prowess that Marshall senior wide receiver Tyre Brady brought to the table in last year’s matchup. Brady, whose 248 receiving yards broke a Carter-Finely Stadium record last season, caught just three passes for 25 yards in the Wolfpack’s win Saturday.
"We know what he did to us last year," redshirt junior safety Jarius Morehead said. "We just came out and did what coaches said—execute the calls."
The Wolfpack never trailed in the game and held Marshall to a season-low 20 points. Despite its slow start on offense, NC State’s defense held the Herd to just seven points on 146 total yards in the first half. With a 20-point second quarter, the Wolfpack sported a 16-point lead at halftime—a lead it held for the rest of the game.
"That’s all I talked about this week, focusing on doing your job—watch the film—making sure your position group does the things they’re supposed to do," Doeren said. "When we do that, we’re really good on defense and I thought that happened a lot tonight."
Graduate quarterback Ryan Finley and junior wide receiver Kelvin Harmon posted season-high numbers in the win. Finley completed 23 of his 40 pass attempts for 377 yards and 1 touchdown, while Harmon yielded six receptions for a game-high 150 yards.
On the ground, senior running back Reggie Gallaspy Jr. posted a game-high 85 rushing yards with two touchdowns off 22 carries. Doeren said he liked what he saw in the Wolfpack’s ground game.
"I thought we had more movement," Doeren said. "There was a lot more 4-yard, 5-yard, 6-yard type runs, as opposed to one, two and three’s we were having before."
Undefeated
As NC State‘s schedule shifts to in-conference play, the Wolfpack’s 3-0 record provides confidence as it heads home to play Virginia (3-1). Clemson (4-0), Syracuse (4-0) and NC State are the only undefeated teams in the ACC Atlantic and Duke (4-0) is the only other undefeated team in the entire conference.
"We put ourselves in a good position going into conference play," Doeren said. "We’re right where we want to be. We have to get healthy in a few spots and get ready to play a really good Virginia team."
NC State is 34-22 historically against Virginia. However, last time the Cavaliers traveled to Raleigh I 2012, they won 33-6.
First road win
Due to the cancelation of NC State’s matchup with WVU, Marshall was possibly NC State’s biggest test thus far in the season. Though the Wolfpack handled business in its first two games, winning in Huntington—where the Herd has the best home record in the FBS—is a daunting task. In its first road game of the season, however, NC State proved its ability to win in a hostile environment.
"This is a tough game here and when you come up here and look at the history of this program, it’s a pretty neat place to play,” Doeren said. “When you play in a place where 83 percent of the teams come in here and lose, that’s a pretty good win."
In addition Marshall’s stellar home record, Saturday’s crowd was the 12th-largest in Joan C. Edwards Stadium history. Doeren said the experience could come in handy when it makes a trip to Clemson in October.
"Anytime we can play with some crowd noise in a hostile environment, it’ll help us down the road," Doeren said.
Third down conversions
The Wolfpack was stellar in third down as led NC State to nine conversions out of 16 attempts. Marshall, comparatively, converted just 6 of its 17 third downs and the Wolfpack forced five Herd punts. Doeran said third down conversions have been a trend for the Wolfpack.
“We’ve done that for the last two weeks and it’s a big deal,” Doeren said. “Defense did a great job on third down.”
The Wolfpack is 15-25 on third down conversions this season.
Makeable field goals
NC State scored in five of its six red zone trips. Despite its two red zone touchdowns, Marshall forced the Wolfpack to kick a field goal three times. Freshman place kicker Chris Dunn was up to the task, as he hit all three of them in his 3-4 performance. Dunn said his teammates pick him up and give him confidence to perform well.
“Tyler Griffiths, A.J. Cole, Kyle Bambard have all kind of taken me under their wing,” Dunn said. “Just listening to them and their elderly advice. They’ve been where I’m at now, they’ve definitely encouraged me.”
Dunn’s nine points were crucial due to NC State’s trouble scoring red zone touchdowns. He is 6-8 in field goals (long of 32) on the season.
“He’s a pretty good kicker,” Doeren said. “We have to get more touchdowns in the red zone. We got held to field goals. Our coverage units have to do a better job but there was a lot of good stuff tonight.”
Stomping momentum
Marshall cut NC State’s deficit to six points in the third quarter as a hit by redshirt sophomore linebacker Jaquan Yulee forced a fumble that the Herd recovered for a touchdown. As it did multiple times in the game, however, the Wolfpack quickly responded with a Jarius Morehead pick-six that brought about the 37-20 final score.
“I saw that (Isaiah Green) was throwing a vert and I saw the retrievers retreat back because the quarterback started scrambling,” Morehead said. “I was just reading his eyes and followed where the ball was going.”