NOTEBOOK: State Can't Make A Big Play Late
Ryan Finley dug his head into the turf of Ernie Davis Legends Field. The graduate quarterback had a shot to bring the North Carolina State back. The Wolfpack had trailed nearly the whole game.
An early touchdown, a 67-yard bomb down the field to Emeka Emezie put NC State in a position it wouldn’t find itself again: leading.
Three unanswered touchdowns from the Orange broke the game open. But a late run from NC State gave them a chance to push ahead on its own side of the field. Finley dropped back on third and 10 and tossed the ball out to the right flank.
But the pass landed in the hands of SU linebacker Andrew Armstrong who fell to the ground immediately and hopped to his feet to celebrate as Finley collapsed.
"I threw a pick,” Finley said. "Yep."
A late interception from Finley sealed the Wolfpack’s fate in a 51-41 loss to Syracuse. In a night where each offensive unit was working, NC State came up short of making plays in pivotal moments of the game.
Emeka Emezie waltzed into the endzone on the Wolfpack’s second drive of the game. The Orange started with a quick three and out and a strong drive, but since taking a sack in the redzone looked inferior. At the start of the Orange’s second drive, Tanner Ingle stopped Sean Riley at the 11 yard line after he took the ball out of the endzone on the kickoff. He hopped up and looked down at Riley, whose quick cut to the inside was to no avail.
Though the early game action gave NC State hope, as the NC State offense cooled down, the Orange started to explode. After the touchdown, the Wolfpack faced multiple three and outs. Reggie Gallaspy was stood up on his runs. Finley couldn’t hit his targets. On one play, Andre Cisco did a celebratory step over Emeka Emezie after a pass breakup.
The frustration began to mount for the Wolfpack. Emezie grabbed the ball of the floor in the first quarter and pounded it back to the ground. The sophomore was streaking behind the play that sent a Finely pass incomplete for the Wolfpack’s second-straight three and out after the early touchdown.
After Dungey’s long throw, the Orange, contrastly, began to roll. Its 24 in the first quarter was a season-high. Jamal Custis, Sean Riley and Nykeim Johnson all traded tough grabs. The Orange even asserted dominance on special teams. Following a long gain early in the game, Riley stopped, shimeyed and pounded his chest. When NC State finally got configured and tempered the SU attack, the offense couldn’t pull through.
“Defense gave us a shot down the stretch there,” Finley said. “Just didn’t make it happen.”
As SU offensive linemen Andrejas Duering and Evan Adams hugged following the Orange’s last touchdown, NC State defenders moved slowly and remained emotionless. The blowout of earlier long gone, but with just over a minute left in the game the fact settled in players’ mind: this one wouldn’t be theirs.
"We need to win every possession,” NC State head coach Dave Doeren said. “But that’s the kind of game it was.”
Pratt Leads Poor Defensive Effort
A season-high sack total and overall strong defensive game weren’t enough for the Wolfpack to leave the Carrier Dome with a win. Pratt nearly matched his season sack total of three with 2.5 sacks on the game. The graduate linebacker made plays everywhere on the field for the Wolfpack, recording 14 total tackles and impacted nearly every Syracuse offensive play that was sent out to the short sideline.
“We got to get back to playing NC State defense,” Germaine Pratt said.
In the second half, Germaine Pratt came out of the pile with the ball. He skipped and held the ball up as he approached the Wolfpack sideline. It wasn’t in celebration, but rather agony. It was to escape the pile the ball once was, where Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey lay with his body past the goalline. When the officials raised their hands overhead, Pratt tossed the ball and yelled.
The NC State defense was shredded by the Orange all game. Pratt said the difficult part of containing the SU offense was the up-tempo play of the Syracuse players. Pratt insisted he wasn’t tired, but the frequent plays got the best of the unit as a whole.
The 51 SU points were the most NC State allowed to an opponent all season, including its road matchup to Clemson last week. Syracuse scored 24 in the first quarter along, which was a season-high. Prior to Saturday, the Wolfpack allowed just 20.8 points per game to opponents.
“Several times we were right there,” Doeren said, “we just didn’t make a play on the ball.”
Career-Best Performance
Kelvin Harmon had a career-high 247 yards in the loss and added two scores to keep the Wolfpack in the game. While the Orange’s offense wouldn’t be contained, neither would Harmon, whose acrobatic grabs and long runs down the field created separation on multiple occasions.
“I feel like it was just film study,” Kelvin Harmon “We were trying to attack their weakness all game.”
When asked what SU’s weakness was, the receiver said that its corners don’t play as physical, a facet of his game he said he feels he excels in.
Still down 10 midway through the fourth quarter, Harmon flexed to the SU sideline. The Wolfpack were driving down the field and two plays later, Finley found Harmon again for another touchdown, his second on the day.
The score put the Wolfpack within striking distance and in position to push ahead starting a drive with three minutes remaining. But it ultimately ended with Finley’s miscue.
Regardless, Kelvin Harmon was outstanding and continues his dominant individual season for the Wolfpack.
Up In The Air
The game, which following strong defensive stands from both teams quickly became a shootout, featured monstrous receiving numbers from both sides. The Wolfpack and the Orange both combined to toss for 953 yards through the air.
"They have an explosive offense,” Finley said.