NC State 33 WF 16: What Went Well?

On Saturday NC State defeated Wake Forest 33-16, and in this piece we will take a look at what went well, and obviously a lot did.

–The Wolfpack racked up 527 yards of total offense against the Deacs, which is the highest total of the 2016 season, and he third time they have gone over 500.

–QB Ryan Finley threw for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns, without an interception. The 300 yards was a career high, and the 3 touchdowns tie his career high. Finley now has 9 touchdowns and 0 interceptions through his first 4 games in the red and white. He also connected with 8 different receivers.

-RB Matt Dayes rushed 24 times for 125 yards and a touchdown. Dayes has rushed for over 100 yards in 3 of the 4 games thus far in 2016.

–WR Stephen Louis had 4 receptions for 102 yards. That’s his second game over the century mark in the last three games. After having 1 reception for 4 yards in the season opener, Louis has exploded for 12 receptions for 324 yards over the past three games. He also led all receivers with 9 targets.

-On top of Louis’ emergence, other Wolfpack receivers are showing they can be counted on as well. True Freshman WR Kelvin Harmon reeled in two touchdowns. Sophomore WR Maurice Trowell snagged four catches (tied for his career high) for 33 yards. True Freshman TE Thaddeus Moss only had 1 catch for 17 yards, but he showed he has hands like his father Randy. Redshirt Freshman QB/WR Jakobi Meyers is one of my favorite players on this team. He came here as a quarterback, and has fit in well as a wide receiver. He’s too athletic to keep off of the field. He had two catches for 28 yards, but also threw one pass for 27 yards.

-Oh yeah…Junior TE Jaylen Samuels did what he does, and led the team with 7 catches for 50 yards and a touchdown.

-Junior Safety Josh Jones might have had the best game of his career. He had 12 tackles, 1 sack and 2 pass breakups. He was everywhere. Jones wasn’t thinking, he was just instinctively playing. He runs a 4.2 40-yard dash, and he looked like it on the sack.

-The Wolfpack defense held Wake Forest to 16 points, which is commendable.

-For the first time this season NC State didn’t commit a turnover.

–NC State controlled the clock, holding the ball for almost 10 minutes longer than Wake.