Things weren’t clicking early, but as the end of the game drew closer, NC State got stronger, and they finished the Tar Heels off, winning 33-21 on senior day against their rival.
It’s amazing what a difference a healthy Nyheim Hines can make. On two consecutive offensive plays, he exploded for 54 and 48 yard touchdown runs. Hines finished the night with a career high 196 rushing yards, and two touchdowns. Prior to the two long runs, the Wolfpack trailed 14-12, and afterwards they sat with a 27-12 lead at the beginning of the 4th quarter.
Outside of biting on a play action play, that resulted in a 51-yard touchdown pass to UNC’s Ratliff-Williams in the 1st quarter, NC State’s defense was stingy. Linebacker Germaine Pratt had the best game of his career, collecting 10 tackles (1 for loss) and an interception. Defensive Tackle B.J. Hill was a vacuum in the middle, snagging 8 tackles of his own (1.5 for loss) and a sack.
UNC did a good job keeping Jaylen Samuels and Kelvin Harmon in check, but that simply opened the door for Slot Receiver Jakobi Meyers to takeover. Meyers crossed the century mark for the third time this season, reeling in 7 receptions for 101 yards.
What Samuels couldn’t get done in the receiving game, he made up for in the running game. He rushed the ball 7 times for 53 yards, climaxing with a 10-yard touchdown run with 1:33 left on the clock to seal the deal.
The 2014 recruiting class wanted to leave the football program better than they found it, and with tonight’s victory, they did just that, giving the Wolfpack their 6th conference win for the first time since 1994, before any of them were even born.
