NC State grinds past James Madison 24-13

James Madison isn’t your run of the mill FCS opponent.

This is a program with 2 national titles under their belt, and a group that has only lost 2 times over the past two seasons. That talent showed as they gave NC State a run for their money in the season opener, but the Pack answered the bell and grinded out a 24-13 win.

#LightItRed
Final score in Raleigh:
Wolfpack – 24 Dukes – 13#1Pack1Goal pic.twitter.com/nQM7fh5ENV

— NC State Football (@PackFootball) September 1, 2018

After trailing 7-0 through the 1st quarter, the Pack woke up.

Former walk-on Thayer Thomas was the unexpected spark. His 40-yard punt return set up the Pack for a 16 yard TD from Finley to (guess who) Thayer Thomas.

Did you know: Thayer Thomas did not have a scholarship 5 months ago. Today he scores the first TD of NC State’s season (after a 40yd punt return)!https://t.co/Cr679vTLYf

— PackInsider.com (@PackInsider) September 1, 2018

About 9 minutes later, after a couple empty drives, Finley found CJ Riley for a lob and score.

But James Madison wasn’t going to go away. Their defense held in the 3rd quarter and they added a FG to make the score 17-10 going into the 4th.

With the NC State run game being shut down, it was all on Ryan Finley who kept on finding Jakobi Meyers (14 catches, 160 yds). JMU tacked on a FG to get within 4, but as Finley and the NC State offense just kept on converting on 3rd down (they were 11-16 on the day).

With time winding down, Finley found Meyers wide open thanks to some broken coverage for a 39 yard gain down the sideline.

That set up Reggie Gallaspy, who finally got it going with a 12 yard run to the 6 and a 6 yard run for the score.

Full, in-depth game breakdown in the works…stay tuned.

Final Stats:

Finley: 29-43 for 309 yards and 2 TDs
Gallaspy: 17 rushes for 68 yards and 1 TD
Jakobi Meyers: 14 catches, 160 yards
CJ Riley: 4 catches, 45 yards and 1 TD
Thayer Thomas: 1 catch for 16 yards and 1 TD