NC State Football

OUR TAKE on NC State’s 37-20 takedown of Marshall

Published

6 years ago

on

Ryan Finley was clicking on all cylinders and the Wolfpack secondary was in shut-down mode as the Pack rolled to a 37-20 win over Marshall.

Finley was elite
Ryan Finely showed why so many think he’s one of the nation’s top signal callers. He did it all in this one, throwing for a season-high 377 yards and adding a TD. This was his 13th 300-yard game at NC State. That puts him in sole possession of 2nd place in that category, only trailing Philip Rivers (19).

Finley was on-target all night. He was great in the pocket, he was accurate on the run, and CBS Sports couldn’t stop talking about his ability to throw the back-shoulder fade. He connected with Kelvin Harmon 6 times for 150 yards and with Emeka Emezie 6 times for 69 yards and a score. Here is one of those more impressive hook-ups.

Harmon keeps showing big play ability
Coming into the season, Kelvin Harmon was the WR everyone was talking about, but after week one the story was Jakobi Meyers and even after his big week 2, the story was Thayer Thomas. This week, however, it’s all about Harmon. The junior WR made big play after big play for the Pack, and while he still hasn’t gotten into the end zone this season. He’s making it clear that time is coming sooner rather than later. Harmon finished the night with 6 receptions for 150 yards.

The NC State secondary stood their ground
In last year’s meeting between these two teams, the NC State secondary got destroyed by WR Tyre Brady who went for 248 yards and a TD. Then QB Chase Litton threw for 350 yards and 2 TDs and the Pack’s corners looked helpless. Things looked a lot different this year.

NC State held Marshall QB Isaiah Green to 270 yards and a TD. They picked him off twice and forced him into a 23.1 QB rating. As for Tyre Brady? He had a quiet evening, going for 3 catches and 25 yards.

NC State can kick FGs again!!
Football is a tough game. It’s even tougher when the only way to score is to get in the end zone. Over the past 2 seasons, NC State has been downright awful in the kicking game. Those days, however, seem to be over.

Freshman kicker Christopher Dunn went 3/4 on FGs in this one, and while his long was only 34 yards, it’s nice to finally have the option of going for 3 and getting some points on the board when a drive stalls.

Emeka Emezie gets the toughness award
As good as Ryan Finley was in this one, he did hang Emezie out to dry a few times in the first half. In the span of 10 minutes Emezie caught a pass across the middle (thrown high) and was sandwiched between 2 defenders (he made the catch) and was forced to head to the sidelines holding his lower back. When he returned Finley threw to him again, high and across the middle. This one he didn’t come down with, but was hit during his jump and flipped over by the safety sending him to the sidelines once again.

Emezie, however, would have the last laugh as he put the nail in Marshall’s coffin with this TD catch.

Wolfpack running game decent, but still not where it needs to be
Reggie Gallaspy wasn’t bad in this one, and even finished with 2 TDs, but his 81 yards on 22 carries leaves room for improvement. Trent Pennix got into the mix a lot more with 9 carries, be he too only could muster 3.7 yards per carry and finished with 33 yards.

With freshman RB Ricky Person still injured, this NC State backfield needs to start coming together as stiffer competition approaches. If the Pack is going to successful, they need teams respecting the run and not just dropping back to slow down Finley.

With that said, you have to give Gallaspy credit around the goal line. The dude ran hard.

Next up, ACC play
The non-conference schedule is over and NC State finishes it out 3-0. They face Virginia next Saturday at 12:20. The Cavs will come to Raleigh 3-1, with a win over Louisville and a loss to Indiana.

Related Topics:
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Copyright © 2022 PackInsider LLC