NC State 13 Florida State 31: OUR TAKE

Redshirt Sophomore Wide Receiver Max Fisher fumbling the ball into the end zone at the tail end of the 4th quarter wrapped a bow on a game of Wolfpack missed opportunities against FSU tonight.

• Freshman Running Back Zonovan Knight fumbled on the opponents 33-yard line.
• Started a drive on FSU’s 30-yard line…settled for a field goal.
• Kicked another field goal from within the 10-yard line.
• Sophomore Place Kicker Chris Dunn missed a 42-yard field goal.
• Sophomore Ricky Person couldn’t get past the line of scrimmage on 4th and 1 on the Seminoles 36-yard line.
• With the 1st half coming to a close, Redshirt Sophomore Defensive End Xavier Lyas and Sophomore Free Safety Tanner Ingle both committed personal foul penalties on 3rd downs that would have resulted in a FSU punt. As a result, the Seminoles scored a touchdown with 58 seconds left in the halftime.

The game wasn’t nearly as one-sided as the score would have you believe. NC State actually had more total yards (370/369) and 1st downs (24/22).

That’s not to say the game was a pretty offensive Wolfpack performance outside of a handful of mistakes.

It was a hot mess, yet it should have been a lot closer.

Once again Doeren rolled out Redshirt Sophomore Quarterback Matt McKay to start the game, but he was yanked after 3 unproductive drives (3/7 for 20 yards). Redshirt Sophomore Bailey Hockman ran out onto the field staring at his former team across the line of scrimmage, looking to prove to both teams that he was the spark plug they both needed in the past and the present.

Hockman finished the night with pedestrian numbers, completing 21 of 40 passes for 208 yards and a touchdown. The ball came out of a different hand, but it still went over receivers heads like the quarterback who was pulled.

The quarterback battle between McKay, Hockman, and Redshirt Freshman Devin Leary has been the conversation since the end of last season, and they all saw the field tonight. Leary entered the game in the final Wolfpack drive of the game, after Hockman limped off the field. I don’t want to be too geeked out about one drive in garbage time, but Leary didn’t looked phased one bit. He was sharp and confident, completing 4 of 5 for 54 yards.

I’m not a football coach. I’m not at practice everyday, but this armchair quarterback would give Leary some serious reps against Syracuse on October 10th.

The depth and talent in the Running Backs room has been a security blanket for Wolfpack through 4 games, but the game ended with True Freshman Jordan Houston being the lone back in the backfield at the end of the game. Zonovan Knight fumbled the ball early, and didn’t see much of the field after that. Ricky Person was taken off the field in a cart with what looked to be a serious lower leg injury (x-ray came back negative). In my opinion, Houston hasn’t taken one wrong step in 2019, and the pattern continued tonight, rushing for 61 yards, averaging 6.8 yards per carry.

Florida State might have put 31 points on the board, but the Wolfpack defense played their hearts out, tallying 14 tackles for loss and 8 sacks. Redshirt Senior Larrell Murchison had 3.5 sacks alone. Redshirt Freshman Payton Wilson tied for the team lead in tackles with 7, and a couple of them were more reminiscent of clothesline’s seen on WWE RAW.

Don’t get it twisted. This isn’t a untalented FSU squad. In fact, they have the most talent in the ACC according to 247Sports Team Talent Composite calculations.

With that being said, the Seminoles were fortunate enough to get a messy NC State football team tonight that still hasn’t figured out who they are yet.