#24 NC State 22 Virginia Tech 21: By the Numbers

I love stats and I love numbers, so here’s a look at #24 NC State’s 22-21 victory over Virginia Tech By The Numbers.

• NC State has won 15 straight games at Carter-Finley Stadium.
  • That’s the 2nd longest home winning streak in school history.
  • If they find a way to beat #10 Wake Forest next week at home, they will tie the school record of a 16-game home winning streak under Lou Holtz from 1972-75.
• True Freshman M.J. Morris was 20/29 for 265 yards and 3 touchdowns.
  • Morris hadn’t thrown a touchdown prior to this game.
  • The last time a True Freshman put up these numbers was in 2000, and his name was Philip Rivers.
• Virginia Tech scored 21 unanswered points.
  • Then NC State scored 19 unanswered points.
• Thayer Thomas’ 10 receptions were his highest total in 2022.
  • That’s his 2nd highest reception total in a single game.
  • Thomas had 11 receptions against FSU in 2020.
• NC State made sure history didn’t happen with Chris Dunn’s 35-yard field goal with 5 seconds left in the first half.
  • If Dunn had missed, the score would have been 0-0 at the half.
  • NO game in college football has ended 0-0 at the half in 2022.
• Speaking of Chris Dunn, he is still perfect on the year, connecting on all 15 of his field goal attempts.
• NC State’s Defense shut Out VT in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Quarters.
  • They gave up 21 points in the 3rd Quarter.
• Tight End Trent Pennix caught his first touchdown of the year.
  • This was Pennix’s first game since the season opener when he was injured.
• True Freshman Terrell Timmons caught his first career collegiate passes (2).
  • The 43-yard bomb that he caught within the 10-yard line was the highlight.
• NC State broke a 5-game losing streak against the Hokies.
  • The last time the Wolfpack beat VT was in 2004.
  • The last time NC State beat the Hokies in Raleigh was 1991.
• Believe it or not, even with as dismal as the offense was in the first half, NC State had 356 yards of Total Offense, which is the most since the UCONN game in Week 4 (492).
  • That only happened because Tim Beck was forced to open the playbook to come from behind. Good things can happen when you don’t run all your plays behind the line of scrimmage or within a few yards from it.
• Jack Chambers attempted 4 screen passes.
  • MJ Morris attempted 1.
• The Wolfpack defense held the Hokies to 293 yards Total Offense, which is the lowest total since the UCONN game (160).
• NC State had 4 sacks, which was a season high.
  • Linebacker Payton Wilson had 2.
• As a team, the Wolfpack averaged a dismal 1.8 yards per rush attempt.
  • The only game worse than that this year was against Clemson (1.6).
• I miss Trenton Gill.
  • Shane McDonough averaged 39.6 yards per punt on 8 stinking punts.

I’m sure I could analyze numbers on this game more…but that’s all for now.