NC State 26 Wake Forest 6: Initial Thoughts

NC State improved to 7-3 on the year, and 4-2 in ACC play, after defeating Wake Forest 26-6 on the road this afternoon.

If I’m honest, after the Louisville loss, and especially after the Duke loss, I wasn’t sure NC State would win another game in 2023. Surprisingly, the Wolfpack found a way to defeat Clemson and Miami at home, with the home team entering as underdogs in each matchup. MJ Morris was the Quarterback in both of those victories, but the Sophomore announced this week that he had made the decision to redshirt the remainder of the season. Insert Brennan Armstrong, who had been previously benched after the Louisville game, and no one quite knew what to expect in Winston-Salem today.

Armstrong has handled everything this season with the utmost class, and today he handled business on the field, leading the Wolfpack to a victory in a place that they had won 2 of the last 11.

NC State dominated the line of scrimmage rushing for 268 yards, which is a season high. Armstrong led the way, rushing for 96 yards and a touchdown, averaging 6.4 yards per carry. Swiss Army Knife Kevin Concepcion rushed for 86 yards on 5 carries, averaging an audacious 17.2 yards per carry. In recent memory, Wolfpack Running Backs haven’t received many rushing attempts, but that wasn’t the case today. True Freshman Kendrick Raphael rushed 15 times for 54 yards and Delbert Mimms III rushed 13 times for 35 yards and a touchdown.

The Wolfpack defense held Wake Forest to 163 yards of total offense, which is the least amount of yards produced by an opponent this season.

Let’s not breeze by the fact that Armstrong was also efficient in the passing game, completing 12 of 17 for 111 yards and a touchdown, with a Passing Efficiency Rating of 144.8 (2nd highest of the season, besides his performance against VMI).

To say that NC State dominated the time of possession battle is an understatement. The Wolfpack possessed the ball for 40:16, and Wake Forest only had the ball in their hands for 19:44.

NC State also won the turnover battle 2 to 1. True Freshman Kendrick Raphael did fumble the ball, but Sean Brown intercepted a pass, and Shyheim Battle recovers a fumble caused by Robert Kennedy III. Also, Linebacker Jaylon Scott had a pick-2 on a Wake Forest 2-point conversion attempt.

Also, this little nugget won’t do it justice, but Cornerback Aydan White was dominant, recording 3 pass breakups.

The Wolfpack will face a Virginia Tech team on the road next week that shares the same conference record of 4-2.

This season has been a weird one, but this Wolfpack fan is proud.