On Saturday December 1st, NC State took care of business against a struggling ECU team. NC State scored 58 points in an easy win. The defense played well against the rush especially. Allowing only 55 rushing yards through three quarters. ECU was forced to switch quarterbacks throughout the game.
The offense for NC State was working on all ends. The rush and the pass were both effective as Finley threw for 400 yards with three touchdowns and Reggie Gallaspy rushed for 220 yards and two touchdowns. The Wolfpack accumulated over 700 yards of total offense while scoring on an efficient rate putting up 58 points. Jacoby Meyers led the team in receiving with 163 yards.
The NC State defense also held the Pirates to only 3 points as ECU kicks a field goal at the end of the game to avoid the shut out. The wolf pack defense also forced 2 turnovers in the secondary. Morehead and McCloud both accounted for an interception. Winning the turnover battle was key to a hot start and allowed the offense to build a comfortable lead. The storyline from this game was whether our defensive secondary could hold ECU’s young quarter in check as the secondary has struggled in the past this season.
The season comes to an end on an impressive win. NC State was able let it all loose in today’s game after a stressful win over UNC in Chapel Hill. This game served as a replacement game for the previously scheduled West Virginia game. State hitting 9 wins for the second straight season. Things definitely seem to be looking up for the pack football program. Moving forward in other seasons a key point to focus on is finishing games late in the season where the pack are favored. We saw that this year as Wake Forest was able to come into Raleigh and knock off a ranked NC State team. Finishing late in the season is something that has proven difficult for NC State.
As the regular season came to an end today, the wolf pack look ahead to their bowl game and who their possible opponent may be. The wolf pack will be able to look back on their wins and losses and hopefully learn from them. Some areas to be cleaned up are the defensive backfield and the inside rush attempts. Looking back on this game especially I feel there are a lot of good takeaways. Taking notes from how the offense was affective in the redone and short yardage situations along with how they attacked the run with hard hitting blocking and hitting the gaps hard and strong. NC State also hopes to see their star freshman running back Ricky Person back in action and in time for their bowl game. Keep an eye out this Sunday for the bowl selection to see where the wolf pack will be taking their game to and possibly an interesting out of conference matchup that is sure to shake up the game plan.