Sports

McKay, NC State Hold off Ball State’s Comeback Effort

Brian Hayes

RALEIGH, N.C. – Coming into this game after suffering a disappointing 44-27 loss at West Virginia, the North Carolina State Wolfpack bounced back against the Ball State Cardinals winning 34-23. The Wolfpack effort was lead by Redshirt Quarterback Matthew McKay, who finished the game throwing 17-for-30 passes for 175 yards and an interception. McKay also rushed for 24 yards and two touchdowns on the night.

The questions coming into this game were the following: What defense would NC State show us today can the defensive line and linebackers control against the rushing attack of Ball State? Would we see go back to a run-first mentality and pound the rock down their opponent’s neck? NC State is better when they can run the ball downfield and then capitalize on play action. Last but not least could the offensive line handle the blitz and pressure to allow NC State time in the backfield to get rolling either on the ground or in the air?

It took a while before the Wolfpack got it going in the first quarter being held to only 6 points, not converting on third downs going 3-for-5, only 47 yards passing and 28 yards rushing. At that moment Ball State was out playing the Wolfpack and had the defense on its heels. Between questionable play-calling, it seemed as if the Wolfpack couldn’t get anything clicking.

It was in the second quarter that the Wolfpack turned up the gas and the pressure literally on both offense and defense. Leading the charge was McKay, who received a great prep speech throwing 10-for-13 going for 127 yards alongside a five-yard quarterback draw rushing touchdown. He wasn’t alone, with tremendous help from the two bruising running backs Ricky Person Jr and Zonovan Knight State pounded the ball for a combined 86 yards and a touchdown from Person before taking a 13-point lead in to halftime winning 20-7.

With NC State being in control you would think the Wolfpack would let off the peddle, instead following a Ball State three-and-out, Raleigh-native Thayer Thomas took a 76-yard punt back to the house giving the Wolfpack a commanding 27-7 lead. Ball State responded back with a trio of field goals (43, 43, 28 yards) from kicker Ryan Rimmler to cut the Cardinal defecit down to eleven.

 

McKay would punch in his second rushing touchdown of the night from 3-yards out to give NC State the 34-16 advantage. Coach Dave Doeren and his squad would eventually go on to win Saturday night’s game 34-23.

After the game,  McKay expressed his frustration with the lack of progression of the offensive side of the ball, “we couldn’t stay on the field in the [second] half, it was frustrating to not move the ball…we wanted to set the tone but we didn’t do that.”

There was a moment when Ball State had momentum being down eleven, but the Wolfpack shut the momentum down with an interception to put the game away in the fourth quarter.

North Carolina State proved that their defense is a group of ball-hawking playmakers and will always play with a bend-not-break mentality.

Coach Doeren stated after the game “I’m proud of the way those guys hung in there and we found a way to finish the game and win.”

However NC State continues to get penalized and make costly turnovers that need to be handled thankfully they were able to still walk away with the win, but its something they need to fix going forward. Coach Doeren spoke on this after the game

“We did enough to win, but still had too many penalties. Nine penalties. That’s pre-snap stuff.”

The disgrunted coach continued, “I don’t understand college football anymore…How can you not tackle a guy hard? That really bothers me.”

 

NC State will look to improve on penalties and offensive rhythm on the road as theNorth Carolina State Wolfpack (3-1) travels to Florida State to take on the Seminoles September 28th to began ACC Conference play, live on the ACC Network.