Sloppy Ending for the NC State Wolfpack

Raleigh, N.C. – Another week with the elements against them, the NC State Wolfpack unfortunately lost to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at home inside Carter-Finley Stadium, 38-14, after giving up 31 unanswered points.

In the first half, the Wolfpack started with an unexpected fumble on their first drive, putting the Demon Deacons in the red zone, they converted it into a score to take an early 7-0 lead. NC State quickly turned it around with a perfectly thrown 24-yard touchdown pass from CJ Bailey to wide receiver Chance Robinson. Midway through the second quarter, CJ Bailey drove the Wolfpack downfield, and Will Wilson threw a 2-yard pass to Hunter Providence for a one-handed touchdown, making it 14-7. Just before halftime, the Demon Deacons got into field goal range and converted (14-10) after mind-blowing penalties and pivotal mistakes by the Wolfpack defense.

Then the second half happened, and this is the best way to describe what transpired in front of the fans and everyone watching at home: “What’s going on? What happened?” The team made no effective halftime adjustments. The Wolfpack defense disappeared, leading to countless mistakes, missed tackles, head-scratching penalties, and missed alignments. They were dominated on both sides of the ball, or, putting it nicely, they lacked fundamentals.  The Wolfpack were outscored by 24 points after halftime, which fits what NC State has shown this season: another difficult second-half performance.

Some of the glaring issues in this game were NC State’s inability to sustain offensive drives and generate enough points, which might have contained the explosiveness of Wake Forest’s offense and kept the game competitive. CJ Bailey finished 28-for-39, threw for 241 yards and a touchdown, but a quarterback can’t do everything, especially when the team managed a pathetic 15 rushing yards all game.

Still, it comes back to NC State’s defense and the breakdown: they struggled to contain Wake Forest quarterback Gio Lopez, who went 26-for-33, throwing for 303 yards and 3 touchdowns in the air, plus a rushing touchdown. Allowing the Deacons to convert 7 of 13 third downs, going 2-for-2 on fourth down, and going 6-for-6 in the red zone is not a recipe for success.

Up next, the NC State Wolfpack will travel across the country to take on the Stanford Cardinal Friday, October 23rd at 10:30 pm on the ESPN Network.