RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina State’s offense sputtered, then misplaced the preseason Atlantic Coast Convention participant of the yr whereas dealing with a second-half deficit.
For Devan Boykin, that meant the protection must drive the 14th-ranked Wolfpack to its comeback Saturday night time.
“After halftime,” he stated, “we knew that the sport was going to be on us.”
Boykin picked off Jordan Travis’ cross in the long run zone with 38 seconds left, lifting N.C. State previous Florida State 19-17 regardless of shedding quarterback Devin Leary to damage.
Boykin’s clear catch in the long run zone was the clinching play on an enormous — and gritty — efficiency by the Wolfpack’s veteran protection after halftime. N.C. State held Florida State (4-2, 2-2) to 93 yards after the break, serving to the Wolfpack rally from a 17-3 halftime deficit.
Christopher Dunn additionally kicked 4 area targets, together with a 53-yarder early within the fourth and the go-ahead 27-yard rating with 6:33 left.
The Wolfpack wanted each little bit of it, too, contemplating how daunting issues seemed when Leary went down late within the third. He was hit whereas making an attempt to throw and suffered an damage to his proper arm or shoulder, returning later to the sideline along with his arm in a sling. That pressured backup Jack Chambers into responsibility for an offense that was preventing for many of its good points even with Leary within the recreation.
“This group does not give up,” Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren stated. “They do not flinch.”
Travis and the Seminoles discovered success earlier than halftime with a number of chunk good points, together with a 71-yard keeper by Travis that arrange a fast landing drive.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW A PHOTO GALLERY OF THE GAME.
However Travis threw interceptions on every of the Seminoles’ final two drives, one into site visitors close to midfield with about 6 1/2 minutes left and the opposite when he lofted the ball for Mycah Pittman after the Seminoles had pushed to the 23 needing a area objective for the lead.
“We made a whole lot of errors there within the second half that we have to have the ability to overcome,” Florida State coach Mike Norvell stated. “And it is all people. I simply instructed the group: that end result is 100% on me.”
THE TAKEAWAY
FSU: The Seminoles had managed their first 4-0 begin since 2015 earlier than falling at residence to No. 15 Wake Forest final weekend. They seemed prepared to return again with a powerful win by pushing out to the 17-3 lead, solely to sputter after halftime with their share of errors — together with a weird one when punter Alex Mastromanno carried the ball previous the road of scrimmage and kicked it away for a penalty that led to a spot turnover and arrange one in all Dunn’s area targets.
Norvell stated he thought Mastromanno misplaced observe of the place he was after avoiding a rush to begin his scramble.
“It was simply every part that might go unsuitable actually in that second half actually confirmed up,” Norvell stated.
N.C. State: A season of excessive expectations hit its first bump with final week’s loss to No. 5 Clemson, which put the Wolfpack in catch-up mode within the Atlantic Division race behind the preseason ACC favourite. Dropping Leary for any time will not assist the Wolfpack’s speedy targets to push for a 10-win season, although it was a powerful present of resilience all the identical.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
N.C. State fell 4 spots from No. 10 after the Clemson loss. It is unclear how this efficiency, or Leary’s potential absence, will influence the Wolfpack’s place in Sunday’s subsequent AP High 25 ballot.
PACK INJURIES
Doeren stated X-rays revealed no fracture on Leary and he’ll have an MRI for additional analysis on Sunday. N.C. State additionally misplaced receiver Devin Carter and operating again Demie Sumo-Karngbaye to accidents on this one as properly.
EXTRA POINTS
Travis threw for 181 yards and a first-half landing to go along with his two interceptions for FSU. … Leary accomplished 10 of 21 passes for 130 yards with one TD and one interception. … Chambers ran seven instances for 39 yards and did not full his solely cross. … Florida State kicker Ryan Fitzgerald made a 47-yard area objective shortly earlier than halftime. He had missed 4 of 5 coming in. … N.C. State defensive again Shyheim Battle was ejected for focusing on on the Seminoles’ last drive.
DIMLY LIT
Saturday’s kickoff was delayed barely due to a pregame lighting downside.
The sport was set to kick off round 8:10 p.m. However because the solar went down, the stadium lights in Carter-Finley Stadium remained off with solely ribbon and scoreboard lights providing illumination of the dimly lit area.
The varsity stated the sport wouldn’t begin for 47 minutes as soon as the lights come on, although that in the end amounted to a delay of only a few minutes past the scheduled TV kickoff time.
UP NEXT
Florida State: The Seminoles host No. 5 Clemson subsequent Saturday.
N.C. State: Syracuse hosts the Wolfpack subsequent Saturday.
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