NC State football quick hits and notes from Texas Tech win

Here are quick hits and notes from NC State football’s 27-14 win over Texas Tech. The game was played in front of an announced crowd of 56,919 fans at Carter-Finley Stadium on a beautiful fall-like evening in Raleigh.

Column: A non-offensive win for NC State

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NC State Defense Dominates

By the time Texas Tech sophomore quarterback Donovan Smith’s night was done, the Red Raiders had managed 248 total yards on 60 plays. Over a pair of drives in the last 1:53, thanks to TT head coach Joey McGuire’s use of 3 timeouts despite the game being decided, the Red Raiders piled up 105 more total yards to make their total a bit misleading.

NC State intercepted 3 passes and recovered a muffed punt. One of those picks was returned by third-year sophomore corner Aydan White 84 yards for a touchdown. That was the longest pick six at NC State since 2001 when Marcus Hudson ran one back 100 yards against Duke.

NC State and Wisconsin are the only 2 defenses in the country to have multiple interceptions in every game.

The Wolfpack pass rush also came alive with 4 sacks among 7 total tackles for loss. Texas Tech finished with just 54 yards rushing and averaging 2.1 yards per rush.

Health Watch

NC State football had two important players leave the game with injuries.

Super senior nickel Tyler Baker-Williams, arguably the Wolfpack’s best defender through the first 2 weeks of the regular season, suffered an apparently left ankle injury in the first half. He would return before halftime, but coming out of the locker room was ruled out for the remainder of the game.

He would finish the game with 3 tackles.

Fourth-year junior running back Jordan Houston rushed 13 times for 57 yards and had a nice screen pass catch-and-run negated by a penalty before he exited after taking a knee to his head in the second half.

The Offense’s Struggles

NC State fifth-year redshirt junior quarterback Devin Leary and the passing attack struggled Saturday. Leary completed 15 of 23 passes for just 121 yards without a touchdown or interception.

For Leary, that is the fewest passing yards he’s had in a game since he completed just 7 of 20 passes vs. North Carolina for 98 yards in the 2019 season-finale for NC State football. Leary still, however, had enough passing yards to become the sixth signal caller in school history to go over 6,000 for his career. Leary is now at 6,113 yards.

Overall, the passing game struggles played a large role in the Pack offense finishing with just 270 total yards of offense. NC State had 15 first downs and averaged 4.4 yards per play.

Only once last year did the Wolfpack average fewer yards per play — 4.0 in the double overtime victory against Clemson. The last time NC State completed a game with less total yards (265) and first downs (13) was a lopsided loss at Wake Forest in 2019.

Spotted At The Game

NC State honored the 2021 national-champion winning women’s cross country team during the first half.

Among notable recruits included offered class of 2024 receivers Channing Goodwin and Jordan Shipp from Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day and Jonathan Paylor from Burlington (N.C.) Cummings. Paylor is considered the No. 2 prospect in the state among juniors in the On3 Consensus.

NC State Football Freshman Watch

We will keep track of this list throughout the season to see who burns their redshirt from the 2022 recruiting class, although early indications are there may not be many, if any.

Players can play up to 4 games to preserve a redshirt.

• Quarterback MJ Morris — 1 game (Charleston Southern)

What The Win Means

NC State football is 3-0 on the young season and extends the home winning streak to 12 straight, the second longest in school history. The record is 16 from 1972-75.

The last time the Pack started 3-0 was in 2018, when NC State went 9-3 during the regular season before losing to Texas A&M in the Gator Bowl.

NC State is 5-2 all-time against Texas Tech and has won the last 5 meetings in the series.