NC State locker room report: Wake Forest

NC State picked up its seventh win of the 2022 season Saturday night, dominating in all three phases of the game against Wake Forest and defending Carter-Finley Stadium once again during a 30-21 win. MJ Morris threw for 3 touchdowns, minimizing mistakes and allowing the Wolfpack defense to make plays on the way to a victory. 

After the win over their in-state rival, head coach Dave Doeren, Morris, linebacker Isaiah Moore and wide receiver Darryl Jones spoke to the media about the exciting victory. 

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NC State ties record for longest home winning streak

The Wolfpack’s Saturday night prime time win extends its home-field winning streak to 16 games, tying the program record with a chance to win No. 17 next week against a struggling Boston College team. Carter-Finley Stadium was sold out and extremely loud all night against the Demon Deacons. Doeren praised the impact of the crowd after the game.

“I thought our fans were fantastic tonight,” Doeren said. “The electricity that you brought, the cheering, the noise, it made a difference tonight. So thank you for that a special and that’s what we need every week. And when you do that, when you when you bring the encouragement and the crowd noise, you’re helping our team win.”

At the end of the game, the crowd was chanting Morris’ name as he ran off the field. That was a meaningful moment for the true freshman signal caller. He finished the game 18-28 for 210 yards and 0 turnovers.

“That experience is amazing,” Morris said. “Just those fans believing in me. I’m just going out there, playing for them, just playing for my parents, playing for the Lord. Thank you for him. Just praying, staying humble too. But it is a special experience out there, hearing my name getting chanted in front of a whole stadium and then going out there and high fiving them, it’s just great.”

MJ Morris shows off explosiveness, ability to extend plays

Morris started slow in the first quarter, overthrowing a couple of deep balls, but he quickly established a rhythm against Wake Forest. He connected with Keyon Lesane on a 44-yard pass and then found him shortly after for a 12-yard touchdown. On his second touchdown pass of the night, the NC State quarterback kept the play alive, scrambling outside the pocket and finding Jones in the end zone.

Jones knew he needed to give Morris a chance to make the play, and the duo connected for a pair of touchdowns Saturday night.

“I just ran,” Jones said. “I was like ‘I know he’s going to see me.’ I’m just running, I’m not thinking about nothing else. I’m running, I’m running, I’m running, he throws it, and I’m like ‘Yes.'”

Morris shared his thoughts on the play as well.

“That was huge for me,” Jones said. “I know that play. We’ve repped that in practice. We really had it in the game plan last week, but we didn’t run it. But I knew this week, all I had to do is give Darryl some time to get open. . .

“I knew I just had to give him a ball that he can catch, and I knew Darryl was going to do the rest from there. So I thank him for that.”

Doeren was once again super complementary of the true freshman’s performance, saying it is tough to ask much more from NC State’s true freshman signal caller.

“He’s done it in practice, he’s done it in the games,” Doeren said. “He’s got the players playing hard for him. They believe in him. He’s taking care of the football. With the exception of one delay of game, I thought he really managed the clock, got us in-and-out of some plays, and he’s way ahead of where probably we thought he would be at this point in his career, so I’m super proud of him.”

The NC State defense set the offense up for success

Last week, Wake Forest turned the ball over 8 times. NC State did not give Sam Hartman and the Demon Deacon offense a chance to breath Saturday, intercepting him 3 times on crucial drives that helped keep the momentum on the Wolfpack’s side for the vast majority of the game.

One pivotal point of the night came at the end of the first quarter with Wake Forest knocking on the door of NC State’s end zone. Moore stepped up, making three tackles to force a missed field goal attempt that preserved the Pack’s 3-0 win.

“When they got down to the one, and then we knocked him back, knocked them back, knocked them back again, and then they missed the field goal, that was a huge moment in the game,” Doeren said.

The graduate student linebacker recorded 10 total tackles tonight, including 2.5 for loss, after his grandmother passed away Thursday. He knew she was with him during that goal line stand and all throughout one of his best games of the season.

“That wasn’t me at all,” Moore said. “That was all my Nana and God. I thank them for that. My teammates put me in a great position. All I had to do is just go make the play.”

NC State ran a lot of creative blitzes that led to 4 sacks and 7 quarterback hurries, keeping Hartman on his heels. Wake Forest still picked up yards, but the Wolfpack defense came up big when it needed to.

“Wake has been a team that’s been a headache for a lot of us that’s been here four, five, six years, so to get a big win over them is huge,” Moore said. “As a defense, I think we had given up 87 points to them over the last two years. We really took this game personal. To hold them to 21, it really means a lot to us.”