NC State’s rushing attack breaks out in dominant win over Stanford

After NC State came out of its first of two open weeks going into its matchup with Stanford, Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren admitted the team’s run game wasn’t where he wanted it to be. The Pack averaged just 106.4 yards per game on the ground, despite having a pair of backs averaging 4.8 yards or more per attempt. 

The Wolfpack’s issue remained in tackles for a loss allowed. NC State had too many runs fail in the backfield. That needed to change, and the open week appeared to be where the Pack looked deeper at its rushing attack. 

When NC State emerged from its week off, the team looked dramatically different. The offensive line moved Stanford with a purpose, opening holes for the running backs that a car could drive through. And that helped pace the Wolfpack to a 281-yard rushing performance in its 59-28 win over the Cardinal on Saturday afternoon at Carter-Finley Stadium. 

“We needed that,” Doeren said postgame. “We’ve got talented backs and it’s just been different guys at different times. … To run the football, it takes everybody doing their job. It’s five as one: five offensive linemen playing with one heartbeat. Those guys did a great job today.”

The most impressive piece about the Wolfpack’s offensive line’s ability to open gaping lanes for graduate Jordan Waters and redshirt freshman Hollywood Smothers to run through was that it came against one of the ACC’s top run defenses. Stanford was seventh in the league with 106.4 rushing yards allowed entering the game. 

But if someone watched the Wolfpack’s blowout win over the Cardinal, that would not have been noticeable. 

Waters paced the team with 5 carries for 115 yards and 2 scores, while Smothers added 16 attempts for 100 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The duo marked the first time NC State had two rushers eclipse the century mark in the same game since Zonovan Knight (163 yards) and Ricky Person (105) did that against USF on Sept. 2, 2021. 

In all, the Pack’s rushers combined to score five times, which was the most since Reggie Gallaspy II logged that number by himself in a win over UNC during the 2018 campaign.

NC State had only one rusher break the 100-yard mark this season before it faced Stanford. Waters, a Duke transfer, logged 124 yards with two touchdowns in the team’s season opener against Western Carolina. 

It had been a while since NC State’s rushing attack found fruitful results, but the stable of talent didn’t press throughout the seven games in between. They knew it was coming eventually. 

“It’s been a rough one this year,” Waters said. “Just knowing what we’re capable of and what we put our bodies through and how hard we work, just the mentality of going out there and finishing the season the right way.”

While the rushing attack has been up and down this fall — three games where the leading rusher had less than 30 yards in total — it has been a roller coaster for Waters. The tailback had not eclipsed 36 rushing yards or found the end zone as a rusher since the season opener, including 7 attempts for minus-4 yards against Tennessee. 

So, it’s safe to say that the effort against Stanford helped lift Waters’ spirit. He just had to push through until he found a new gear.

“For me, just to stay consistent and to keep doing the same thing,” said Waters, who broke off a 94-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter. “I know what I’m capable of. Just staying consistent, continuing to do my routine because I knew it was going to come one day.”

NC State’s rushing attack seemed to open up the rest of the Pack’s offense against the Cardinal. The Wolfpack finished with a season-best 527 yards of total offense, including a 234-yard, three-touchdown passing day for freshman quarterback CJ Bailey, who tossed only 2 incompletions in the game. 

The signal-caller, who made his fifth career start at NC State, thought continuing the momentum on the ground from the win over Stanford would be key over the final three regular-season games. 

“Having a good run game takes a lot off of me and the offense,” Bailey said. “Now, we can do whatever we want — we can pass, we can run — just because the run game is working. We need a great run attack for each game for us to be good as an offense.”

But for now, the Pack will be happy with its standout rushing effort. And Waters, who logged the second-longest run in program history, can catch his breath before playing his old program next weekend in Raleigh.