'A win's a win,' and more notes from NC State's locker room
Special teams served as a constant fulcrum of momentum during NC State‘s 21-20 win over East Carolina Saturday afternoon. The Wolfpack took the lead on a blocked punt, kept it thanks to a missed extra point and won the season-opening matchup after a missed field goal in the final seconds of the game.
The overall mood immediately following the victory was far from joyous, but head coach Dave Doeren and the rest of the Wolfpack put things in perspective.
“We’ll get a lot better, but one thing I can’t do is change our record tomorrow,” Doeren said.
Demie Sumo-Karngbaye has a day for NC State
NC State’s staff was quick to praise sophomore running back Demie Sumo-Karngbaye for most of the offseason, and he backed up the hype Saturday. He did not start the game or finish the afternoon with the most carries from the Wolfpack’s running back room, but he emerged as a potential star in the backfield.
The sophomore took 14 handoffs for 79 yards, scoring NC State’s third touchdown of the afternoon on a 24-yard run in the second quarter. Whether he has making the first defender miss, or running over the third one, he made plays almost every-single time he touched the football.
That was by-far the best game of his young career, but he did not leave Dowdy-Ficklen stadium satisfied.
“Honestly, me personally, I wasn’t happy because I feel like we should have won by more, but a win is a win,” Sumo-Karngbaye said after the game.
The running back recognized that he should have scored on one of his four goal line carries from the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter— a pivotal sequence in the afternoon that threw the game into chaos. That does not take away from an extremely impressive sophomore-season debut for Sumo-Karngbaye, and Doeren recognized that after the game.
“He’s probably the bright spot of the day to be honest, besides our special teams,” Doeren said. “[He’s] hard to tackle, runs through contact, tough, took care of the ball.”
Special teams were the difference
Doeren has constantly emphasized special teams during his 10-year tenure with NC State, and that phase of the game proved to be the difference during the matchup. After a third-down quarterback sneak fell short of a first down, ECU’s field goal team sprinted onto the field to attempt the winning kick.
Doeren called a timeout before they could snap the ball— a calculated decision based on personnel and the momentum of the game. Two players for NC State had been injured on the prior play, and the Pack was shorthanded for the play without using a timeout.
“He had just missed an extra point, so I thought he’s probably in his head a little bit,” Doeren said. “We had two guys jumping, we thought we might get a low kick because he had to drive it. He didn’t, he just missed it.
“I wanted to have 11 people in the game obviously, and we were going to run our max block type thing, and one of the guys who would have been in on that was out with an injury, so we had to find his back up.”
After the Pirates scored first, NC State tied things up before quickly scoring again when Jasiah Provillon blocked a punt that was then recovered for a touchdown by redshirt-freshman safety Sean Brown. Shane McDonough made his debut at punter for the Wolfpack, averaging 44.2 yards on six kicks, including one where he pinned the Pirates at their own one-yard line.
“Those were huge plays in the game,” Doeren said. “Very proud of those guys.
NC State’s head coach also praised Thayer Thomas, who had an impressive 18-yard punt return, and kickoff specialist Collin Smith.
The Pack leaves 1-0 but not content with the performance
Devin Leary, Christopher Toudle and Aydan White also spoke with the media after the game. It was clear there were conflicting emotions around the Pack following the one-point win.
“There’s a weird feeling in the locker room, honestly,” Leary said.
“Guys were happy that we won, guys were satisfied that we were able to pull that off but, at the same time, guys were pissed.”
Saturday was White’s first chance to play against ECU, and he turned in a great performance, making four tackles and breaking up three passes. The Pirates’ home crowd left an impression.
“It felt like it was rocking like Carter-Finley over here,” White said.
White added that the NC State defense will focus on tackling better and getting off the field on third down before next week.
Toudle stated that the offense needs to do more to support the Wolfpack defense.
“They did their part today, and I feel like we’ve just got to keep on grinding and keep on growing as an offense,” he said.
Looking towards the rest of the season, Leary complimented ECU and recognized how important this win could end up being for their 2022 campaign.
“Credit to ECU,” he said. “They came in, they humbled us a little bit, but I mean that’s something that, in the long run, you might need to look back and say we needed that.”
