What they’re saying after NC State’s loss at Georgia Tech

ATLANTA — NC State seemed like it was going to finally break through Thursday night at Georgia Tech, one win away from bowl eligibility. 

The Pack trailed for nearly the entire game, and redshirt freshman Hollywood Smothers scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:30 to play. But Yellow Jackets quarterback Aaron Philo had other ideas as he led a game-winning drive in less than a minute to beat NC State 30-29 at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

Here is what those who covered the game are saying about the Pack’s heartbreaking loss against the Yellow Jackets. 

Ethan McDowell, The Wolfpacker — Column: NC State’s critical mistakes overshadow valiant effort

ATLANTA— NC State’s second offensive drive lasted one play. The defense set the Pack up with a pair of forced punts to start Thursday’s showdown with Georgia Tech before a lack of execution came back to bite the team once again. 

A bobbled pop pass to sophomore KC Concepcion ended up in the hands of Yellow Jacket linebacker E.J. Lightsey, who returned the pass 21 yards to the end zone. It was a play that NC State repped over and over, and it still managed to produce an unexpected result. 

At times last season, it was the Wolfpack’s most reliable source of offense. Tonight against Georgia Tech, it was a telltale sign of regression to a familiar problem for a Pack program that ranks No. 130 nationally with 21 turnovers lost through 11 games. 

“We’ve probably run that play in practice 1000 times,” head coach Dave Doeren said. “I’ve never seen a ball ricochet intercepted. Some of the breaks that we had that way were tough. The three turnovers that we had were costly.”

Noah Fleischman, The Wolfpacker — NC State coach Dave Doeren ‘disappointed’ in clock operator after 30-29 loss at Georgia Tech

ATLANTA — NC State had a chance to beat Georgia Tech with a walk-off field goal in its 30-29 loss Thursday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium, but the Wolfpack’s 58-yard attempt from Collin Smith missed left to end the game. 

While the Pack trotted out its strong-legged kicker with an opportunity to win the game as five seconds stood on the clock, NC State coach Dave Doeren wasn’t pleased that the officials added another second to the clock just before the snap — after he called the final timeout — which could have changed his thinking. 

The game clock read six seconds, rather than the five Doeren believed was left until he was notified otherwise. That extra second would have allowed the Wolfpack an opportunity to run one more play with a timeout left to make the would-be game-winning kick a little closer. Instead, Doeren wasn’t told about the game clock error until just before Smith’s attempt. 

“I felt like with five seconds, the field goal was the safest thing to do. If you throw it and they don’t get out of bounds, the game’s over. Obviously, the clock operator has some things to do with that,” Doeren said postgame. “The thing I’m disappointed in is after the timeout, after we break the huddle, they come over and tell me they’re adding a second to the clock. Had I known there was six seconds, it would have been a different conversation.”

Jadyn Watson-Fisher, News & Observer — ‘We have a lot of frustration’: NC State football’s loss to Georgia Tech encapsulates season

Dave Doeren sat in front of reporters Thursday night, but he didn’t give an opening statement like he usually does. 

He didn’t need to. His face told the story of the game: Disappointment in coming up short. 

Georgia Tech led N.C. State for nearly the entire football game at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, until a 22-point fourth quarter put the Wolfpack in position to win. It got the run game going, quarterback CJ Bailey fought for three touchdowns and a two-point conversion. The defense staved off the Yellow Jackets for nearly the entire evening, not allowing an offensive touchdown until the fourth quarter.

N.C. State led, 29-23, with less than two minutes to play — until a Yellow Jackets touchdown with 22 seconds remaining and a missed field goal dashed the Wolfpack’s hopes. It was close — again — but not close enough: Georgia Tech won, 30-29, and sent the visitors home heartbroken.

“It hurts. You know, losses like that hurt more than a blowout,” Doeren said. “What we’re going to do is we’re going to put that one in and use it. We’re going to use it. One thing that’s great about football, man, you get to take out your frustrations on that field as a player, and we have a lot of frustration.”

Rodd Baxley, Fayetteville Observer — NC State football loses at Georgia Tech, but CJ Bailey is confident Wolfpack will beat UNC

N.C. State football will have to win at rival UNC in the regular-season finale to become bowl eligible for the fifth season in a row.

The Wolfpack suffered a crushing 30-29 defeat at Georgia Tech in a Thursday night thriller at Bobby Dodd Stadium as Collin Smith’s 58-yard field goal attempt missed to the left of the uprights in the final seconds. 

Despite a third one-possession loss this season, quarterback CJ Bailey is confident the Wolfpack (5-6, 2-5 ACC) will respond with a win against the Tar Heels (6-4, 3-3) on Nov. 30 (3:30 p.m., ACC Network) at Kenan Stadium.

“Our mindset every time is just to try to bounce back and try to get a win,” the freshman said after Thursday’s game.

Charles Odum, Associated Press — Philo delivers go-ahead TD run with 22 seconds remaining to lift Georgia Tech past N.C. State 30-29

ATLANTA (AP) — Aaron Philo scrambled for a go-ahead 18-yard touchdown run with 22 seconds remaining and Georgia Tech escaped with a 30-29 win over N.C. State on Thursday night after losing the lead with less than 2 minutes remaining.

Georgia Tech (7-4, 5-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) lost the lead with 1:30 remaining when Hollywood Smothers broke free for a 53-yard touchdown run for N.C. State (5-6, 2-5).

Philo had the answer with his go-ahead scoring run that he said was like a childhood dream.

“That was the moment you dream of, ever since you were a little kid,” Philo said. “I couldn’t ask for a better moment.”

Georgia Tech coach Brent Key said Philo “was smart and saw it and took off and ran.”

Philo’s last-minute drama almost wasn’t enough. The Wolfpack moved to the Georgia Tech 41 but Collin Smith’s last-second, 58-yard field goal attempt was wide left.

Chad Bishop, Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Tech’s Aaron Philo finishes off N.C. State with game-winning run

His name is Aaron Philo.

Georgia Tech’s freshman quarterback became a hero in this, the infancy of his Tech career, with a game-winning, 18-yard touchdown run to beat North Carolina State 30-29 at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Thursday.

A 6-foot-2, 215-pound graduate of Prince Avenue Christian School in Bogart, Philo led a legendary drive to send the Yellow Jackets to a seventh win and their first undefeated season at home since 1999. And the player who set all sorts of Georgia high school passing records did it with his legs.

“It kind of takes me back to childhood when you got the basketball goal and you practice making the game-winning shot,” Philo said. “It’s the moment you dream of. … It’s a moment I’ve dreamt of, and to finally be in that moment, couldn’t ask for anything more.”