NC State Suffers Their First Loss Of The Season At West Virginia
It was going to happen at some point during the season it was just a matter of when.
The team located in North Carolina’s state capital suffered their first loss of the season at West Virginia by a score of 44-27. “according to https://gopack.com/news/2019/9/14/football-pack-drops-road-contest-at-west-virginia.aspx
WVU opened the game with back-to-back TD drives on its first two possessions to go up 14-7 at the end of the first quarter. The Mountaineers totaled 141 on nine plays on those first two drives. “according to https://gopack.com/news/2019/9/14/football-pack-drops-road-contest-at-west-virginia.aspx
NC State scored its first touchdown in between those two from WVU, as Thayer Thomas caught an eight-yard Matthew McKay TD pass to cap a 10 play, 75-yard drive. “according to https://gopack.com/news/2019/9/14/football-pack-drops-road-contest-at-west-virginia.aspx
The Pack scored the next two TDs to jump ahead, but WVU answered late in the second quarter to send the teams into the locker room tied 21-21. “according to https://gopack.com/news/2019/9/14/football-pack-drops-road-contest-at-west-virginia.aspx
Jordan Houston ran it in from one yard out, then Cary Angeline caught a 19-yard pass from Thomas off of a trick play. “according to https://gopack.com/news/2019/9/14/football-pack-drops-road-contest-at-west-virginia.aspx
West Virginia retook the lead with 10 points in the third quarter, a 23-yard field goal and a five-yard TD run after a blocked punt. “according to https://gopack.com/news/2019/9/14/football-pack-drops-road-contest-at-west-virginia.aspx
A pair of Christopher Dunn fields goals – 41 and 37 yards – cut the lead to 31-27 at the end of the third quarter.
The Mountaineers increased their lead to 38-27 with a touchdown three minutes into the fourth quarter, and a late touchdown made the final score 44-27.
WOLFPACK SPOTLIGHT DRIVE
7 plays, 92 yards in 3:06 – Thayer Thomas to Cary Angeline 18-yd pass. “according to https://gopack.com/news/2019/9/14/football-pack-drops-road-contest-at-west-virginia.aspx
After forcing a WVU punt in the second quarter, NC State went 92 yards in seven plays to take its first lead of the game at 21-14. The drive was capped with a bit of trickery, as WR Thayer Thomas took a backwards pass and found TE Cary Angeline open in the end zone for a 19-yard TD. On the drive, Angeline caught a pair of passes for 57 yards.”according to https://gopack.com/news/2019/9/14/football-pack-drops-road-contest-at-west-virginia.aspx
Meanwhile West Virginia bounced back from their previous game which a was a 38-7 loss to Missouri.
– Neal Brown is reteaching Mountaineer fans that there are more ways to winning college football games than by just trying to outscore the other team. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
Today, West Virginia not only outscored NC State, it out-defended the Wolfpack and special teams once again shined in this afternoon's complete, 44-27 victory over the favored Wolfpack here at Milan Puskar Stadium. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
It's been 40 years since NC State last played a football game in Morgantown, and after this afternoon it may be another 40 years before it will want to come back. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
"A big win," Brown said afterward. "I'm really proud of our staff and our players." “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
For the 57,052 who showed up this afternoon, one week after West Virginia's 38-7 blowout loss at Missouri, what they saw today from the Mountaineers was a complete 180.”according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
Quarterback Austin Kendall completed 27-of-40 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns, the last one a pretty 9-yard strike to true freshman Ali Jennings to put the Mountaineers ahead by two scores with 12:24 remaining. However, the real story of today's game was the way Brown's young football team bounced back from last Saturday's albatross in Columbia.”according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
West Virginia (2-1) used first-time starters Briason Mays, John Hughes and James Gmiter at center and offensive guard, and the football field was littered with freshmen and other first-time starters on both sides of the ball. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
All of them held up well, especially after West Virginia forced the Wolfpack to become a one-dimensional offense late in the third quarter.”according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
That was the result of two second-half defensive stands that ended with a pair of Christopher Dunn field goals instead of touchdowns. The second one came gift-wrapped from Kendall when he was picked off by backup middle linebacker Drake Thomas at the WVU 32.”according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
When the dust had settled, West Virginia ended up coming out of it one point better than its 10-point third quarter lead when Jennings made his sliding touchdown catch in the end zone with 12:24 remaining. That forced NC State to play catch-up which meant empty backfield sets without the threat of Zonovan Knight running the ball and sophomore Matthew McKay flinging the ball downfield.”according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
The sophomore completed only 9 of his 24 second-half pass attempts for 72 yards, including a pair of fourth-down misfires that turned the football over to West Virginia on downs with great field position.”according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
The second fourth-down stop came with 4:48 remaining at the NC State 23, setting up Leddie Brown's 3-yard touchdown burst on third and goal. All 23 yards of that scoring drive were made on the ground, as was Kennedy McKoy's 5-yard touchdown run in the third period that was set up by Logan Thimons' blocked punt at the State 12. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
"We didn't have a block called, but we always try to put pressure on the shield and that's why we always do," Brown explained. "We always have multiple people attacking the shield and he comes free. He did a tremendous job on that." “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
"The blocked punt was a major mistake, a mental error on that play," NC State coach Dave Doeren added.”according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
McKoy finished the game with 66 yards rushing on 10 attempts, or 2 yards more than the entire team produced in its first two games against James Madison and Missouri. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
Overall, the ground game netted 173 yards on 28 attempts and could have had at least 51 more if not for Sam James' 51-yard first quarter jet sweep being officially credited as a pass instead of a run by the official statistics crew.
"They were putting their formations into the boundary in the second half, pinning our backer and getting around it," Doeren explained. "Those were plays they hadn't run, so we hadn't practiced it and we didn't do a good job of adjusting to them." “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
James led all receivers with 155 yards on nine catches, one going for a 20-yard touchdown on West Virginia's opening offensive possession of the game.”according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
McKoy produced a 23-yard touchdown run with 3:54 left in the first quarter, and Touchdown Maker George Campbell's lone catch on the afternoon went for a 13-yard score right before halftime. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
The Florida State transfer now shows four catches for the season with three of those going for touchdowns. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
Evan Staley was successful on his only field goal attempt of the game when he punched through a 23-yarder on West Virginia's opening possession of the third quarter. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
LSU transfer Josh Growden was also effective pinning NC State deep in its own territory with four punts being downed inside the 20. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
In the first half, the Wolfpack (2-1) found success running the ball against West Virginia's defense. Knight, coming off a 100-yard performance in last week's victory over Western Carolina, gouged WVU's defense for runs of 17 and 26 yards to set up a McKay touchdown pass to Thayer Thomas and Jordan Houston's 1-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
NC State's other touchdown was the product of some trickery when Thomas took a pass from McKay behind the line of scrimmage and lofted a floating 18-yard aerial to 6-7 tight end Cary Angeline that he was able to grab before running out of the back of the end zone. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
NC State finished the game with 144 yards rushing, but 119 of that came in the first half. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
Overall, West Virginia outgained NC State 445 to 369. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
"Offensively, they did a lot of things that we haven't seen," Doeren said. "We adjusted as we went and didn't do a good job getting the players to understand the adjustments. We have to own that, first and foremost, as coaches." “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
In addition to the blocked punt and Growden's punting, West Virginia's coverage units were also spotless - a tip of the cap going to former Kansas State assistant coach Blake Seiler. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
West Virginia fans have been accustomed to holding their breath each time the Mountaineers kicked off, punted or caught punts, but those three areas have shown dramatic improvement through the first three games this year. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
As did the entire team this afternoon. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
"It was a three-phase win," Brown said. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
Sophomore Dante Stills was credited with two sacks today to tie his older brother, Darius, for the team lead with three. Senior Reese Donahue got the other sack, one of seven negative yardage plays produced by the Mountaineer defense. That's now 21 TFLs in three games for West Virginia.”according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
WVU played most of the game without starting free safety Josh Norwood, who was ejected for targeting on the game's opening possession. Kerry Martin Jr., another one of those freshmen, stepped in for Norwood and played a solid game. “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
"Kerry is one of those guys who has made so much improvement since spring ball," Brown noted. "He went through spring practice having never played defense before (Martin is a converted high school quarterback)." “according to https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/14/football-mountaineers-win-all-three-phases-to-down-nc-state-saturday.aspx
NC State will now prepare for Ball State and prepare to bounce back Saturday when they host Ball State.